United by a common goal to enjoy running as well as the continual quest for improvement, the NUS Staff Runners interest group brings together staff members from across the University, regardless of fitness level.
On 28 June 2025, four NUS staff members— NUS Environmental Research Institute Senior Research Fellow Mr Orlando Garcia; Mechanobiology Institute Research Fellow Ms Seah Kwi Shan; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Research Assistant Ms Yao Yi Chen; and Office of Human Resources Assistant Senior Manager Mr Leonard Ong— proudly represented NUS at the AIA HYROX Open Asian Championships held in Singapore. Outpacing 81 other corporate teams from across Asia, they wound their way past the competition to claim the top spot in the fiercely contested Corporate Relay category.
(From left to right) Mr Orlando Garcia, Ms Seah Kwi Shan, Ms Yao Yi Chen and Mr Leonard Ong achieved an impressive finish time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 57 seconds.
HYROX is a global fitness race that uniquely combines functional strength training with endurance, with each competitor (or team) completing a consistent series of functional workouts, interspersed with running intervals. This format is designed to test both aerobic capacity and muscular strength.
The Corporate Relay category required seamless teamwork, with each member tackling segments of both the running and workout stations, demonstrating not only individual fitness but also strategic collaboration. This achievement underscored NUS’ commitment to promoting wellness, resilience, and excellence beyond academia.
The NUS Staff Runners team at the AIA HYROX Open Asian Championships on the podium for the prize award ceremony.
While Mr Garcia and Mr Ong had competed in HYROX races and won before, this was the first time the race had a corporate category. Although the team had initially joined the race for fun, they realised they could be serious contenders after running a full simulation together, which brought out their competitive streaks — and the rest is history.
The secret to their success? Early on, the team strategised how to split the race to complement each other, training on their own after that to focus on their segments of the race and to work on weaknesses. Although Ms Seah got injured during training and had to modify her workouts, she came back stronger and was able to deliver on race day.
Some of NUS Staff Runners’ longest-serving members, like Associate Professor Thilo Hagen from the Department of Biochemistry (who also coaches the team) and Mr Garcia have been part of the group since 2018. NUS Staff Runners train together weekly on Tuesdays at the running track near the University Sports Centre, and have collectively taken part in events such as the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, Singtel-Singapore Cancer Society Race Against Cancer, The Bizad Charity Run, and more.
Advice for other NUS teams that might want to participate in similar competitions? Mr Ong shared, “We all get stressed with work — training is one of the best ways to clear your mind and manage stress. And if you’re considering hybrid events like HYROX, being a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ can be an advantage. Just get out there and have fun — you might surprise yourself.”