Harun, a sprint champion himself, passed away this morning at his home in Kajang. He was 70.
On Saturday, the Sabah athletics fraternity mourned the loss of its former sprint coach Ceril Christopher Yapp, also 70.
Both men knew each other as schoolboys, with both of them shining in national schools meetings.
In 1973, they were at the championships in Kuala Terengganu, where in the under-20 category Harun won the 200m and 400m while Yapp took the gold medal in the 110m hurdles.
Their passion for nurturing young talents made them respected figures in coaching, said former Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) deputy president Mumtaz Jaffar.
She said the men had instilled in many athletes the values of discipline, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence.
“Their contributions to athletics have left an indelible mark, and their loss will be felt deeply by the entire athletics community,” she added.
AdrianSprints.com reported that seven out of 10 fastest Malaysian female sprinters were among the athletes who trained with Harun.
Among them was G Shanti, whom he helped shape into Malaysia’s fastest woman in the 1990s.
Yapp trained sprinters Eddie Edward Jr and Sport Sunarno as well as discus thrower Sean Teo.
Harun’s dedication and unwavering determination propelled him to national and regional success in the 400m and 4x400m relay.
The Kedahan, who had a personal best of 48.7s, was a member of the 4x400m quartet that won the gold medal in the 1973 and 1975 SEA Games.
A Vaithilingam, the team manager of the ’73 SEA games athletics contingent, described Harun as a responsible and sincere athlete.
He said he had known Harun as a schoolboy athlete and that he was well respected by his teammates.
“After several stints as a coach at club, state and national levels, he became the national chief coach, but (also) became the victim of a bad era in Malaysian athletics,” he said.
His final assignment as national sprint coach was in 2011, when the good and bad happened.
Before the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, Harun guided Mohd Noor Imran (10.40s) and Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaludin (11.60s) to become the fastest male and female sprinters respectively in Southeast Asia during that year’s athletics season.
Malaysia performed miserably in sprints at the Games, but even more miserable was the ban he received from MAF in connection with doping.
MAF handed out a one-year ban to Harun for telling six athletes to skip the out-of-competition dope tests at the national sports institute seven months before the SEA Games.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) disagreed with the sentence and appealed to Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) for a tougher punishment.
CAS increased the ban to 10 years, effectively ending Harun’s coaching career.
The suspensions of the six disgraced national sprinters ranged from 18 months to two years.
After the ban ended, Harun focussed on junior development.
Yapp’s passion
Tuaran Athletics Club president Victor Suan described Yapp as a revered coach and his passing as a great loss to Sabah athletics.
Suan told Borneo Post: ““He was misunderstood by other people. In fact, he was passionate about the sport and he devoted his life to athletics.
“He did not get married, and he even used up all his money to buy sports equipment and proteins for his athletes.”
Suan said Yapp continued to train promising athletes until a few months ago despite his worsening heart condition.
Besides athletics, Yapp was a karate exponent and represented Malaysia in the 1987 SEA Games, winning a team bronze in the kumite category.