He quits job for his passion
LOOKING at Collin Low now, you would never have guessed he was once an overweight kid weighing 90kg when he was 16 years old.
The trim, fit, lean machine was the winner of The Amazing Race Asia Season 2, along with hearing-impaired team member Adrian Yap.
The pair won US$100,000 ($141,000) in cash and split the money between them.
Now, with his share of the winnings and an additional $50,000 from his own pocket, Collin has invested in a pilates studio.
The 37-year-old told The New Paper: 'Pilates has always been my passion.
'It has always been my dream to set up a pilates retreat by the beach in Bali when I retire. The opening of this studio is the first step toward realising that dream.'
With Alvin Giam, Collin co-owns the new Pilates Bodyworks Holland branch, located at Buona Vista Community Club.
This is the first time a full-fledged pilates studio has opened in a community club.
Alvin was the founder of Pilates Bodyworks in 1999. It was the first studio to bring pilates into Asia.
Collin has been an instructor there for the last eight years.
At the Holland branch's opening on Saturday, he said: 'Alvin's passion for the work has inspired me. He gave up his career as a lawyer to go into pilates.'
Following in Alvin's footsteps, Collin recently quit his job as assistant vice-president of sales in iHub Media, an Internet marketing company, to open the studio.
Reaching out to masses
Collin said: 'To a lot of people, pilates is a very Westernised concept. We're here to change that mindset.
'We want to try and reach out to the masses and to make pilates as accessible as possible in terms of location and languages.'
The age of their students spans from as young as 9 to as old as 91. They hope to reach out to more of the elderly.
'Not only is it gentle on the body, it is a very functional exercise regime where people can bring it out and use it in daily life,' Collin said.
He believes that pilates helped alleviate the pain he used to suffer from a condition called rheumatoid arthritis. It causes swelling of the joints.
The opening over the weekend also turned out to be an Amazing Race Asia reunion of sorts.
We spotted the Singapore team from Season 3 of the race, as well as the Malaysia and Thailand teams from Season 2.
They said they had flown in specially for the event.
'We just had to come to see him fulfill his dream,' said Natasha Monks, who represented Thailand in season 2. 'We're very proud of him.'
Nominated Member of Parliament Eunice Olsen was also there to officiate the event.
Kerri Teo, newsroom intern
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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