SINGAPORE - A pair of brothers who followed each other in becoming living organ donors were back tracing each other's steps in an ongoing relay event that has participants cover 2,000km all over Singapore.

Just weeks after donating part of his liver to a complete stranger, Mr Lin Hanwei was playing football.

On Wednesday (Nov 6), the 36-year-old and his brother - Lin Dilun, 34 - followed each other in Relay Majulah, a relay event that seeks to raise $1 million in support of 67 charities under the President's Challenge.

In July this year, the pair made the news as Singapore's first living donors from the same family to donate to complete strangers.

On Wednesday, they covered 10km, starting their run together at East Coast Lagoon Food Village at East Coast Park at 10am, before finishing their leg at Marina Barrage. Hanwei clocked about 1 hour 20 minutes, and his younger brother 1 hour 40 minutes.

The relay will continue until Sunday.

Hanwei had donated a part of his liver in May to Mr Eddie Tan, whose end-stage liver disease prompted his son to post an appeal on social media.

The transplant was a success, and Mr Tan is doing well now, said Hanwei.

The older brother was following in the footsteps of Dilun, who had in 2012 donated a kidney to then six-year-old Bryan Liu after reading in The New Paper about the boy's daily struggles.

Bryan is now a healthy Secondary 2 student, said Dilun.

The pair are hoping that through their example, people will be less afraid of living organ donation.

Their mother had been hesitant when Dilun first donated his kidney, but after seeing how well he recovered, she had no qualms when Hanwei volunteered to donate a part of his liver.

"We want to tell people that living organ donation is not as scary as what they may think. They should seek out the facts."

"If they are better informed, there will be more living organ donors," said Hanwei, a financial services director.

The procedure has not slowed him down, he said.

Seven weeks after the surgery, he started playing football again. Now, he plays football twice a week and runs twice a week as well.

This is on top of high-intensity interval training sessions, which all helped prepare him for the run.

Dilun said he did not train before the run, as he was busy with his wedding plans.

He was married last week.

"The last three or four kilometres were (completed with) just pure willpower," said Dilun, who is in-between jobs.

But he said it was worth it, to show others that after donating an organ, one can live a healthy and normal life.

Relay Majulah had flagged off the first of its 200 runners at noon from the Singapore Sports Hub last Saturday, with the aim to complete the nationwide relay in under 200 hours.

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin will be running the final leg ending at the live televised President's Star Charity Show this Sunday at Mediacorp.

Mr Tan said: "I am heartened to know of this ground-up initiative Relay Majulah where 200 participants - people from all walks of life - unite as one and give the best of themselves, for others and to build a nation that truly cares.

"We have runners who are corporate leaders, friends with disabilities, cancer survivors, ordinary people wanting to do extraordinary things and simply, wanting to be the change they want to see."

The event's co-chairman is Mr Ong Tze Boon, the son of late President Ong Teng Cheong, who had inaugurated the President's Star Charity in 1994.

"The event's combined effort showcases inclusivity but above it all, it also shows how our silent heroes are also empowered to contribute back to the society and to make a change in the lives of others as well," said Mr Ong Tze Boon.

These "silent heroes" include Mr Ezzy Wang, 53, who hand-cycled his 20km segment of the relay on Tuesday at 2pm. He completed it in about 1 hour 20 minutes.

In 1995, loose fragments of bones had built up in Mr Wang's pelvis area, developing into a rare ligament cancer about a year later.

Three years on, in 1999, the cancer relapsed and Mr Wang had to have his right leg amputated.

He fell in love with hand-cycling in 2010, and now trains daily for at least 30 minutes.

The relay experience was "very tiring", but he was glad to have completed it.

"When running, other people use their legs, which are stronger than their arms. For me, I have to use my arms, which is tiring over a long distance," said Mr Wang, a sales compliance manager with an insurance company.

"But the experience has been worth it, to do my part for charity, and pay kindness forward to others."