- From Kona to Cornwall
If you didn't realise you needed a running hero called Jeri Chua you will after listening to this episode of Trail and Error!
Jeri grew up in Singapore, lived in Cornwall and Hong Kong in between, and is now based back in Singapore again. She's a former competitive endurance athlete (Ironman and ultrarunning), with an MSc in Exercise and Nutrition Science and the owner of Red Dot Running Company, a specialist running and endurance gear store in Singapore.
Her endurance sport career start over 25 years ago when she entered her first triathlon (1994!), progressing to Ironman distance and she became the first Singaporean to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii in 1998.
She started trail running in 2009, her final year living in Cornwall, when she joined the St Austell Running Club. That's where she met Andrew Ferguson and a bunch of other awesome people, who introduced her to the wonderful world of ultramarathons. Her first ultra was the Classic Quarter in Cornwall in 2009. She got the bug and shifted her focus to ultramarathon running, including the 330-kilometre Tor Des Geants, the 400-kilometre Ultra Trail Gobi Race, the 168-kilometre Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, and dozens of shorter (but tough!) events, mostly off-road.
In 2016 Jeri founded Red Dot Running Company, in part with the goal of creating a focal point for the trail running, ultrarunning and triathlon communities in Singapore and around Southeast Asia. Largely as a result of her passion for endurance sport and her fellow athletes, the company has done that successfully, and is the first port of call for information, nutrition and gear for many runners, cyclists, triathletes and OCR competitors in Singapore and throughout the region.
She also has an events company - FatBurd Events, but it's wings are clipped currently due to the pandemic. FatBurd specialises in niche events like Backyard Ultras and trail races.
RUNNING BIO: We asked Jeri for her top 5 races: 1. Great North Walk 100s (100 mile) 2. Tor Des Geants (330km) 3. Ultra Gobi (400km) 4. Ten Times Needle Hill 5. TransPyrenea (DNF - 335 of 895km) There's so many more, it's hard to choose!
@jerifatburd @reddotrunningco
“I sign up for things without thinking, without knowing too much. And that works for me...I worry about it when I get there.”
In 2016 Jeri founded Red Dot Running Company, in part with the goal of creating a focal point for the trail running, ultrarunning and triathlon communities in Singapore and around Southeast Asia. Largely as a result of her passion for endurance sport and her fellow athletes, the company has done that successfully, and is the first port of call for information, nutrition and gear for many runners, cyclists, triathletes and OCR competitors in Singapore and throughout the region.
She also has an events company - FatBurd Events, but it's wings are clipped currently due to the pandemic. FatBurd specialises in niche events like Backyard Ultras and trail races.
Grab yourself a world map and some pins as we travel around the globe with Jeri for episode 8 of Trail and Error.
RUNNING BIO: We asked Jeri for her top 5 races: 1. Great North Walk 100s (100 mile) 2. Tor Des Geants (330km) 3. Ultra Gobi (400km) 4. Ten Times Needle Hill 5. TransPyrenea (DNF - 335 of 895km)
However if you want to be 'wow'ed' we'd suggest following the link below to the IRunFar article on Jeri below to read some more details on her really quite remarkable sporting resume.
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