Sort of an adventure race held in Sungai Sedim, Kedah by Malaysian Tourism and Discovery Sport and I was invited to join a team competing in the Open Category. By the end of the whole event, I was satisfied, and glad that I joined. Met lotsa great individual that shared the same passion for the outdoors. Would definitely do it again. And hopefully, would win the next time.
I was invited to join for and event held by Malaysia Tourism and Discovery Sport. Honestly, I have very little information on what it is all about. All I knew, was that it was going to be something I’d enjoy, and that it was related to the outdoors.
So I went, not knowing what awaits, but at least I had a friend with me, and that is always a plus.
In a whole, it was great. I get to do a lot of things there, things that I enjoyed very much.
There were abseiling, rope ascending, rope traversing, flying fox, obstacle course, cycling, tubbing. And every team of four would compete, and I’m not so sure on how many teams there were, but there were a lot.
It was held in Sungai Sedim near Kulim in which I went to a boarding school there, so it was nice to have that feeling of going back there.
The first day, it was pouring rain, but that didn’t stop us from doing what we had to do, which was to win the competition. We also had to camp outside (which was pretty sweet) with tents and all, and were supposed to cook our own meals. I was on the Artiste team of four, and we were taken care of pretty well. We had tents and meals, everything taken care of, so we had no problems. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been any different either way. I’d like to think that I have enough skills to survive moderately when going camping.
My team consists of 4 members. 2 recording artistes, a bass player from a band, and I. I knew Elyana well enough to know that she’d be okay with everything. Aesar and Hafiz on the other hand, I don’t know them that well enough to know what to expect from them. But they were so easy to work with, I’m telling you. And they did more than great. For most event that required us to work in pairs, my partner in crime, Hafiz, performed extraordinary. I knew he’d be good at this, but he was actually great, not just good. He and I worked so well together, that by the end of one event, I couldn’t stop smiling because we managed to do, just what we wanted, and the outcome were even better.
The second day started differently. A friend was getting married, and the reception were done there. Right after that, we had a series of competitions waiting for us. For the cycling/tubbing discipline, Elyana was my partner, and she was great too. We qualified, just in time to finish the whole thing. She cycled, ran, carried a durian, paddled, answered questions, and even did some weight lifting as well. Her points just went through the roof in my eyes after that.
I never thought I’d have so much fun at the event. I met an old acquittance, Pyan too. It wasn’t entirely a surprise, I knew it’d be his thing too (and his team won 1st place overall).
I met a lot of people that shared the same thing that I love too. And I’m looking forward to see them again. I’m sure I will.
Oh, did I mention my team got a decent placing/ranking in the competition too? I hope we made our fellows actors and actresses proud.
We gathered our very limited stuff, and went for breakfast. I must say, the food this time around, is superb, i think it might be because it is prepared by the hotel.
We got on the second bus to the jetty, and in that 10 minutes journey, Tarbus manage to take a nap. And again in the ferry to Tuba Island. But this time around, I joined him.
I dont know what Tarbus had for breakfast, but as soon as we got to the island, he had to go to the toilet. I see other teams getting ready, and my teammate is answering the call of nature!
So i think the race started at around 0800. Both the Fast & Furious and Slow & Steady teams, were released like herds of colourful and very muscular two legged cows.
Anyway, the first leg of the race, we did ok. We were the first few teams to get to the beach (CP 1). The first leg of the race is just running.
Then we had to carry our kayak, half a mile, through muddy beach, because the tide was so low. And though we were the 3rd team to take off from the beach, we were the 8th team to actually start paddling. It was NOT easy to drag the kayak.
We paddled for half hour to this vessel in the middle of the sea, and though we were dying, but we managed it still. Then came the cool part. First up, we had to put on harness, and helmet (which Tarbus forgot to put on) and do a low 15 metres rope traversing. And while he was doing that, i was queuing up on the other line. That was when I felt a little bit of uneasiness. Sea sick kicked in, and I vomitted, right there and then, in the centre of the vessel, like a pretty fountain with colourful lights. I moved to the side of the vessel, and had 3 more sessions of vomitting.
Done with that, I moved on doing the first traversing, and later moved on to the second on, in which we had to traverse across a big pipe. Me and Tarbus never really had any problems when it comes to rope skills. Regardless of the fact that apart from motion sickness, I am also altophobic (afraid of heights!).
Then came, what we consider the highlight of the race to us, which was to jump of a plank attached to the vessel, into the sea! Yeay!
Then we had to paddle about another hour to the island, and the route from the vessel onwards were pretty much straight forward. Kayaking. Then as we got to the shore, they had this so-called ‘mystery test’, having us do this three-legged race, and fill a small bottle with sand. Whaaaat?? Oh well, we had fun.
Then running up hill, down hill stuff like that, for about an hour or so. But this time around, I think although the routes were marked properly, it was somehow done weirdly, in the sense that in some places, there we to many foot path. And in other parts, there were NONE!
I fell face first this one time (the only casualty we encounter this time) and Tarbus was annoyed with fact that I asked him more than 3 times if my face was ok, and I was annoyed with him the fact that all those times, he answered OK!, while looking at my freaking bleeding legs! “Hello! Up here!”
One of the hardest races I’ve entered, and didn’t actually finish the whole thing because it was getting too dangerous for our teammate. We missed a lot, but what we managed to finish, we enjoy a lot. Siap angkut basikal naik keta Kelisa saja. Pity Enon!
One of the nicest races. Because you get to race in high altitude, and mostly running. In teams of two, you go up, run down hill, and stuff. Too bad I only went for it once. And once we’re down with the race, we went and have one hell of a time in Malaysia’s Sin City.
