By SGN | 17 Jun 2026
When Dadima Kimmex left Cambodia for the United Kingdom, she thought she’d be following the well-trodden path of graduating from university and securing a job.
But life had other plans: love brought her to Singapore, where she co-founded a run club.
Now in its fourth year, the Fast and Free Running Club (FFRC) has taken its members across hundreds of cross-island runs that culminate in a well-earned breakfast of kaya toast and coffee, and even halfway across the world, to marathons in Sydney and Copenhagen.
At the starting line of this fast-growing community of runners is a woman who overcame her deep-seated discomfort towards running, and found joy in sprinting alongside her closest friends.
A sporty upbringing
Sports formed the zeitgeist of Dadima’s adolescence.
She was sixteen when her “big break” in sports arrived: she and her team would be representing the school in a volleyball tournament in Bangkok; the girls’ first international endeavour.
“Coming from a smaller, relatively unknown country at the time, I was captivated by the thought of interacting with the international volleyball community,” she reflects.
Dadima is immensely grateful for these experiences. Sports, she says, have shaped how she approaches friendships and work. “Being a part of a team teaches you how to work with other people, and how to love them for their differences,” she reveals. “Everything I do now has a basis in teamwork, and I genuinely love the people I’m around.”
However, once she headed to university, she found she could not devote the same amount of time and energy to sports as she did during her adolescence.
While sports took a backseat for her, she would meet her Singaporean partner, Azaria, at the University of Nottingham. This event would significantly alter the course of her life.
Seamlessly settling into Singapore with the Work Holiday Pass
Dadima had been looking for opportunities to work abroad post-graduation, when she found out about Singapore’s Work Holiday Pass (WHP).
“My family is based in Cambodia, I wanted to work somewhere in Asia that was closer to home and offered solid career options,” she explains. “Since my university degree provided me with the relevant qualifications, I decided to give it a go.”
She had found an opportunity on LinkedIn, a three-month marketing internship with a startup studio in Singapore.
“You don’t even need to have a job to apply for the WHP,” she says. “But do apply early, as there is a yearly cap on the number of applicants who are granted the Pass. Once you move to Singapore with the Pass in hand, you can figure out your next steps.
For Dadima, the Work Holiday Pass offered her an opportunity to experience what living and working in Singapore felt like. “You don’t need to have your whole life planned out,” she says. “If you’re thinking about taking a chance and starting life somewhere new, this is your sign.”
Running towards a new life in Singapore
After her internship, Dadima enrolled in a two-year Master’s programme in Applied Finance at Singapore Management University (SMU).
During this time, a friend asked her to attend a spin class together, a move marking her re-entry into sports after a years-long hiatus. She then started attending Barry’s Bootcamp, a high-octane, high-intensity interval training programme.
“I got obsessed with Barry’s, because of my competitive nature,” she laughs. “At first, I was only attending four classes a week, but eventually, I started clocking in hundreds of hours.”
Dadima’s reinvolvement in sports would only escalate from here. Her friends, who wanted to train for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, encouraged her to run with them.
“On September 3rd, 2022, I started training for my first-ever half-marathon, exactly three months before the official race day,” she shares. “I remember the date specifically, as it is the first day we ran together as members of Fast and Free Running Club.”
Each Saturday for the rest of the year, she, Azaria, and a small group of runners met on the weekends to train. What was meant to be a one-and-done deal turned into a weekly occurrence she had grown to look forward to.
At first, the half-marathon was an item to check off my bucket list,” she admits. “But over time, I could see myself getting addicted to the feeling of chasing goals, and of having something to look forward to.”
After the race concluded, Dadima and Azaria continued building the run club, working through the logistics of turning their newly forged community into something sustainable.
Together, they established a mission to support runners of all levels and abilities, while fostering an inclusive environment where everyone felt welcome, encouraged, and part of the community.
The Fast and Free Running Club is born
To document the club’s journey, Dadima and her partner started posting content on its Instagram page. Sign-ups to the club gradually started trickling in.
“We welcome everyone,” she says. “Boundaries like age and occupation dissolve when people come together.”
Sharing a mutual understanding of sports and athleticism, Dadima and Azaria insisted on running the club as a sports institution, rather than a typical run club.
“We tell our runners to train to the best of their abilities, and work on understanding the science of running,” she mentions. “That’s how you improve.”
This approach has set FFRC apart from other run clubs in town, and makes people return, according to Dadima. But it’s not the only factor drawing them in. As it turns out, the club has positively impacted a lot of its members’ relationships.
