the race

Yes..our race..let's start from the very beginning..shall we? it's gonna be a long blog..so grab a cuppa & make urself comfy..

Left home at 0630 to cycle from my place to the bike deposit area..reached 5 mins later & instructor was already there..got our bikes from ou xiang..was asking her for the rest of our stuff when she let out a big 'OPPS!' Apparently, she had packed all our equipment into a bag & left the bag..AT HOME..

But no worries, we had 2 hours to our flag-off and there was ample time for her to drive home & back..so instructor and i just sat at the carpark & ate our breakfast while waiting for our team member 10 to come..10 reached just before 0700 & we just sort of indulged in each other's excitement & gan-chiongness for a bit..

Shortly after, ou xiang returned with our stuff & we started distributing our equipment..camel bag - check, power gel - check, gloves - check, compass - check, blah³...once done, we deposited our bikes & went down to padang for registration..

It was the SOP at the registration counter..check in bags, body marking, etc..(oh, the bibs..pink! so 'tak-match' with my attire) Of cos, there were the usual good luck hugs & hi-fives all round(aiya, most of the officials are 'ga ki lang' mah) With time to spare, we even went for a warm-up run..

The open categories got flagged off first..some of them looked real pro..& we jokingly commented, in terms of gear & outlook, we're among the top..no matter wat, we'll not lose in terms of 'sey'..

Aha..it's our turn for the flag off..baaahhh..airhorn sounded & off we went..we had to run from our start point at padang to prince edward rd where we had deposited our bikes earlier..it wasn't exactly tat far but i got mild stitches 5 mins into running..i always had this dilemma..i'll get stitches without fail, if i eat anything within 3 hrs of running..but boh bian, if i dun eat, how am i supposed to last thru the race?

Anyway, we got to checkpoint 1..where our first challenge was to inflate the balloon & twist it into a sword..we spent 5 mins searching for our air pump & a good 10 mins inflating the balloon..in the process, we must have burst 4 or 5 balloons & scolded twice as many f***..

Tat done, we took our bikes & cycled to mt faber..on the way, 10's bike chain came off & she the youngest, in terms of cycling age, managed to put it back on her own..well done! Continued to cycle to the foot of mt faber..we could cycle or push our bikes up(we chose the latter option), checked in at the second checkpoint & continued on foot to the top of the hill..was panting quite a bit when we got there..but the task, shading the letters of 'ADVENTURE SINGAPORE 2006' off murals on the wall was relatively easy for us..

Made our way down to collect our bikes & this time, we had to cycle into Sentosa..did a sudoku at CP 3..decided to combine efforts with a few other teams(from diff categories obviously) then ran off to the rope stations..

As we didn't have our own harnesses, we had to queue up for them..waited about an hour before it was our turn..getting some rest & chatting with other times in the meantime..first up was the rope ascending..since only 2 members needed to do it, we decided to let 10 rest cos we needed her for the swimming section..so i went up first..was 3/4 up when 'BOK!' i had hit my head against the ceiling..my vision spun for 2 secs..but thank goodness for the helmet..if not, i think my IQ score would drop 20 points(i had hit my head too while trying out the traverse on sat)

Instructor came up next without much difficulty & together with 10, we made our way to the abseiling section..as mentioned in my earlier blog, we agreed instructor will be the lead when it's running time, 10 to be THE(one & only) swimmer in the waters..so i'll be the first in all rope course..abseiling was a breeze for us..each taking no more than 10 secs to abseil 3 storeys down..

Time for traverse..it was slighly tougher than the tryout at padang cos it was further & so the rope sagged a bit towards the middle & we were actually skimming on water surface half the time..the last 10% was really a test of arm power which thankfully all of us had..

Done with the rope station, we went back to collect our bikes & cycled back to prince edward rd..from there, we were to get to fullerton..it was 1+pm & the sun was out shining in full force.. the run there was quite a killer, at least for me..but i would think instructor had no problems sprinting off..

We sort of knew we had to get into the waters at fullerton..true enuf, we were supposed to jump off the sidewalk ledge into the open waters underneath..take a look at 2 pictures placed on the walls & answer a few qns on them..sounds simple right? but dun forget, 2 out of 3 are non-swimmers!

As promised, we(meaning instructor & i lah) did not make a fuss over jumping into the waters..like we said, jumping into the waters is not a problem for us..the problem only begins after we jump in..*o*

It must have been quite a scene when all 3 of us were in the waters..with 10 trying to hold on to the both of us & yelling out instructions 'lie on ur back! open up ur arms! thought i told u all to practise kicking on ur bed last nite?!' (we did not forget our sense of humour even in the waters) Even ou xiang who was there couldn't help but to scream at us too 'keep left keep left!' All the while, instructor and i can only reciprocate with 'am i doing it correctly? am i moving in the right direction?' Think we were easily the noisiest team around.. :Þ

And for the last 10m, i was actually hugging onto the safety canoe who veered me towards the merlion steps..In any case, 10 lived up to her words and managed to push/drag/shove us to shore..applause applause! *as ou xiang commented over lunch today, we, rather than the waves, were more of a hazard to the other teams, & apparently quite a few teams had to swim a big loop just to avoid us..hahaha

With the most challenging part(for us) completed, we continued the last section of the race..running back to padang..all the way asking 'how do i look? is my hair messy?' (rem..'sey' is very impt to us) We had one last task to complete..& tat was to climb up the rockwall..& only one team member need to do so..

Since 10 has already done so much in the waters..the choice was between me or instructor..she has more 'arm power' while i had slightly better technique..so we settled for the fairest method of deciding - scissors, paper, stone. Instructor's scissors cut thru my paper & off i went..there was actually one point when i was just holding on to the grips using my 2 arms with both feet dangling in the air..a big no-no in rockwall climbing..but wat the heck, it was the last part already! Used watever strength i had got left in me and reached for the last grip & finally, Team SA had completed the race..

Dunno dun care wat our timing was..we were just glad we managed to finish the race..congrats to us to thank you to all..