we started off at white sands, pasir ris... we were in a rush at the starting line because our guys went to toilet one by one and we had not yet registered nearing the closing time for registration.. then we had to go back to the car to put out stuff and then rush to the starting point..
my team had Andrew, a runner from MR25 , he was also my partner for the vertical marathon and the hero who ran 4 times up 60 storeys of stairs...
we had SUnny, sikhandar singh.. my close bro...
at the start point, we got the first check point card... we realised it was at fisherman village.. or rather the OLD fisherman village... we realised it was alomst a 2 km run to the point... once the horn sounded, we dashed off.. following JD... as he knew exactly where it was... but then halfway, SUnny took charge. because he was so fast! he was running damn freaking fast!... and then the funny thing was when he slowed down for us, he was practically running at a speed which looks as though he was warming up.. it was the first time i saw him running so slowly... when we went to the check point, we got there first. It was the CANOE station...
we had to canoe an M shape...out to 2 kelongs and then make a roundabout and then canoe back to a big red bull buoy and then up to several more kelongs again.. as we departed for the canoe right after the briefing for the marshalls, I felt happy... because it was like once in a year I can canoe with friends... ahah... weird feeling... when we were out in the sea, there was this guy on the Jet Ski who came to us and told us to turn back to make a roundabout around this BUOY which was non existent! We were taken aback and then we told him tat the marshall had told us to go straight and then towards the buoy in front... JD was like "eh NO! The marshall din say that, we are NOT going back!".... and the whole team felt like we should just move forward... and we did.. and sure we did, correctly, we reached another buoy which was so prominent... it was the correct one...
and then we made a roundabout to the other kelongs.. Da ge andrew was shouting to the marshalls on the canoe to come out and not hide inside the middle of the kelongs because we could not see them and could not ask for directions! haha.. and then we made our way to the checkpoint.. took the card for the other checkpoint and dashed forward...
this was one of the bad part.. we got lost... we ran on the beach and about 2 km forward, we realised we got out of the wrong entrance.. and got to bash through bushes... after bashing through for a long while, we finally reached the back of the pasir ris army camp... we knew we already got lost... should not have taken this route... but then we din give up we just keep bashing and running... and finally we got out!
and we ran all the way to erm.. i forgot the place name! it is a cycling training ground.. when we reached there.. we got a map... it was to navigate and find 4 check points out of 5.. I have been here before but then the thing is the map was not really accurate... we met esther's team, the national team inside and they also mentioned that the map was really hard to navigate... and we had to keep detouring to find several checkpoints which were said to be marked out by marshalls in yellow shirts... we were looking for our 4th checkpoint when we found a guy in white shirt... and we happen to run to him and ask him whether he is the checkpoint marshall.. and we realised he is! my gosh... we ran past him several times thinking he was not because he was not in yellow shirt! this is deceiving... aiyoh!
we finally made our way out and then ran out... we had to head to bedok reservoir...however, we ran to TPE... we had no choice.. we ran the whole of the TPE! non stop... JD was feeling tired and having cramps.. i was getting a little sick of getting lost! and sunny and Andrew was going strong in front.. and then after like 25-30 minutes of running we finally got out of the expressway and made or way to bedok reservoir... it was another 15-20minutes of running...
we saw esther's team at bedok reservoir too! we completed the task and headed to ITE simei to do abseiling... it was another running session. When we reached there, there was a good thing to know. the time was stopped once we reach the abseiling station and starts when we leave the station.. better than last year... when we were held back because of the helpers error...
Sunny and Andrew had not really done abseiling before and I was actually laughing at Sunny! opps brother! JD did it very well! go commando! ahaha....
after that we took our time to run to the cycling track at tampines... i remembered where that was...my old days where I did my cycling training... and we had to do a one round lap around the track before heading for Aloha resorts. we did it as a team and then headed to aloha resort o the bike... when we reached the end of the beach. the marshall told us to go back to a checkpoint which was marked on a card...
and when we went to the last checkpoint, we actually knew it was the last because it was only a 200m walk to the finishing point..we returned our bikes there and WALKED back... i told the guys to run and they said no point running since the first team we cant catch and the 3rd team was a lot behind.! my gosh... this was something we regretted...
We did not know that the race had 3 details.. from the start of the race till the end of the race we thought there was only one detail! my gosh... and when the results came out, we were second, behind esther's team but only one minute in front of the 3rd team.. if we had walked slower, we would have lost!.... now we learnt out lesson, not to walk in the race! and not to slow down! haha...
anyway guys, thanks for the splendid race... i enjoyed it a lot and hope that you all did too! thanks for the support and tolerance you all had.. the teamwork was fantastic.!
AND A PHOTO WITH THE NATIONAL TEAM...
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