It’s a bittersweet 110th Boston Marathon for Malaysian engineer

Excerpt from the Star:-

BOSTON: Malaysian engineer Ivan Hee, who ran the 110th Boston Marathon on Monday, came up short on two fronts.

First, he failed to beat the four-hour barrier he set by 96 seconds, and second he came up US$30 (RM109) short of his US$1,000 (RM3,640) charity drive target.

Still there was a bright side. This was by far Hee’s best marathon. He was faster by 50 seconds in his fifth outing.

Hee was buoyant after he completed the marathon, saying he could not have done it without the support of family and friends.

“Thanks to their support I will forever remember this day. While I fell short of my goals, it is still my best marathon so far ,” he said.

Hee added that he would continue running and “keep trying to chip away the seconds.”

“Each marathon that I’ve run has taught me something new. While I’m very impressed by the winners who finished the race in just over two hours, I respect the runners who really gut it out for five or even six hours. That’s what determination and the will to finish is all about,” he added.

Hee, 30, of Bukit Baru, Malacca, who works with a Boston civil engineering firm, had pledged to raise US$1,000 for the South Boston Neighbourhood House, a non-profit organisation that “supports family and neighbourhood life” through myriad programmes for all ages. – Johan Fernandez