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U/TREK
JOINS 1ST CALAMBA-MAKILING ADVENTURE CHALLENGE
By Judith Palero
I'm
not really the best person to tell you about the race. It
would have been better if the account would come from the
racers themselves. Medyo objective kasi yung perspective ko
eh, so iba yung pag ka capture ko sa race. You should hear
Weller, Rico and Joy tell their stories. Sama mo pa si Arth
& Marlon. May konting yabang but you can't help but love
this people. What they went through was one tough adventure.
I
did want the group to experience adventure racing. Been wanting
to do that for several years now. It was part of our agenda
this year pero we were hoping to do that second half of the
year pa. Aiming for Urban Jungle sometime October, mas safe
kasi yun at hindi masyadong mahirap.
I
was presented with this idea by Weller mid-March, which gave
us more than 4 weeks to prep. I asked Arth to get the details
of the competition. For the record lang, when Arth and I was
discussing this, I told him one thing, I won't do this race
without him. And that's how it all started.
First,
we (Arth & I) had to choose our racers. Siyempre, yun
yung core ng team. What we were asking them to do was physically
demanding and dangerous. Weller was on top of the list because
of his training. I want Arth to race sana but he declined
kasi hindi daw sya fit to do that, he'd do support crew na
lang daw, which turned out to be a better decision (though,
now, he's inspired to race). So, we asked Bong, pero may sinakulo
presentation sya during that time kaya hindi din sya pwede.
We taught of Rico next but I was not sure if he's into it.
I called him up, presented him with the idea. Hindi nya sure
kung matutuwa sya o matatakot eh, but I remember him saying
na “kung hindi lang kayo ni Arth ang kumukuha sa akin,
hi-hindi ako eh”. The next team racer should be of the
opposite sex. Must be someone who could work with the other
2 guys. Joy was our first choice kasi swimmer sya. Big advantage.
I was not sure if she would agree to this though. I asked
the help of Joel Tiger to laid down the details of the offer,
i-follow through ko na lang. So when I called her, she was
excited about it already. Ayan, buo na ang racers.
Next,
we had to pull the group's resources to complete the required
equipments. We already run through the list before putting
up the team to make sure we can do this. Unfortunately, our
racers do not have gears. Completing the 3 required mountain
bikes was a big challenge for me. Good thing, members were
willing to lend their bikes to us pero puro naka slick tires
yun which was not allowed for the race, dapat knobby, yung
pang off-road. How we pull it off? John's bike, which was
used by Joy during the race, was with Philip's tires. Rico
was riding Ariel's bike with Bong's tires. At yung bike ni
Arth na sobrang love nya was using Jerick's tires. Ang saya,
di bah! The rest of the gears were all lend out by different
utrek people. Team Utrek nga eh!
Then,
I had to raise funds to cover expenses. I practically pleaded,
begged, and coerced utrekkers based abroad to sponsor the
team. We could not have done it without their help.
We
still haven’t decided who the other support crew would
be. Sabi ni Arth, ako na lang daw, gosh!!! I was eyeing Marlon
pero may problem pa sa schedule nya. Eventually he was able
to work it out, and he became part of the team. I must tell
you now that I was so amazed with how Arth & Marlon worked
together as support crew during the race. Ang galing, sobra!!!
I
hired Chris’s L300 van as support vehicle for the team.
At siyempre, hindi ako pumayag na hindi sya ang Team Driver
namin. Naka-load sa van yung 3 bikes and all the other gears.
The support crews were only allowed at specified Logistic
Points (LP) were transitions from one discipline to another
happens. Kasama din pala namin si Lin, wife ni Marlon sa van,
for goodluck.
April
12, 2003
All teams must check in at La Vista Pansol Resort in Los Banos
by 4pm on this day. Our team left Manila early to avoid the
traffic. Marlon & Lin was in their car and the rest of
the team was on the van. Convoy kami during the trip. No fear
na daw, all were positively psyche about the race. When we
got there, we were the 3rd team to sign in. This is it! We
will be officially racing. We all got a bit agitated when
the other competitors started coming in. Nay! They looked
as if they’ve been doing this everyday. There were teams
composed of national team athletes for triathlon, there were
2 teams from Trek (with Bobby as one of the racers), there
was a team from AMCI, Cancer Warriors, etc. Yung iba hindi
na namin kilala, familiar looking lang kasi lagi sa TV. Over
all, there were 15 teams competing, including us. There was
a free dinner before the briefing pa. Mukha kaming 1st timer
talaga kasi full attention kami sa details. They started late
kaya late na din natapos. Si Thumbie pala ang Race Director,
sya yung nag design ng racecourse, sya din yung nag brief
sa racers. He’s into adventure racing talaga, ang dami
na nya sinalihan na mga races and his team usually finishes
top of the league.
