M . J KO

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Adventure Quest 2008

It’s over for 08, but it’s not the end for us.

I am not only proud of the 12 who raced but the 15 who have put in so much effort regardless of all the humps that you'd face throughout since day 1. Regardless whether you are a Lance Corporal or a Staff Sergeant, we definitely did well and have no regrets.

'The amount of effort you put into trainings determine our stand in the competition' - that’s bullshit. However, it determined who we are today.

Who we are now, we owe it all to the AQ planning committee and especially to our very own Chairman Sim Chong Rui.

A tribute to Chairman Sim:

You are the best. & especially towards the approach of AQ08. You suffered the torments of scolding and pressure from every angle. All arrows were pointing towards you although some actions are done with good intentions; it was a period of maelstrom for you. BUT, you surpassed it all. You rose up a team of juveniles although you were a little lacking in experience at the beginning & you slowly develop and grew together with us, boys you brought up.The debrief you gave yesterday touched every one of us; you were overly sincere & that put an end across all the doubts we do or do not have in you. We were at all ears, because you had proven yourself, your belief in us. You said your mind; you shared what you have with us, & again, thanks Chairman Sim.

Boys, don’t you all agree?

This is chairman sim, distorted.

All of us have grown, we gone through thick and thin together, times where we were about to give in to the enticing respite, however we overcome them and progressed on. We all know there’s a winner in everyone of us, we completed the race. We might have gotten 1st. Attributes to win the competition constitutes 90%; the other 10% is something called luck as said by OUR beloved Chairman C R Sim. We have abundance in that 90%, we can even donate to other teams, but we lacked the other 10%. How unlucky. What we have achieved is immaterial, we can't see it but we know ourselves, how much we have gained.

At the same time, we’re so lucky; Lucky to be part of 14th’s AQ team, lucky to be here together as fate bounds us together, lucky to experience the taste of ADVENTURE. How many out there are able to experience what we did? NO ONE else, just us.

No regrets team, no regrets, as we have all shown to the public BB14th's FIGHTING SPIRIT.

‘Learn to forget the tough times, but NEVER forget what they taught you’

Blazing through…

3 words to describe my team: Sure & Stedfast. We were sure of our intentions, our path & of course, one another we were just unsure of unforeseen problems, it killed us. However, I want to thank my team for all that we’d gone through.

Summary
Team 112

My team took the head start & met up with the other 14th team after the horn. The next 500 meters or so, 14th was in the lead. The first unforeseen problem took its course & we slowed down but soon after we caught up again from 1st to 13th then to 1st again. 2nd unforeseen problem, we took the wrong turn & by the time we reached the rock climbing station, we were position 40th. Chairman & myself flew through the rocks while bengan & jinghan, our navigators, made sure we head the correct & fastest way to the next CP. We treaded on and soon caught after other teams, & eventually the other 14th coy team @ NUS area. They were stuck for roughly half an hour. We moved on together & separated after a traffic light. We took the correct turn after the separation then we dashed straight to school. We were position 18th.

Jinghan plotted our map for leg 2; Bengan went to shit while me and chongrui restored our energy by spamming muesli bars & water. The other 14th team arrived finally; they were position 20+ if I am not wrong.

We continued on with the race after affirming our routes. We breezed walk to the next CP, Micro Navigation A.K.A closed terrain. We saw many teams there; some took nearly an hour whilst the fastest took no more than 13 minutes. The other 14th coy team arrived 20 minutes after us. Next was biking, we raced through the park connectors & at this railway track CP, I boiled. ‘Fuck’ was what I had in mind. The checkpoint does not tally with the one on the route card. It says ‘Unused railway track’ & the actual CP was 500 meters after the unused railway track. We cycled around and wasted about 1-2km of distance. (Oh, we were positioned 8th then). All of a sudden 4 – 5 teams zoomed past, inclusive of the other 14th team. When we claimed to the marshal there’s an error on the route map, he replied ‘I don’t care, just carry on’or at least something like that.

We went pushed our bikes across some muddy terrain, carried them up and down an overhead bridge and proceed on to our next CP – Archery & Kayaking. Jinghan & Bengan went to Tanglin Sec for the Archery while Chairman & myself went for kayaking – our forte. Again, we saw the RI team who won 1st for AQ last year, they’re all bald & their kayaking skills are still as lousy.Chairman & I caught up with nearly 5 teams & we waited for the other 2 while we’re done. 2 teams left, and then it was us. It was the final dash. One way route to school and that’s that. The only way to win is by speed. On the way back, we saw Zong Zuo’s team. (Position 12th then) As we progressed we saw the 1st Open team, we passed them as crams shackled one of their team members. We breeze walk and jogged and confirmed our position was 12th until we met this team that comprises 3 Chinese and an Indian. We can definitely win them in the last 100 meters dash, well, for goodness’ sake, WHY IN THE WORLD IS THERE A TRAFFIC LIGHT SITUATED THERE, we lost by a traffic light. As we took our final leap, woo hoo, we saw our dear fans.

Thank you all. (CLT Wilson, Sheena Yi, Zi Xiang, Geoffrey, Chelsia, Li Jing, Vanessa Chow)But later on I overheard CLT Wilson saying that the actual position 10 was removed because they didn’t do well in archery, so the team with the Indian got 10th and of course the metal plated cup. How’s that?

Team 172
They’re a great team comprising of 3 lovely sec3s & cute Keane. Honestly, I feel that their level of physical fitness is comparable to my team however they’re held back due to unforeseen problems, again. They made it to 1st position for 3 instances but they were suay, just as we were.Every time we meet, it’s always Keane in the lead, pushing the team through, well done boy.Yong Chen’s good, his latency was the best part of him isn’t it? He only gets tired during the aftermath of the race. Hahaha, good joke Wilson. & then there’s the ever-so optimistic Victor Ong whereby nothing gets into his way & of course My junior since primary school, Jonathan Tay. He is good but crams got the better of him towards the end.

JonTay: Learn how to manage them or even counter them & nothing can take you down.

What a formidable team, isn’t it?

Team 906 (Open team)

2 sec 2s & 2 sec 4s. During leg one, they were impressive, and they almost blew me away! At the Rockwall station, we saw them when they started half an hour after us. It’s Amazing. Great job all. I really like zongzuo’s spirit & zeal for AQ. He is always so easily excited about, you can ask his classmates about how he boasts of AQ. It exhibits his pride for AQ, & I like it exceptionally. Another commendable dude is Glenn, the fact that he ran back to school while his both legs were still suffering from crams. He fought with the grim reaper, I should say. Well done all of you.

This is the end of AQ08.

Thank you all seniors & officers for your utmost support.

Wilson promised to participate in the Open Team next year, all the best to him & his team. (Mind you, this is not a joke)

After this, new leaders will rise to take over this operation. Just as Song leng have said, bottle up all the vengeance, unhappiness and get back at them during AQ09.

To the future designates, Jonathan, Victor, Yongchen, Xingkai & the rest of the future AQ team, hope you guys will go all out to win (with integrity of course ) , sustain the hunger to win until then & I really hope the lust for First prevails. All the best AQ14th.

& when I mean go all out, means going ALL THE WAY.

‘Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go’.