Recreational multi-sport athlete and TikToker "Helmigas", shares with us why he chose to marry his passion for videography with sports
Meet Team 100PLUS' athletes and digital creators!
From high performance athletes representing Singapore at the world stage, to some of the most recognisable everyday citizen athlete content creators, Team 100PLUS is set to bring you through another exciting year of sports compeititons and events and inspire you to continue outdoing yourself!
Name: Muhammad Helmi
Instagram: @helmigas_runs
TikTok: @helmigas_run
Sport: Running, Cycling
Favourite 100PLUS Drink: 100PLUS Active
What's Your Favourite Hobby Outside of Sports?
Helmi: Videography. I love to take videos of my friends and my family. Actually my passion is to do videography. But to get equipment it's quite expensive so I make do with whatever I have I usually shoot with my iPhone.
For inspiration last time I used to do skateboarding, so I would watch skate videos and then from there the videos that those creators make inspire me to create the videos I do now. All those crazy transitions you see on my TikTok I got my inspirations from there.
Did you start from TikTok's platform or was it Instagram first before TikTok?
Helmi: In the first instance I used Instagram. I didn't use TikTok as much at the beginning but one day my wife asked me to try out TikTok. So I signed up and from there one of my videos went viral. It was inspired by Matt Choy, I couldn't believe it went viral and from there subsequently I did my second video with friends and it went viral again.
It was because of that, that a lot of people DM to ask me about my journey, how I started running and all that. It motivated me to create more videos and inspire others to start running.
What is one resolution last year that you did not meet?
Helmi: To do a sub 2 hour half-marathon. Last year was the most memorable year for me, because a lot of things happened for me.
2023 I had quite a few projects, I had pacer duties for StanChart Singapore Marathon and I also did my first ever duathlon.
But one of my goals last year was to do a sub-2 hour half marathon which I haven't met yet. This year 2024, I am intending to break that mark.
What would you say made you want to try multi-sport such as triathlon or duathlon?
Helmi: When I first started I told myself I did not want to cycle because I already ride a motorbike, so what's the thrill of cycling? But then Covid came, and there was this period where foldies were trending. So I first bought it so that I could send my son to school.
But as time went by, I saw some of my friends buy road bicycles which were pretty expensive. I told myself I wouldn't get one at first but when I did my duathlon on a foldie and saw everyone on road bicycles overtake me, it made me realise this year I had to upgrade to a road bicycle so that I can improve on my timing for this year for the cycle leg.
So multi-sport is really fun. It's time consuming for sure, but it pushes me past my limits and challenges me to be a better athlete overall, and it feels so satisfying.