Report: 1Malaysia Martial Arts Eco-Challenge 2010 (3rd Series)

By Aiman Cheah

Date: 10 October 2010 | 7:30am
Venue: Taman Pertanian Malaysia, Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam, Shah Alam
Distance: approximately 8km - 4km road race, 4km jungle trail
Category: VM Men Veteran (Above 36 years old)
Result: 7

Unbelievable! Extremely tough race. Finishing 7th is beyond by imagination as I started from behind and had to resort to walking all the time when going uphill. Genting Trailblazer was not as tough. Running in FRIM was very much more manageable.

10.10.10 must be a lucky moment for me. The race was supposed to start at 9.30 beginning with under 12 yeas old. It was delayed for an hour. My finishing was worth RM100. Wouldn't it be better to have RM110.10 as the prize?

I took half an hour to complete the road race before going for jungle trail. I guess that was about 3km. It was tough too in the jungle trail because there were too many thorny plants. I had to be careful not to step on the leaves that had been cut and not to touch them when going downhill.

I was running alone for awhile but decided to slow down after I almost lost the trail. It was difficult for me to see where I stepped and to look ahead for the trail. Following others was much easier as I only need to look when to step and grab plants for support. I also took about half an hour in the jungle trail.

It was road race again. The distance was about 1 km. I was struggling as I was exhausted and dehydrated - not water station at all.

I was given 5 "darts" for blowpipe. I managed to hit the target at my 5th trial. I had alerted the marshall to get me a ballon because I thought I may make it. Quite tricky. Next time I should do better. My mistake was not to prepare the darts properly as it affected its flight. Next, I was too slow to learn the flight of the darts.

The next task was to catch catfish. I was hopeless! Luckily, there was a dead catfish. Easily took it and put it in the tank and I completed the race!

I would say that today is my day. There are so many better runners than I am. They lose to me simply because they have taken the wrong route. In a nutshell, I know where I stand although the placing looks impressive.