so much that I trusted sports club management, they disappointed me time and again... this is my first time taking part in X physique organised by NTU sports club, but what I got back is disappointment and disappointment. Not because we did not win, but because we were not awarded the rightful placing we deserve... long story.. the below entry will tell you what happened..
we met at 645 am... introduced all the fellow teammates to each other... to my surprised, they all clicked very well at the first moment they met each other... there is a pair of twins in my group.. haha not identical twins, but people who look really alike.. that is JD and Clement... i call JD dear and Clement "bf"... ahaha...
the race started off very smoothly, what our team was lacking was map, we had to use our knowledge and common sense to navigate, unlike other teams... we ran and ran at the start, caught up with SART team... the Singapore Sponsored Adventure racing group from NDU.... and guess what happened... we lead them.. we ran faster, maybe because i was pushing up the pace, maybe our group has 3 runners so naturally can run at a faster pace... when we overtook them, SART team seemed to intentionally slowed down. Then we realised at one point, both our teams separated and went in different directions.
Just as we thought we were leading, down came several teams, we realised that those JC teams had taken some short cut and had lead us... we obviously chased... and we eventually overtook them... when we came to the first check point, we were the 3rd team to reach there... and then the race continued with a lot of stuff such as cycling, swimming, river crossing and basically a lot of running and stamina endurance training...
when we finally caught up with SART team, we knew we were second in position, the distance between us and SART team was very little as compared to the distance between us the the 3rd team...
here comes the bad part... when we reached the abseiling stage, we reached there 2nd in position, just 1 minute behind the 1st team... the timing started and we had to climb through a robe obstacle which looked like a spider web. after that we had to abseil down. Four persons per team but there were only 3 available equipment. so the 1st person of the team who goes down have to ensure his/her equipment travels up again. JD took a very long time to go down. the so called "professional vendor" was helping him to tie some knots. till now we do not understand what was he actually doing at that point of time. he was trying very hard to tie and retie the knots. When I looked at him panicking, I questioned him, what was he trying to do. he answered to JD "dun worry, your safety is my main concern".
we thought that he would be good and all. Never did we expect that for JD to get prepared and abseil down, it took him about 10 mins to 15 mins to tie the knots! then next, he wanted to bring up the equipment JD had brought down for the last person- Andrew to wear. then guess what, it took another 10 mins to 15 mins to bring up the things.... and in the end what happened? the helper could not even get the rope or equipment up, in the end we had to shout to JD from the top storey when he was at-the bottom, to bring the things up using the lift...
Next was me to go down. this was the most part where I fail to recognise their professionalism. He used another 10 mins to tie and retie my knots. I was getting panicky.... then when he FINALLy told me i am ready to go down. I climb over the wall... and hang myself in mid air, standing barely on just a small and thin log... and guess what next...i REALISED I CANNOT ABSEIL DOWN... BECAUSE HE TIED A DEAD KNOT TO A KNOT WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE... i was in mid air ...unable to go up or down... it happened to SART team too.,.. my friend, SAM was also in the same situation as me... and their captain, Chris had to use his hands to pull SAM from mid air to safety... CHRIS scolded the vendor attending to them too...he said "heh, you tied a dead knot to my friend's harnest and let him down. what if he falls or whatever happens? are you going to answer for it?"
and when i finally managed to go down... I knew it, we would be losing our 2nd position... the third team which came so much later than us had already 3 people down and their last person was coming down when I came down... then this was not the end...
It took another 15mins before Clement and Da ge came down.... they were trapped up there... and the organisers had to be shouted at to use alternatives... we told them to allow our members to use the other available ropes and not just our rope... the vendor handling us could not handle at all... it took them some LONG time to allow the more professional vendor who handled the 3rd team (he finished handling them and then came over to help Clement and Andrew) to help us... this was totally ridiculous...
When da ge came down, he was stucked in the mid air because the ropes entangled each other... this was so dangerous... we had to climb up the railing and used our strength to lift his whole body upwards, unhook him in mid air and then allow him to come down... after that we ran all the way to the end point...
we were so angry... what kind of safety precaution had they undertaken?... we were not unhappy tat we lost, but we were unhappy that our safety were not taken care of, when they said that our safety is their MAIN concern... what will happen to us if we ever fail from that height? i supposed nobody is able to answer for it...
after that when we reached the end point, we appealed to the organisers, who PROMISED us that they will look into the matter... I guess the 3rd team they themselves also know that we have won them and we were 2nd instead of 3rd... and SART team could also see it... everyone complained about the abseiling part... there was only one professional vendor...he was the one who was in charge of the 3rd team.. they were lucky..
and what happened in the end? organisers promised and promised... in the end, they cLAIMED THAT they took note of the time we were trapped... but if they were there to view the situation themselves.... THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT WE WERE ALREADY STUCKED FROM THE MOMENT WE REACHED THE ABSEIL STATION, ALL NOT DUE TO OUT FAULT...
we were awarded third.. and the announcer who announced for us to receive our prize said "oh they are so tired after the race that they are not smiling".. in actual fact, we are not happy at all...so much to believe in sports club... I have always supported their events.. most of the organisers are my friends TOO...
I may be a very demanding person and arrogant in some ways.. but i guess some things have to be taken seriously... i seriously wonder what happened in the organisation this year.. till now, we have not yet received an apology for such things... I have enjoyed the race so much until the abseiling part...
overall, i felt the race was fun, and had to be only spoiled by such an unexpected event... really it should not have happened...
thanks to everyone who acknowledge us for being 2nd instead of 3rd... thanks to SART team for praising us too.. SART team is a team of NDU divers who are friends of mine too... they knew how we felt at that point...
anyway lets see some photos after the race... see the so called TWINS...
and then my so called bf and me...
da ge and me... he is the one who won vertical marathon with me... we won the lovers challenge champion...
and my real bf...
we then went to Cineleisure to wash up and change... basically we were just using a wet cloth to clean ourselves.. i looked like a mad woman in the toilet when i was washing my hair in the basin...and we went for lunch... hungry... gluttons...
my da ge!
and we went back to where the prize presentation was held... in our heads.. we knew we were 2nd and we knew the organisers are not going to do anything about it though they had promised us to do so.. but I guess learning from each and every lesson and listening to opinions and feedback will be better for the next event...
this is Clement yawning while waiting for the prizes...
and we took a final picture before we left... with prizes which did not belong to us! haha.... well... we smiled because we completed the race as a group and encourage each other... actually we basically had fun throughout the whole race.. din push hard... just had fun, joy and laughter...
this was a nice race with nice friends, nice competitors... but some untruthful people though... we learnt a lot... no matter how strong u are or how competitive u are... it depends on your luck to whether u win a race too... if u are lucky, you win , if u are not, sorry to u...
No comments:
Post a Comment