Safra Avventura Race

I set off early this morning for Jurong Safra where the Safra adventure race would be held. It was the first time they were using the brand new club and vicinity. After a gear check and registration, we were done and had to wait for an hour before the race flag-off. So I caught a snooze in the car while waiting.

The race began with a 8-9km run from Jurong Safra towards Discovery Centre near SAFTI MI. All the checkpoints would be conducted within the army training compounds. It felt like TNF run, deja vu! We were making good time on the run and were amongst the earlier mixed teams to reach the first checkpoint. The ride in was on tarmac so that was not as worrying for me.

Alas, at one of the checkpoints, we were asked to deflate 2 tires and re-inflate them. We deflated both of KC's tires, and that was when one of the valves broke as we were pumping it. Oops! Change of inner tube. But something was wrong with the tube too, and it burst after a short ride. Darn. Luckily Foo had another spare and gave it to us. So that was time wasted with tube changes and pumping, and we dropped far behind the other teams. What a lame activity...

Next up was the Team Biathlon segment - ie. one to ride, one to run. The organizers made us go many loops, I was totally lost. Thankfully KC was an ace navigator, all I had to do was follow. He was also a very strong runner, and I was hopeless cycling on the trail. In the end, he ran faster than I rode, and was even ahead of my bike! *unbelievable*

We rode to the canoe checkpoint, hauled the boat into the waters and rowed away. I think it was some reservoir that seemed closed to the public. More team biathlon after the canoe, we kept going round and round. The guys flew down the rocky slopes while I pushed the bike. Eeeks! I was still fearful of bashing downslope. There was a lot of cycling this year, some parts felt rather aimless to me. Cycling for the sake of clocking the distance.

Finally, we dropped the bikes and ran to the rope stations. It was held at the SOC area and we literally had to go through some of the army boys' SOC stations! Monkey bar, wooden beam, log steps, ramp, and then finally the jumar and abseil towers. But the bottleneck meant a long wait for our turn at the ropes. We waited more than an hour before getting hooked up onto the ropes. Sheesh. Ropework was my favourite, but unfortunately it was always the bottleneck during races. Reminder to self to get thicker gloves. My palms burnt as I abseiled down. Ouch.

That was the last checkpoint. We had to run all the way back to Jurong Safra. On the way exiting the military grounds, we had to do a few more obstacles. By the time we left, we had only 40min to make it back before the cut-off time. Gosh. We ran and ran, or rather, I chased and chased. We thought we were taking the same 8-9km route back, in which case, we might not meet the time. Argh, mad dash! Luckily, it was a different and shorter route and made it back safely within the time cut-off. Whew!