After the briefing, may re-briefing pa rin kami sa campsite
area namin. We were designing our game plan. It was probably
midnight na, yung ibang competitors ang himbing na ng tulog,
kami nag di-diskusyun pa. Very sleepy na si Rico at Joy kaya
pinatulog na namin yung mga racers, kaming support…
nag socials. Arth, Marlon, Chris & I stayed until 2:30am
the next day. Hindi maubos ang kwentuhan eh, to think na Maculot
lang ang topic namin nun ha.
April
13, 2003
Our wake up call was set at 4am. No one was complaining from
lack of sleep, race day na eh. We have to be at the starting
line by 6am, which was set at the Calamba City Plaza, a good
10-15 minutes drive from the resort. By this time the cheering
squad from Manila who left 3:30am that day was already in
the vicinity (Crosswind-Philip, Magelle, Doc, Linda, Jun I;
Adventure-Kiko, Kiko’s bro, Abner, Donna, Myhe; FX-Glenda,
2 kids, Vangie, Leya, Jun C, George). We met them at the starting
point. May suki na kaming gotohan duon sa lugar from the training
we did 2 weekends ago, duon na din kami ulit nag breakfast.
The race was supposed to start by 7am, moved to 7:30am awaiting
the arrival of the other teams.
‘GamePlan’
aired every Saturday, before Survivor, was covering this race
pala. The fun part was, we got interviewed. They let me do
the talking eh, not sure if I was making any sense. Anyway,
they probably edit us out. Maybe, they were just doing a random
interview of teams not knowing yet who will win the race.
Just the same, better to catch the show, much better if somebody
could record it. Maganda siguro ang coverage nila. We were
so busy following our team we have no idea what’s going
on to other teams during the race.
We
did not waited for the start of the race. The support team
must be at the next CP (Control Point), which was also a LP
(Logistic Point), a transition area. From START (7:30am),
the racers had to run for 7 km to CP1/ LP1 at Prinza River.
This was under the last bridge in the South Expressway. It
was a long drive around, so the tension was already building
up. Gosh! Totohanan na toh! We just got in the area when the
1st team arrived. Unbelievable. My heart was pounding hard.
More teams started coming in, pero wala pa rin yung team natin.
There was an obstacle course they had to negotiate before
they could have their passport signed and clear CP1 (8:13am).
We were 14th place at this time. Joy was disappointed at this
leg due to heat exhaustion. It was a very hot day. Then one
team member (Weller) put on a harness and did a tyrolean traverse
to get to the other side of the river. Then, checked in at
CP2 (8:29am) upon completion. Medyo hindi maganda yung pag
rig nila ng ropes used for the traverse eh, kasi sumayad si
Weller sa mga bato, dynamic pati ata yung rope na ginamit
kaya he was scrambling along boulders than doing tyrolean.
After, swam back to the other side of the river to re-group
with his team members, checking in at CP3 (8:38am) before
jumping in the water. Then, they had to build a raft out of
7 fresh huge bamboo poles. They were given a saw & a coil
of wire to tie these bamboos together. They had to create
a sturdy raft to carry at least one member on board. We were
all there cheering them on. Maski sobrang gusto na namin sila
tulungan, we had to hold ourselves together dahil baka ma-penalty
pa pag nag kulit kami sobra. The 1st team that arrived from
the run got a time penalty of 30 minutes kasi walang silang
mandatory equipment when they arrived. Each racer must have
his/her hydration system at all times. Mga triathletes ata
yun eh, parang wala lang yung takbo sa kanila. Our team left
ahead of them, leaving CP4 (9:01am) for CP5. Weller got on
the raft and paddled while Joy & Rico helped push the
raft by swimming along side it. Ang baho daw ng tubig eh.
Pero marami na silang na-over take na teams sa river. It was
a winding gorge, which took them 45 minutes to negotiate,
checking in at CP5 (9:45am) along Turbina riverbank. From
the riverbank, they had to run uphill along passageway in
between houses to CP6/LP2 (9:56am) located at Turbina basketball
half court. From here, they mounted their mountain bikes to
Brgy. Puting Lupa. We were gaining good time at this point,
leaving CP6 at 8th place.