“People come to FFRC not just for the exercise, but for the community,” she admits. “People who once joined us as strangers have now become our close friends. I know many who have made friends for life, just by being a part of the club.”
Besides the promise of friendship and training, FFRC’s members are lured in by a deliciously compelling reason – food.
As a tribute to kaya toast, all FFRC runs are known as “kaya runs” with 136 having been completed so far.
The love for food in general, and kaya toast, is baked into every aspect of FFRC. Even the club’s visuals are heavily inspired by the iconic Singaporean breakfast item.
Dadima credits this novelty to Azaria. “He’s so good at finding new routes and places,” she mentions.
Reframing the meaning of running
It’s hard to imagine that someone like Dadima, who has played an integral role in FFRC’s growth, could ever have an aversion to running. In reality, her relationship with running was complicated.
Resuming the sport after a prolonged hiatus was painful, but this time, she had a supportive community by her side. “Running gives me something to look forward to, which helps my competitive nature,” she says.
“When you’re running a half-marathon and you cross the finish line, you’re suddenly hit with the realisation that you are capable of doing something like this,” she reflects. “This addictive feeling is what keeps me going.”
Besides helping to reframe her perspective on running, FFRC has helped Dadima in material ways.
Her current job as an Account Executive at a Singapore-born independent creative company came about because of a member of FFRC, who lent her a referral.
“I may have come to Singapore because of love, but after working and studying here, and experiencing the country for myself, I’ve realised that Singapore is a professional powerhouse,” she shares. “I made the right choice in returning to Asia to build my life.”
FFRC as a labour of love
As the co-founder of FFRC, Dadima has her work cut out for her. She has her hands full with social media management, partnerships, and brand activations, with attendance for these events easily running into the hundreds.
She also leads run sessions as co-captain. “We have over a hundred people joining us on Saturdays, and then close to two hundred on Thursdays,” she shares.
Despite its short run time (no pun intended), FFRC has managed to amass an impressive Rolodex of corporate sponsors, like lululemon, Asics, New Balance, and Adidas.
“People say we have an authentic voice, and that we do things tastefully,” she shares. But more importantly, we have great people – in a community where word-of-mouth reviews can make or break your brand.”
Dadima and her team now pick and choose the brands they want to work with, even turning down established names if they do not align with FFRC’s core values.
“If the opportunity feels like a cash grab, we wouldn’t consider it,” she says.
Ensuring FFRC runs smoothly while balancing a full-time job is no mean feat.
Dadima often spends the early hours of the morning, or the evenings after work, working on FFRC, splitting up responsibilities with Azaria, as well as her run leaders, Michelle and Huang.
While she no longer has as much free time as she did in 2022, when she was growing the club while studying, she has no regrets.
“Had I not been in my ‘fun-’employment era, I would have never been able to grow FFRC’s Instagram page, work with so many wonderful brands, and forge all these meaningful relationships,” she reflects.
Envisioning a meaningful future for FFRC
Dadima hopes to keep FFRC going for as long as she can keep it afloat. “FFRC is a primary friend group for a lot of our members,” she says. “Waking up at 5:00AM to go for a run now has become a ritual every Saturday morning.”
Lately, her future plans have been looking ambitious.
“It would be a dream to have a home for runners to relax and unwind after a long run,” she says.
This line of thinking coincides with the club’s growing membership. “I see FFRC as a venue for people who aren’t confident about running, but are keen to try the sport.”
She empathises with those running for the first time. “Initially, it’s going to be painful,” she agrees. “But the beauty of this sport lies in the community you make; the people you meet during your training, and the post-run euphoria of feasting on kaya toast at 9AM in the morning, after you’ve finished running for 15 kilometres.”
For those apprehensive, she recommends trying it for themselves. “If you can consistently wake up at 5AM on Saturdays, and keep up, then this lifestyle might be for you,” she mentions. “People find this schedule grueling, yet show up, week after week, to train alongside their friends.”
“At the end of the day, running is best enjoyed in the company of others. It’s the friendships forged that make this journey rewarding.”
Interested in working in Singapore?
Learn about our Work Holiday Pass and how to get started.
About Dadima
Dadima Kimmex co-founded Fast and Free Running Club (FFRC), a long-distance run community of dedicated amateur runners. Now in its fourth year, FFRC has led its 150-strong members across runs in Singapore, Sydney, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Jakarta.
