Faith In Perseverence and Perseverence In Faith
Well, AQ is over. What an experience it was too, the stayover at yao qun's house where ben siow and i slept in a 'dungeon' and were woken up at 1.30 to be briefed was just the start of a really long day. After the briefing, and kayaking tips from mr ivan sim and mr andre foo, we filled our hydration packs and left for ntu. screwed around on the bus there by giving rubbish answers to ben siow's interview questions for his founders badge. At 5.30 am, one's senses are not fully functional and ben siow and i both went into the girl's toilet to poop by accident. anyway, our race started at 6.45am and immediately, the pressure was on. It felt like the amazing race as hordes of teams rushed off trying to get out of the campus. As we were in the open category, the commando dude was in our team, and his navigation skills were FLAWLESS...except maybe once. After a lot of walking and jogging, we managed to reach the first few checkpoints which were located on the top of HILLS, yes, we all were taught that bukit timah hill is the only sizeable hill in singapore, well, for all the guys out there, just wait till ns, SURE DIE!!! the hills ranged from steep but short, to gentle but long, and it took a lot out of us, but the sources of energy, energy bars, glucose water, God, and seeing other teams cramped up on the ground, kept the team going. Later, there was an obstacle course, in which we were inspired to do well by our ever helpful commando and the volunteers there. I did my part by doing the monkey bars and rappeling.
After that 10km+ of jogging, it was time for the worst part of the race-cycling. I haven't touched a bike since primary 4, and had bought the cheapest bike in the shop for AQ, and now i had this sense of dread that i couldn't cylce. Lo and behold, i experienced tremendous problems with my bike, but by the grace of God, i managed to re-learn how to cycle in around 10mins. After that we went into the vast jungles of choa chu kang, were no roads are seen except for paths with rocks and boulders littered across the sand strewn floor. I was so afraid, especially when ben siow, a pro cyclist, was felled right at the start. But we made it through the 5km and the rest of the cycling in the first leg was on an open path. However, this was a reciepe for disaster. Me feeling confident again, and an empty stretch of road. Off I went, and i failed to see a pot hole and it sent my bike and i crashing, with it landing on top of me. Thank God there was a medical team nearby who attended to my pretty deep cuts. After that, 10km of cycling, we reached the pit stop, where we had to first kayak 5km before returning with 2 ice-cream sticks. We downed the free 100 plus and I realised that we had stopped at the place were the js p5 camp was held, jalan bathera!!!
The next leg started ominously when the commando's seat fell off. That made it 2 screwed up bikes (my gear had broken and my chain was screwed up after my fall). After fixing it, we headed for Kranji dam via sungei buloh nature reserve. I HATED that narrow path were i crashed into the bushes countless times. After reaching the dam, we went to a horrid 2.4km stretch of muddy, narrow, one-wheel sized pathways along a canal, which frustrated the whole team, especially me, as i was lagging. my bike skills were too poor, and i was constantly the last, despite not feeling very tired. After that was another stretch of cycling by a pavement to mundai, where i again kept falling into the bushes. I learnt my lesson that i suck at cycling along narrow paths, so i cycled the rest of the way to the shooting range on the main road, despite my father warning me prior to the race not to do it .after ben siow aced the archery, we went into some army bike track where I got left behind. my crappy bike and my crappy skills combined to get me so far behind the team that by the time i reached a junction, they were no where to be seen. i got off my bike, and kicked it, swore once, and started trying to figure out which path they took. In the end, another deserted fella came along and helped me find the correct path. I didn't say it then, but God bless him, cos i ran into the commando and he led me back to the team. After that lay a perilous obstacle of around 8 hills in a row, with narrow paths and rocks all over, but we pulled through. In the end we reached bukit panjang, the end of the 2nd leg, and found out that the race had been stopped. Only 2 teams had met the qualifying mark to progress to the 3rd leg, and it was already 4.30pm. Having sat on a bike for 6hrs, and woken up at 1.30am, it was heartening to know that we completed the race, finishing 8th overall. Ben Chan's team also finished 8th in their category, but sadly Melvin's was disqualifyed. Oh well, 2 top 10 teams ain't bad when u consider that there were over 200 teams taking part.
AQ was certainly an incredible experience; everyone in the team, the commando, jon pang, ben siow, and me, we all had to work together and try our best for bb, and for God. 55km was tough, even the commando said his rangers course was easier, but when you have a team which doesn't blame each other, and encourages one another, it's alright.
After that 10km+ of jogging, it was time for the worst part of the race-cycling. I haven't touched a bike since primary 4, and had bought the cheapest bike in the shop for AQ, and now i had this sense of dread that i couldn't cylce. Lo and behold, i experienced tremendous problems with my bike, but by the grace of God, i managed to re-learn how to cycle in around 10mins. After that we went into the vast jungles of choa chu kang, were no roads are seen except for paths with rocks and boulders littered across the sand strewn floor. I was so afraid, especially when ben siow, a pro cyclist, was felled right at the start. But we made it through the 5km and the rest of the cycling in the first leg was on an open path. However, this was a reciepe for disaster. Me feeling confident again, and an empty stretch of road. Off I went, and i failed to see a pot hole and it sent my bike and i crashing, with it landing on top of me. Thank God there was a medical team nearby who attended to my pretty deep cuts. After that, 10km of cycling, we reached the pit stop, where we had to first kayak 5km before returning with 2 ice-cream sticks. We downed the free 100 plus and I realised that we had stopped at the place were the js p5 camp was held, jalan bathera!!!
The next leg started ominously when the commando's seat fell off. That made it 2 screwed up bikes (my gear had broken and my chain was screwed up after my fall). After fixing it, we headed for Kranji dam via sungei buloh nature reserve. I HATED that narrow path were i crashed into the bushes countless times. After reaching the dam, we went to a horrid 2.4km stretch of muddy, narrow, one-wheel sized pathways along a canal, which frustrated the whole team, especially me, as i was lagging. my bike skills were too poor, and i was constantly the last, despite not feeling very tired. After that was another stretch of cycling by a pavement to mundai, where i again kept falling into the bushes. I learnt my lesson that i suck at cycling along narrow paths, so i cycled the rest of the way to the shooting range on the main road, despite my father warning me prior to the race not to do it .after ben siow aced the archery, we went into some army bike track where I got left behind. my crappy bike and my crappy skills combined to get me so far behind the team that by the time i reached a junction, they were no where to be seen. i got off my bike, and kicked it, swore once, and started trying to figure out which path they took. In the end, another deserted fella came along and helped me find the correct path. I didn't say it then, but God bless him, cos i ran into the commando and he led me back to the team. After that lay a perilous obstacle of around 8 hills in a row, with narrow paths and rocks all over, but we pulled through. In the end we reached bukit panjang, the end of the 2nd leg, and found out that the race had been stopped. Only 2 teams had met the qualifying mark to progress to the 3rd leg, and it was already 4.30pm. Having sat on a bike for 6hrs, and woken up at 1.30am, it was heartening to know that we completed the race, finishing 8th overall. Ben Chan's team also finished 8th in their category, but sadly Melvin's was disqualifyed. Oh well, 2 top 10 teams ain't bad when u consider that there were over 200 teams taking part.
AQ was certainly an incredible experience; everyone in the team, the commando, jon pang, ben siow, and me, we all had to work together and try our best for bb, and for God. 55km was tough, even the commando said his rangers course was easier, but when you have a team which doesn't blame each other, and encourages one another, it's alright.