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Straits Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Inspiring mothers who pursued their passions: Never too old to join a bodybuilding contest, become an ultramarathoner and start a business
(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. READ MORE HERE 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. READ MORE HERE 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. READ MORE HERE Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
10-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Straits Times
Inspiring mothers: The mum of three who became an accidental ultramarathoner
Ultramarathoner Martini Abdul Talib, 43, started running in 2012 to lose weight after delivering her third child. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN SINGAPORE – 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, jogged 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 more than 50km, including three over 100km, since 2014 in South-east Asia. Ultramarathons are races longer than the marathon distance of 42.195 km. She aced three recent competitions, coming in first in the women's masters category (42km) in the Salomon Forest Force 2023 race in Singapore; third in the women's open category (84km) in the Route 68 Ultra 2024 race in Selangor; and second in the women's veteran category of the Highland Ultra Challenge 2025 in Genting Highlands, which is a 12-hour endurance race. Nothing seems to faze her – not even a fractured ankle after a hiking trip to Nepal in February 2019. Doctors inserted a metal plate and six screws in her foot and told her to rest for six months. By October that year, she had recovered enough to run a 55km ultra race. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she wore out her Vibram barefoot shoes jogging around Singapore. They were costly to replace. So, for three years, she trained and raced in made-in-Taiwan thong-style cushioned flip-flops in Singapore until she rejoined overseas competitions that required proper footwear. She now has eight pairs of shoes, each with a different function, such as for trails, roads, interval training and recovery. What makes her story extraordinary is that the petite, 1.54m-tall mother of three teenagers aged 14 to 17 was not a sporty child. She started running only in 2012 to lose 10kg after the birth of her third child at age 31. It was the cheapest and most convenient way to exercise as she lived near a stadium. 'One round around the stadium track was very tough. I couldn't even finish two rounds (around 800m),' she recalls. As she built up her stamina, she decided she needed extra motivation, so she signed up for a 6km run and gave herself two months to train. Ms Martini Abdul Talib at the Highland Ultra Challenge 2025 in Genting Highlands, a 12-hour endurance race. PHOTO: TITI ULTRA 2025 The adrenaline high she felt after crossing the finish line spurred her to join longer races of 10km, 16km and then 21km, within the same year. In 2014, at age 33, she ran her first ultramarathon at an endurance-based event at East Coast Park, where participants pushed themselves to complete as many rounds as they could. She clocked 50km in 12 hours there, including resting time. Then a primary school Malay-language teacher, she would train after work, from 6 t o 8pm. When her helper quit at the end of 2016, she became a stay-at-home mother, which gave her more flexibility to run. On normal days, she runs at least 15km in the morning after her kids have gone to school and returns by 11am to prepare lunch. Afternoons are spent on chores and supervising homework. If she is in race training mode, she does a second run of about 10km for recovery before a light dinner twice a week, while her husband holds the fort at home. Her weekly mileage spans some 80 to 90km across hilly terrain like Mount Faber, Bukit Timah Hill and the campus at Nanyang Technological University. During Ramadan, she trains in the morning for about 10 to 15km at a low intensity. On weekends during the fasting month, however, she runs from 11pm to 4am and has her pre-dawn meal before heading home to rest. Her husband, an avid runner and cyclist who has completed three ultramarathons, used to race alongside her before his workload became heavier in recent years. Ultramarathons are a test of mental fortitude over physical stamina, and Ms Martini feels they keep her grounded and grateful. 'I hold on to this motto: 'Make your time away from your family worth it.' If you're going to waste your time, you're not doing your family justice by leaving them.' During races, she wears a dainty pink-and-white charm bracelet with the initials MQ (for Mummy Queen, her self-styled race moniker) and an eight ball (for her birthday on June 8), handmade by her second daughter, Miska, 15. This year, she will celebrate her 44th year by running the by-invitation-only 55km Eco-Ultra Marathon at Income Eco Run 2025, which ties in with her own sustainability beliefs and recycling efforts at home. Being a competitive runner has made her a better parent, she reckons, as it has given her discipline, energy and more ability to focus on tending to her children. 'I make sure I'm present whenever I'm at home with them. That means no playing games or social media updates,' she says. Her active lifestyle has rubbed off on her kids too. Ms Martini Abdul Talib (centre) with her husband, civil servant Idi Bakhtiar Md D'Zokere (in black) and their three children aged 14 to 17 during Hari Raya earlier in 2025. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MARTINI ABDUL TALIB Elder daughter Mira, 17, does track and field, Miska plays in the Women's Premier League and only son Eka, 14, plays several sports, including basketball. The family are also avid supporters of Geylang International Football Club. When she is racing, her kids and husband keep the household running and send motivational messages and family updates to her via WhatsApp. Her children are so proud of her accomplishments that most of their friends – and their mothers – follow her on social media. Their steadfast support serves as a guiding light along the dimly lit roads she navigates on her own in overseas races, where the next checkpoint may be 10km or 15km away and stray dogs abound. 'I want to be a good role model for my children. I don't want them to give up easily without a valid reason, so I just focus on one step after another,' she says. Registration for the Income Eco Run ends on May 14. Find out more at Stephanie Yeo is senior correspondent at The Straits Times' Life section. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
