KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 ― Ultramarathoner Evelyn Ang's friends will continue to run in her stead and in dedication to her after she died this morning.
The Run4missyblurkit Facebook page, which dedicates the total number of distance in kilometres run by Ang’s runner friends in her honour since January 2018, announced today that there will be three more tallies of mileage in her memory.
“There will be three more CPs on this page. These runs will be our dedication to Evie,” the page's administrator said in this morning’s post following news of Ang’s death.
CPs refer to checkpoints.
CP8 or the eighth checkpoint will see the dedicated mileage during this weekend's March 2 to March 4 being tallied, while the ninth checkpoint will see runners running for Ang during the April 13 to April 15 period, with the starting date being her birthday on April 13.
The 10th and final checkpoint will be April 28 to April 30, which is the weekend of Monster Ultra and the Route 68 for 2018.
Monster Ultra 200 is a 48-hour running challenge that Ang had took part in last year, completing it on May 1 in 50 hours and 58 minutes. The Route 68 challenge this year involves categories of 9-hour, 16-hour, 32-hour runs through Gombak on April 28 and April 29.
The Run4missyblurkit page had in the first weekend of January 5 to January 7 or CP1 collected a total of runs of 938.89km and 6,500 steps in support of Ang.
To date, Ang's friends have run a total of 8,697.44 km in Malaysia and abroad for seven consecutive weeks to cheer her on and wish her well, with the highest tally in a week being CP3 with 2,095.32km.
The Run4missyblurkit campaign was temporarily paused last week amid initial media reports that Ang had died.
The page administrator later said “Eve is a fighter still” and urged Ang's friends to give the family some space during a challenging time.
Lyana Khairuddin, who had started the Run4missyblurkit Facebook page, had in January told Malay Mail that the campaign would run until the anniversary of Ang's completion of the 200km Monster Ultra Challenge last year.
“As we know that she had plans for ultras this year, this page could hopefully let Eve know that she has 'ran' ultras too, that we are all dedicating mileage for her, doing what she loves and what she has taught us to love,” she had said then.
Ang never woke up from her coma after being knocked down in a hit-and-run last December during the Klang City International Marathon 2017 and suffering a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage, succumbing to her injury and dying around 1.30am today.
Her husband Dennis Loo said this morning that Ang died peacefully and commended the hospital and doctors doing their very best for her.
“I will always say this is a race that she ran and she has crossed triumphantly. She has always been cheerful, a believer of positivity and smiling. She would always put on a strong front and she believed that every smile shown would be returned back. She would want everybody to remember her for that,” Loo had told Malay Mail.
The latest profile photo on Ang's Facebook page now shows her with Loo, with the caption: “In memory of Evelyn Ang Loo, 13041973 - 01032018.”
On February 20, Teoh Thiam Lim, 27, was charged in the Klang magistrate's court with reckless driving stemming from the December 10 incident when he allegedly hit Ang and two others at the marathon. The two others had minor injuries.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has since said it will take no further action against the organisers of the Klang City International Marathon.
South Klang police chief Assistant Commissioner Shamsul Amar Ramli said the investigations were ordered closed by the department chief of the General Crimes and Public Order Unit on the directive of the AGC’s prosecution division on February 12.
