Sabah Adventure Challenge 2007

My first adventure race for this year had to be none other than the Sabah Adventure Challenge 2007! My teammates, Mingloid and Kenny the Alien and I unanimously agreed that we shall be called "Team WTF"...and you will see why when we write out account about this 3-day torture fest!

Meanwhile, here is an article in the Sabah Times! Too bad we couldn't smell the top 3 positions and had to contend with a lucky 8th for the adventure category. It's a miracle that we didn't get as seriously lost as some of the other teams, thanks to wondertwin Mingloid and Ken with extraordinary navigational powers! :)

LOCALS TRIUMPH

WE ARE THE CHAMPS …Guianus and Yusuf registering themselves at the final checkpoint.

11th April, 2007

KOTA KINABALU: The local team of Guianus Salagan and Mohd Yusuf proved their mettle in the just concluded 8th Sabah Adventure Challenge against all odds – the scorching heat and challenging terrain – to come out top.

Of the 72 participants comprising 34 teams from Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland, six teams eventually had to withdraw from the race halfway due to heat exhaustion and symptoms of sun-stroke.

Calling their team the Mansau Ansau, Guianus, a renowned adventure racer and Yusuf finished top in the grueling three-day challenge with their total accumulated time of 20 hours and 29 seconds, followed by Born 4 Sport a team of Simon Bond, Greg Shand and Cameroon Richards with 20 hours and 59 seconds, SART team of Wilson Low and Samuel Lien with 21 hours and 51 seconds.

The teams started off from the Monsopiad Cultural Village in Penampang, covering a total of 180 kilometres over three days of multi-sporting disciplines in the lower Crocker Range separating Penampang and Papar districts.

Favourites North Face with top Asian champions Ryan Blair and Stuart Sharpless took an early lead on day one but were bounced out of contention for the top spot on day two, when Stuart withdrew from the race due to severe heat exhaustion and had to be attended to by event doctors.

It was from here that the eventual champions Guianus and Yusuf showed their prowess by dominating the race and building a healthy lead over the determined chasing pack.
After the mountain biking from Monsopiad on day one and taking on the massive Crocker Range ridges to reach the base camp at Kampung Kaiduan in Papar, teams were given the challenge of a team biathlon and kayaking sections through the mangrove swamps in Papar and a hike to Kampung Kawang.

The teams had to battle the afternoon heat on their mountain bikes back to Kampung Kaiduan, before a major river crossing and dramatic trail run, that saw local Riverbug Team 2 taking over the lead, while seconds behind were SART Team from Singapore.
From there, the teams ran to Inanam where they were faced by yet another uphill challenge – a 25-metre absail section over the Kionsom Waterfall.

The final sprint to the finish line was in vain for the Riverbug Team 2 as they were an hour and a half behind the top three winners based on their three-day overall accumulated times, and to make matters worse, they were also penalized for missing a major check-point during the first day race.

Of the 72 teams, six teams had to withdraw from the grueling races due to fatigue, exhaustion and heat stroke, while nine women racers however completed the entire race.

The event, held in the Penampang and Papar Districts for the first time was flagged off by Penampang Member of Parliament Donald Mojuntin, who was also on hand to give away the prizes to the winners at the end of the race.

The Sabah Adventure Challenge is a voluntary event masterminded by adventure race director Aman Avtar Sandhu together with DHI and FieldSkills, which was sponsored by Coca Cola, Ayam Brand, Hyatt Kinabalu, Sabah Travel Guide, Monsopiad Cultural Village and Powerbar.

In the xiongalingam "Extreme" category, Singapore athletes, Wilson Low (aka Adventure Racer) and Samuel Lien, of Team SART, clinched third position following closely after the Sabahans and pretty-boy team, Born 4 Sport!

Another Singaporean SART Team wisely decided to ditch the "Extreme" category they partook in last year, in favour of the xiongalesser "Adventure" category, kicking the asses of the other participants, coming in tops! This mixed team comprises 1 of the 2 female naval divers in Singapore, Grace Chan (the other female naval diver being Esther Tan, of course) and naval officer, Teck Wee.

Hats off to Keith Ng and Kee Ling of Team Catch Me If You Can for their perserverance and determination in sticking to the Extreme category, despite getting seriously lost in the Sabah jungles in the middle of the moonlit night!

Speedy recovery to Chris of Team Gay who had to pull out after having recovered from the flu, and Samuel, who left a little bitta skin on the tarmac trails of Sabah!

And many thanks to Ian for the use of his van, and for the campfood! Spaghetti and potato never tasted so good!

BTW, we found out that SART stands for "Singapore Adventure Racing Team" and not "Singapore Search and Rescue Team" which Ken thought it to be. From the looks of things, some teams may actually have needed their search and rescue services, especially those who are not too good with google earth maps!

All in all, congrats to our Singaporean teams! You do us proud (esp coming from a country with no mountains)!

Here are some photos of the race taken by Liying, one of the supporters of Team Mixed Bags!