SAFRA AVventura: Joseph Foo and Fabian William win ultra category

Singapore, Sunday, January 15, 2012 — Joseph Foo Chien Boon, 42, and Fabian William Raj, 34, of team Adventure Madness Enduro, took home the top prize for the SAFRA AVventura™ Men’s Ultra category with a timing of 4 hours 42 minutes.

A record 448 participants took part in the event, Singapore’s largest cross-terrain adventure race.

Said Joseph Foo: “I’m ecstatic to win. It has been a long-awaited win for me, having participated in the past four editions of SAFRA AVventura. This year, the running leg of the race was very tough, but the toughest had to be the 25m jumar and 50m rope traverse. We were exhausted already, but we had to dig deep and finish the race.”

There was also a three-fold increase in the number of father-and-child teams taking in the sixth edition of this event.

Teams in the Ultra category had to run, bike and kayak along a gruelling 44km race route across the western and northern parts of Singapore. They had to clear various mystery challenges that tested their teamwork and problem-solving skills, as well as scale and abseil off an 18m natural rock face at Diary Farm Quarry, a first for the event.

Most of the participants completed the race within seven hours, finishing with a arduous 25m jumar up the sport climbing wall at SAFRA Yishun, followed by a 50m rope traverse across the swimming pool.

It wasn’t a walk in the park for the participants of the Sprint and Youth categories either. Along a 26km race route, teams were surprised with an 8m rope ladder which they had to climb up onto Zhenghua Flyover. Their sport climbing skills were also tested at the 15m wall at SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre (SASC).

The Men’s Sprint category was won by Chen Wee Meng, 24, and Ng Wei Ming, 23, of team D2B, with a timing of 2 hours 45 minutes. Wee Meng, a second sergeant in the SAF Commando, shared that his army training was more than sufficient to prepare him for the race and he is looking forward to taking part in the tougher Ultra category in the 2013 edition.

A total of 43 fathers also took the opportunity to bond with their kids as they paired up for the event’s Dads For Life Challenge. Held for the second year as part of SAFRA’s partnership with the Dads For Life movement to promote active fatherhood among NSmen, teams participated in a series of fun-filled challenges such as sport climbing, shooting, chatek and Long Kang fishing, as they ran and cycled along a short 10km race route.

They were also among the first to tryout the newly opened segment of the Canopy Challenge Walk at SASC, where they navigated a series of cargo nets, swinging bridges and a zip line at a height of 18m which fully tested their agility and balance.

Father and son pair Faisal Meskam, 44, and Arfan Faisal, 12, emerged as the winners.

Said Faisal: “SAFRA AVventura is a good opportunity to spend time with my son, and I’m happy to have competed in this race with him. I’m grateful that SAFRA organised such an event, because it’s been my dream to compete in a race together with my son.”

Mr Bobby Lim, Chairman of the Organising Committee for SAFRA AVventura 2012, commented: “We are glad that the SAFRA AVventura continues to draw such a wide variety of participants each year. Adventure racing is a great vehicle to encourage teamwork and strengthen bonds through unique and memorable experiences forged together.”

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister of State for Defence and Education, and President of SAFRA, was Guest-of-Honour for the event and he presented the prizes to the race winners.

ULTRA CATEGORY TOP 3
(18 years old and above, with prior experience in adventure racing)

Men’s Ultra
1st Foo Chien Boon Joseph/Fabian William Raj — Aventure Madness Enduro 1 (4:24:00)
2nd Yeo Kim Hong/Yap Boon Kheng — MR 615 (4:50:00)
3rd Teck Wee Tan/Luke Su — Just Tripping (4:53:20)

Women’s Ultra
1st Lynda Scott/Trudy Fawcett — Hammer (6:13:40)
2ndLee Chuen Ling/Tan Kee Leng — Angels (6:36:44)
3rdNeo Lay Peng/Zou Yu Yun — Crossfit Hub (6:45:25)

Mixed Ultra
1st Alvin Lim/Chang Ee Pin — Adventure In Motion (5:08:04)
2nd Chan Tse Chi Grace/Hadi Masron — Aventure Madness Enduro 1 (5:36:55)
3rd Muhammad Hairul Nazwa/Tan Cheng Yin — Newmoon Khcycle (5:40:06)