Proving that no dream is too big, 16 youths, aged 16 to 24, organised kaLIFEdoscope – a 4.9km obstacle race to challenge one's endurance, speed and adaptability. It is a run to celebrate life with boldness and dynamism – to Work Hard, Play Hard and Live Harder!

Held on 19 March at Pasir Ris Park, kaLIFEdoscope kickstarted Metropolitan YMCA's 70th Anniversary Celebrations. With more than 600 participants between the ages of 15 and 35 including volunteers, vendors and performers, it is possibly one of the biggest events ever organised by MYMCA youths.

"The obstacles in the run are specially designed to represent the various obstacles we face in life," said Jasmine Poh, Assistant Manager of Youth Leadership & Development. It was developed with the intention to build resilience within participants and to allow them to experience helping and encouraging one another to triumph over life's difficulties.

"Through this race, the committee hoped to ignite a similar passion for the community amongst the youth," she said. "The participants will be able to reflect on their own lives, look beyond their own needs and see the needs of the community as well."

The run included six obstacles – The Climb, Limbo Rambo, InThe-Net Connection, A-mazing Life, Sticks & Stones Don't Boulder Me and Never Too Tyred.

Initiated two years ago by YOUTHsync, a group involved in gathering student volunteers to provide services to the community, its first stage of execution began in October 2015, where 16 student volunteers formed the planning committee to lead the project.

Prior to the event, kaLIFEdoscope was featured on thesmartlocal.com as one of the top 10 coolest themed runs to look out for in year 2016. This came as a huge surprise to the youth mentors and planning committee. "We're still not sure how TheSmartLocal knew about the event, but we suspect it was through Facebook," said Ng Wee Leng, Youth Executive as the planning committee had used Facebook as a key platform in publicising the event.

Mr Sergius Wat (board member of the National Youth Council), Guest-of-Honour of the event was welcomed with majestic beats from Mangrove Learning's Japanese Daiko drums before he delivered his speech in the opening ceremony.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Baracuda Batucada continued to build up the atmosphere as they cheered the participants at the flag-off with their bonafide and sensational beats.

There were two live bands – Kudos Street, who performed to songs like "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars and Chasing Daylight, who engaged the attendees with their upbeat performance.

Largely exceeding the expectations of the planning committee, the event proved to be a success and the team would like to thank the following sponsors and performers for their support:

Water/Food
-Bunnies Singapore
-Grand Mandarina
-Goro Goro Steamboat
-Korean Restaurant
-I'm Kim Korean BBQ
-Kokomama Market Place
-Pere Ocean
-Sogurt

Cash Donations
-Electrical Product International Ptd Ltd
-NYJC Media Club aka
NYJC Channel News
-Nanyang and Doodle Dans
-Itron Engineering Pte Ltd

Event Venues
-City Square Mall
-National Parks Board

Performers
-Baracuda Batucada
-Chasing Daylight
-Kudos Street
-Mangrove Learning

Carnival
-POP! Entertainment