Inspiring mothers who pursued their passions: Never too old to join a bodybuilding contest, become an ultramarathoner and start a business

Straits Times

10-05-2025

(Clockwise from left) Bodybuilder Mayda Jutahkiti, ultrarmarathoner Martini Abdul Talib, founders of Ye Traditions, Madam Yap Joo Eng and her daughter Yap Jinyen. PHOTOS: FITNESS MOVEMENT, HESTER TAN, LIM YAOHUI
Who says mum can't… be a bodybuilder at 50, run ultramarathons or start a business after retirement?
SINGAPORE – Mothers are thought of as selfless and sacrificing when they put their families ahead of their passions.
After all, they are the nurturers everyone relies on to keep households running smoothly.
But three mothers who have followed their dreams say their journeys have made them better parents.
Ms Mayda Jutahkiti role-modelled resilience and self-belief when she entered a bodybuilding competition at age 50.
Ms Martini Abdul Talib's discipline and commitment as an ultramarathoner has influenced her three children, who are all active in sports.
And Madam Yap Joo Eng surprised her daughter, Ms Yap Jinyen, when she came out of retirement to co-found a heritage rice wine company during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their inspiring stories are a Mother's Day reminder that mums who show up for themselves are not selfish, but are practising self-love and self-care.
When they let their light shine, they illuminate the path for their children to become the stars of their own lives too.
Who says mum can't… join a bodybuilding contest at 50 and be a role model for her kids?
To prepare for her first bodybuilding contest, Ms Mayda Jutahkiti added low-intensity cardio and a strict diet to her 60-minute, five-times-a-week strength training regimen.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
On April 26, 2025, Ms Mayda Jutahkiti stood backstage at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre, in a sequinned red bikini on five-inch heels, her well-honed muscles gleaming under spray-tanned skin.
She had practised her bodybuilding poses to perfection over the last four months with her coach. But performing under the bright stage lights and in front of an audience was quite another thing.
'When they called my name and I first stepped on the stage, my legs turned to jelly,' she says, recalling how she walked onstage mincingly to avoid falling.
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Who says mum can't… raise 3 kids and run 100km ultramarathons?
Ultramarathoner Martini Abdul Talib, 43, had never been sporty as a child. She started running in 2012 to lose weight after delivering her third child.
ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
When mother-of-three Martini Abdul Talib says she is running errands, she means it literally.
'My friends always tease me. If I say I want to buy shoes from Queensway, they'll ask: 'Are you going to run there?'' says the 43-year-old, who thinks nothing of clocking the 16km distance from her home in Pioneer on foot. She does not own a car.
In 2013, Malay newspaper Berita Harian reported how she and her husband, civil servant Idi Bakhtiar Md D'Zokere, 45, sprinted from their then-home in Clementi to Geylang Serai during Ramadan once a week to buy food to break their fast, a distance of about 17km. It took them almost three hours, and they would take the bus or MRT home.
Such distances are easy for Ms Martini, an ultramarathoner who has competed in numerous races of over 50km, including three over 100km, since 2014 in South-east Asia. Ultramarathons are races longer than the marathon distance of 42.195 km.
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Who says mum can't... start a new career at 57?
Former accountant Yap Joo Eng (left), 61, co-founded Ye Traditions with her daughter Jinyen, selling handcrafted red and yellow rice wines.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
It was more than 30 years ago that Madam Yap Joo Eng first fell in love with the traditional red rice wine that ended up kick-starting her second career.
In the late 1980s, her then prospective mother-in-law, who hailed from Fuzhou, China, had prepared the heritage dish of red wine chicken mee sua for her w hen they met for the first time.
Madam Yap, who is from the Hokkien dialect group, had never tasted it before.
She recalls: 'The colour was a scary red, but it was yummy. I fell in love with the chicken and the husband.'
Over the years, Madam Yap, now 61 with four adult children, mastered her mother-in-law's homemade recipes of red rice wine and yellow rice wine.
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