CityChase News Flash

The World’s Largest Urban Adventure Series Hits Singapore
14th July 2007, Singapore
Extracted from http://www.citychase.com/country.asp?evt=singapore

Asia’s inaugural City Chase kicked off in Singapore at 1pm today, as participants in the Pan Pacific Singapore City Chase raced across the island in a bid to be the winning team across the finishing line.

A total of 142 teams participated in the event, making this the biggest first City Chase race in any country since its inception.

Nick Jelinek, the founder of City Chase, feels that Singapore is the ideal location to hold Asia’s first ever City Chase. “As a vibrant, multicultural and cosmopolitan city, Singapore is a perfect example of what City Chase hopes to represent and exemplify,” he commented.

Participants had to travel on foot, use the bus or MRT to get to various ChasePoints around the island where they face challenges that tested their Mind, Body and Spirit. Few lucky participants also managed to hitch a ride in the Fast Forward vehicles provided by Avis, Asia’s leading car rental brand, if they got to a Fast Forward point at the right time.

Some ChasePoint activities such as tying a sarong and kicking a capteh in Arab Street, making a traditional Indian garland in Little India reflected Singapore’s rich multicultural heritage. Other ChasePoints such as abseiling, negotiating a mountain biking trail in Kent Ridge, tested participants’ physical and mental abilities. Some participants even braved digging in a container of worms to find matching mahjong tiles rather than choosing to move on to another ChasePoint. Participants need only complete 10 of the 12 ChasePoints on their clue sheet.

Traditionally, each race has a charity element. Participants in the Pan Pacific Singapore City Chase were given a Teddy Bank from the Assisi Hospice at the flag off point and were encouraged to get members of the public to make token donations along the way. All proceeds went towards the Assisi Hospice’s Integrated Palliative Care Program for adults and children suffering from cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.

This broad spectrum of activities is but one of the characteristics that sets the City Chase apart from other adventure races. Said Chris Robb, Managing Director of event organisers Sporting Spectrum, “We wanted to bring in an adventure race that Singaporeans would be intrigued by – not an easy task considering that most of us have it all. The City Chase has an international reputation of being a day of intense and exhilarating excitement that tests the boundaries of each of its participants, which makes it ideal for city dwellers such as us.”

According to Michael Schmitt, Director of Marketing at Pan Pacific Singapore, “Being the title sponsor of the inaugural City Chase conducted in Asia has truly been an honour and an experience. As a corporate organisation engaging with the community, this is one of our most significant sports sponsorship projects and based on the exploratory nature of the race, is particularly meaningful as a hospitality industry player.”

To capture the spirit and excitement of the World’s largest urban adventure series, Nat Geo Adventure will be filming parts of the race to be included in 4 one-hour TV programmes that will be televised worldwide after the World Championships in September.

The winners of Asia’s and Singapore’s first ever City Chase made it to the finishing line in 4 hours and 4 minutes. “We found the race very challenging but we had great help from friends. Finding locations was the hardest part. We used the MRT most of the time and our strategy was to go to the furthest ChasePoint first which was Kent Ridge, then make our way back” said one half Gaelic TaiGers, Taissa Matla. The Gaelic TaiGers are the first mixed team ever to make it to the World Championships.

Celebrity team Cynful Angels comprising Angel Teo and Cynthia Macquarrie came in 22nd position, ahead of other celebrity teams. “I never knew I could run so fast. If we hadn’t tagged team with the Aces (Liam Collins and Chris Whiting), we wouldn’t have been as motivated. The four of us stuck together all the way”, said Angel Teo. The vivacious pair came in 22nd overall.

After a day of unusual challenges and adrenaline-fueled activities, participants wound down to food and beer courtesy of title sponsor Pan Pacific Singapore and official premium beer Stella Artois, . “There’s no better way to end a day like this, than with an ice cold beer!” laughed Angel Teo, Gold90FM’s DJ.

Father and son team Gopala Krishnan and Ashwin Krishnan had tougher challenges to face as compared to the other teams, due to Ashwin’s autism. “I grossly underestimated my son today. He really pulled his weight when it counted. We enjoyed the race and made some friends along the way, especially while we were in the fast forward car,” said Mr Gopala Krishnan. They completed 8 out of the required 10 ChasePoints.

The winning team is off to Rome in to compete in the World Championships where from September 27 – 30, teams from Sydney, Lisbon, Paris, Madrid, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chicago and Canada will take part in an adventure of a lifetime.