Action Asia Challenge 2006

Yesterday's race was a blast! Can't say that the level of adrenalin had surpassed our first race in 2004 (it was novelty then to abseil down the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and zipline down the Esplanade), but this time round, I have no complaints about the race route, the daredevil stunts and especially my race partner, Mingloid!

A few surprise podium finishes :

Becks and Rina (Team Angels) managed to outrun, outbike, outkayak etc. 12 ladies teams (some of them very strong contenders like naval diver Esther's team and some of the giant ang mo teams, well at least, in comparison to us puny Asians).

In 2004, then Team Ming-a-Ling came in 41 out of 150+ teams! We got cut-off at the kayaking station, but still managed to sneak in the ropes section! We could only join 1 category : the Mixed Team category (as there was no age group cat save for combined age of 80+, which we could probably join in a couple of years time). This year, we were "forced" to join the combined age group category and notwithstanding our coming in 49 out of 110 over teams (i.e. after a few misadventures along the way), we still managed a third prize for our Mixed 70+ category! Woo hoo!

Walter and Lai Thutt were going strong, but they had super strong opponents in their Men's 80+ category! Tian was plagued with the cramps (actually, so were a lot of us), but theirs was extra bad, and Tian apparently only had 2 hours of shut-eye the night before. So, this was Jason's first towing race, but they were happy to have not missed the ropes (back in 2004, they didn't even reach the ropes section)! Read about their incredible story in Jason's blog! Hee hee!

And finally, Andrew and Janice made their way to the finish line in style. It's tough racing with the spouse, and I take my hats off to them for making it all the way! If it had been Max, we would have stopped halfway for a bowl of bak chor mee and a massage! :)

'Nuff said today.....Team MingLing will have to work up an appetite to finish our reports for 2004 and 2006! Will leave you with a collection of articles about this year's race.....


So glad that Alvin and Kim Hong did us proud! Our claim to fame : we actually crossed paths during this race!!!
Andrew and Janice celeb team practising their abseil at Climb Adventure. I was standing right next to the reporter when she took this shot! Ming was blending in with the background.


And the man who made this happen....Michael Maddess, with the help of organisations and volunteers in Singapore.....was great to see familiar faces along the way.....the volunteers we knew from SACA and Friends : Maximuzz at Hindehe Quarry, Peiling at the T15 biketrail, Nik at bouldercity, Renhao at the startline, Chi (and supposedly Huimin) at Visitor Centre Carpark, Eric while on our way to the finishline (too tired to turn my head to say hi), and Dr Low all over the place!




Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting too old for this shit? But the voice within me shouts, "no....never surrender!!!" My legs and contused neck beg to differ! :P