The upcoming AAC will be the 10th race. I have been talking about it as the last race and I really meant it. Come to think about it, it is getting harder to design a race course. Not exactly because we have limited resources, but because our athletes are getting stronger, and can endure longer. We therefore need a bigger play ground. Non government link company like us do not get easy access to army training grounds, I have involved Lorong Asrama for a couple of times (tired of the place already), and so that left us with just the public areas. Many of our public areas have now turned into a very "controlled environment", you either see boardwalks, pebble ground, or well paved path. It is no longer easy to put up a course that allows racers to stay within the natural environment. I hate it that I have to link places using the park connectors that sit in the heartlander estates with too many human and vehicular traffics. I find that the risk is higher in the urban setting than in the forested area, and racers tend to get lost easier in the urban environment simply because there are just too many alternatives. Of course, getting lost in the urban environment is far safer than getting lost in the forested area, but it just changed the level of challenges.
SO much about the organisational challenges, let me talk a little more about AAC10. The start point will be somewhere out there that you surely be familiar with, just that I am not going to announce it as yet (as usual). I know some of you are really good at guessing the race route once the start and end points are released. So let me have that little joy of holding the "secret" for one last time! (grin).
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| Rope Ascending on rope ladder |
These are 2 rope skills that will get you pumping hard on the race course. If you do well, you might hold your leading position, or in many cases, you get through these stations without much difficulties. If you don't, you will get hung on the ropes for a long time, get fatigue and dehydrated might even require our rescue team to intervene.
Rope Ascending - rope ascending can be in a few forms. Rope ladder climbing is one of the rope ascending stations. For those who have tried climbing on these ladders, you know you not only need your arm strength, you must have good balancing skills, and a good anchor man on the ground. Without saying, using devices like ascenders to ascend on ropes also require good technique, because if the techniques are not executed properly, racers can stuck on the ropes for a long time, it can be very draining. I don't need to explain more on this.
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| Rope Ascending using ascenders |
Map reading and orientating/navigating maps on the move. This is by far, one of the skills that many thought was easy but still got lost!
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| Map reading, locating the check points |
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| Sketch map was used in AAC4 |
That's all for now. Think about what you need to practice to help you and your teammates to get through the race course without much hiccups. Do remember, hiccup is part of adventure racing.
Yours in adventure,
Joanne Soo
Race Director, AAC
