Zafri, who began his run at 6.30pm yesterday, completed 83km, or about 15 laps around the Sepang International Circuit here, in 12 hours.

He said he was asked by the Kelab Belia Prihatin (Pritahin Youth Club) to represent the club for its Larian Malaysia Gembira 2021 programme in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration today.

Zafri, who is the fourth of five siblings, said that he was initially asked to run 42km in 12 hours but, at the last minute, MBOR requested him to run for more than 80km to set a new record.

“I nearly gave up because I have never run so far before. The longest distance I have run was 42km and I’ve only trained for more than a month. But, with the encouragement of my mother and friends from the club, I accepted the challenge.

“Throughout the run, my friends from the club spread themselves all over the circuit to encourage me and to make sure I was not alone in accomplishing this mission,” he said, adding that he only stopped three times to pray and eat.

He told reporters this after the Larian Malaysia Gembira 2021 closing ceremony, which was also attended by deputy national unity minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal and Kelab Belia Prihatin founder Luqman Hakim Md Zim.

At the ceremony, Wan Fayhsal presented the MBOR certificate of recognition to Zafri and it was witnessed by MBOR senior record consultant Edwin Yeoh.

Luqman said that in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration, the club had launched its Happy Malaysia Mission (Misi Malaysia Gembira) with the aim of collecting RM200,000 in donations to implement three main projects, namely the Happy Youth Project Hub (Projek Hub Belia Gembira), Happy Basket Project (Projek Bakul Gembira) and Happy Kayak Project (Projek Kayak Gembira).

“For the Happy Kayak Project, the club plans to buy several kayaks to be placed at lakes around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur that are close to the residences of youths from the B40 and M40 groups.

“We chose the kayak because we want to give more options for youths from these areas to enjoy their leisure activities and this will, indirectly, help contribute to their mental well-being,” he said.

Wan Fayhsal announced a personal contribution of RM10,000 to the club and hoped that more youth organisations would contribute efforts to forge unity among the multiracial communities in the country.