Competitor bio:

William is known to many as the record breaking “Singapore Paralympic Superman”, and personifies both passion and compassion. Dr Tan is also an accomplished sportsman. An Asia Para Games triple gold medalist, he has also competed in many international games including the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, the World Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. He holds six endurance marathon world records including the “Fastest time to complete Three marathons in Three Consecutive Days in Three countries”. In 1987, he realized that, "winning medals, trophies or prize money should not be an end to itself. It should be a means to further goodness and to help people." Since then, he has devoted to championing as well as fundraising for needy causes in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, China, United States and the United Kingdom. He has skydived, water-skied, sailed and even climbed a 14-storey building to raise money. Some of his ultramarathon endeavours included wheelchair pushes across the length of New Zealand, Singapore to Penang, Thailand to Singapore, Boston to New York to Washington DC and Australia’s Larapinta Trail. He has helped raised more than $18 million on a voluntary basis for charities locally and internationally, over the last 22 years. Some of his humanitarian efforts include Polioplus for the worldwide eradication of polio and Operation Smile. On 6th April 2007, Dr Tan became the first person in the world to accomplish a marathon in a wheelchair in the North Pole in 21 hours and 10 mins despite overwhelming obstacles and extreme conditions of –25 deg C to raise funds for Global Flying Hospitals. On 19th December 2007, Dr Tan became the fastest person in the world to complete 7 marathons across 7 continents on a wheelchair in 26 days, 17 hours, 43 minutes and 52 seconds to raise funds for international charities on 7 continents (including the National University of Singapore (NUS)’s Endowed Professorship in Paediatric Oncology). His amazing race took him to Antarctica, Chile, Egypt, Thailand, Japan, Kenya, Italy, England, New Zealand, and USA between November and December 2007. For four consecutive years since 2014, he handcycled from London to Paris over a distance of 500 km in four days to raise funds for lymphoma and leukemia research in USA, UK, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. His battle against end-stage leukemia has been his longest and most painful RACE. It has transformed him into a more compassionate physician and invigorated him to dedicate his new lease of life to doing more for humanity. On 3 December 2015, he bravely made his comeback to wheelchair athletics (in 100m, 200m, 400m) after a lapse of 7 years (battling Stage 4 leukemia) to compete for Singapore at the South East Asian Games in Singapore. Photo below showing him (Number 5 on his helmet) giving his best at the age of 58 against counterparts 40 years younger. From 5 June 2019 to 13 June 2019, he hand-cycled a distance of 1,600 kilometres across Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats over nine days to raise funds for Breast Cancer Foundation.