AMRunners (short for Children of Mentaya Runners) running club meet every Saturday and Sunday at 5am.

By using the statue of a Hoven’s carp, a native species of Kalimantan, as the start and finish point, members of the AMRunners (short for Children of Mentaya Runners) running club meet every Saturday and Sunday at 5am. As scheduled, they run, before sunrise, through the traditional market, along the streets by the river Mentaya. After about five kilometres, they would return to the meeting point. “Running was impossible to do before, when Sampit was full of haze,” said Rahman, 30, who is a member of AMRunners.

At the end of 2015, forest and peatland fires around Sampit enveloped it in haze, especially in the morning. Consequently, residents reduced their outdoor activities. “We could hardly run, we even had to be careful when walking since the visibility was very limited,” said Sri Setiowahono, the head of administration at the Mentaya Sebrang public health center. Almost no one exercised or did any outdoor activity. They were worried that exercising in the middle of the haze would cause sickness.”. According to Sri Setiowahono, the number of patients reporting acute respiratory tract infection, such as coughing and difficulty in breathing, increased drastically.

​Now, with the haze over, the people of Sampit are no longer held back by the low quality of air and can undertake outdoor activities; including forming AMRunners in 2016, which now has over 100 members, including fifteen members of KMP’s staff.