PENANG, 18 September 2013 - It is one of the hard-hitting messages by USM athletes in telling USM community that smoking is not glamorous and the habit can be a fatal attraction when they ran from Masjid AL-Malik Khalid to USM stadium this morning.

Given the name Larian Semput, meaning ‘Breathless Run’, 20 of the physically fit athletes tried inhaling and exhaling through a straw as they ran the 1.2 km course, and their conclusion was that they experienced exhaustion soon after they started their run.

“The message here is that smoking will also limit your intake of oxygen and thus you get tired easily,” said Mohamed Nazri Mohamed Tahir, secretary for the Tobacco-free USM Secretariat (Promotion and Advocacy Committee) and also an officer of the National Poison Centre.

He added that during this event with runners carrying oversized cigarettes with ‘Tobacco Kills’ written across and messages is to draw attention of the early morning crowd.

In explaining the rationale of the activity, Mohamed Nazri said that the event is an adaptation from a module from Tobacco Free Kids, an anti-tobacco non-governmental organisation, which has a ‘flash mob’ element.

Larian Semput is an initiative of the Tobacco-free USM project, recognised by the Malaysia Health Ministry through the conferment of the Blue Ribbon Certificate on 1 January this year. - Text and Photos: Yong Check Yoon