Stage 3 - Gua Tempurung
Saturday, 5 November 2009
- Cycle 28km. 2km of technical route and then go down hill (on-road)
- One raft for each team with a river guide. Raft 8.3km to Camp Murni.
- Remove life jacket and run 10.5km on dirt road passing villages to the caving section.
- Cave 2km with head lamp or torch light in small river to finishing line in front of the cave.
After Stage 3 we had a rest day the next day and traveled to the elegant Impiana Casuarina Hotel in Ipoh. The next day we had a short drive to the race start in Gua Tempurung, location of the wonderous cave which is the main attraction here.
The bike was on the road for the first 12k. Then we hit technical fire roads and Ryan and I got to the raft in third position. Somewhat due to my rafting inexperience, we got hung up a couple of times on some rocks.The 10.5k run started off good and we moved up the field. About 2k from the cave I totally bonked. It was hot and we had one final hill to pass. We were passed by a couple teams but once in the river rock scrambling to the cave I got a second wind. I learned how to scramble much better after day 2. In the cave Ryan led and I followed. It was dark for the first 1.5 k and we just had to follow the water flow. the cave was really wide and really low at some points, crawling at times with lots of line options. The second half of the cave section lit up with a warm glow. Such an amazing view.
Ryan and I moved pretty quick through it and moved up a position but still finished in 5th. All the top five finished within a few minutes of each other. From here we traveled to Pasir Salak where we received a very special welcome from the village with traditional music, food and games. The locals then challenged the athletes to a game of tug o war and surprised we won. See the video below.
Perak Amanjaya International Eco Adventure 2009
Stage 4 - Pasir Salak to Pangkor Island
Sunday, 6 November
- Cycle 61km all the way to Teluk Batek where the kayak put-in. (5k in paddy fields)
- Kayak 3.9km open sea to Pangkor island.- Abseil 60m down a hillside at Teluk Segadas.
- Run 6.2k to the killing hill section.
- Run/hike 4.5km up the killing hill to the main road and transition area.
- Team biathlon takes place with a local bike (free size) for 4.5km to race finish line.
After our race ending mistake on day 2, Ryan and I were looking for a stage win. Today was a good day for us to do it. In the final results we ended up moving from 10th to 7th place in the overall. Read Ryans report of our resultson sleep monsters race coverage section, www.sleepmonsters.com
Cant wait to see the TV show. This month ESPN is airing three, 1hr shows of the entire event.
No comments:
Post a Comment