Support
vehicles were not allowed in the next 4 CPs. So, we decided
to run along, planning to load up on fuel and additional supplies
and meet the team in the next LP. Buti na lang may support
yung support crew, kasi nag CR si Magelle sa gas station,
so nahuli pa yung Crosswind umalis. They saw Weller when he
had trouble with his bike. Salamat sa cellphone, dahil they
were able to call us up. The other 2 members were also pedaling
ahead with no idea of Weller’s predicament. Hataw yung
sasakyan namin sa highway pa balik, husay ng driver eh. Actually,
according to race rules, we can’t help them at this
point. I had to call Thumbie to give us permission to work
on the bike. The damage was very bad that we were not able
to fix it kaagad. Rico had to gave his bike to Weller, and
tow the other bike with Rico on it. Several teams passed us
by at this time. I was disheartened. Yung equipment na yung
bumigay eh, how can we go on. I don’t know what they
did, but Arth was able to fix it, it was his bike after all.
Na-magic ata. Ang dami na nga damage nung bike nya eh. Ako
na lang ang nag call, I ask Rico and Weller to exchange the
bikes their using. I just have a bad feeling eh. They were
able to continue with the race after that. I was telling nga
people that the team was racing with their hearts already.
Hindi na lakas. They were heading to NPC drilling site, which
was up Mt. Makiling’s slopes. They were pushing their
bikes na lang kasi sobrang steep na. We were still following
the team up these slopes hoping we could work on the bike
further when they leave them at CP7. Inclined rough road yun
at hindi 4-wheel drive yung dala namin. Yung tires nung van,
nag spin lang pero hindi maka-ahon. When we checked it out
later, makinis na yung tires ni Chris. Maya-maya, dumating
yung sasakyan ng organizers pa-baba, with Thumbie on it. Pina-aalis
kami kasi hindi nga allowed yung support vehicle duon. I was
trying to reason out with our situation pero he wouldn’t
have it. Besides, hirap din naman yung sasakyan maka-ahon
kaya bumaba na lang kami. Nag re-group na lang kami with the
other Utrekkers. Kwentuhan muna to relieve tension.
Our
team, on the other hand, reached CP7 (11:25am) where they
had to leave their bikes then trekked inside Mt. Makiling
forest reserve up to CP8 (12:13pm). Then trekked back down
to CP7, which is now CP9 (12:48pm) to get their bikes again
and rode it to CP10 (2:17pm) in Ayala Greenfields Heights.
This was the toughest part of the mountain biking leg daw.
Hindi na kami nakarating dun eh. Then it was all downhill
from here, back to the city proper. Joy had an accident somewhere
here, where she landed on her right side, causing a lot of
scratches on her right arm and leg. The next CP was at the
new City Hall construction site, a transition point. We fed
them here after checking in at CP11/LP3 (2:39pm). But before
they could leave, one member (Joy) must scale a 20-feet in-door
rock-climbing wall while the other member (Rico) belays. The
other team member (Weller) had to rappel down from the 2nd
level of the unfinished building. They completed the skill
tests in 10 minutes. Then, they rode their bikes out again
heading to Bucal River. This is a transition point as well.
All three members must swim from one end of the public water
reservoir and back. They were able to do this in 4 minutes
leaving CP12/LP4 (3:05pm) for the next leg, which was biathlon.
Two members of the team must now run, while the other member
ride a mountain bike back to La Vista Pansol Resort which
was the site of the next CP. The racers were very tired at
this point, especially Weller, whose energy level was getting
very low. He and Joy shared the bike ride section of this
leg. It took them 30 minutes to get to the resort. In the
resort, the team had to complete a 600 meters relay swim,
200 meters for each team member. Our team took turns completing
100 meters each. They were all suffering from muscle cramps
every time they got out of the water. They were able to complete
the swim leg in 30 minutes leaving CP13/LP5 (4:05pm) for Pansol
Aplaya. The team was at 12th place at this time.
LP5
was the last point where support crews were allowed. From
the resort, the team had to bring their life vest and paddle
and run to CP14 (4:23pm). We wanted to see the next leg of
the race, so we decided to follow the team again even if we
were not allowed to do that. Unfortunately, nahuli na naman
kami ni Thumbie before we even reached CP14. So we had to
go back and wait for the team sa finish line na lang. From
Pansol Aplaya, the team got on a banca and paddled out to
a lighthouse, then to Calamba Aplaya. Must tell you first
that this part of Laguna de Bay was very dangerous due to
big waves. Earlier that day, 7 kids got drowned and died in
this area. The banca of some teams who were not good at paddling
were even capsized. Joy was screaming daw most of the time.
She was trying to scoop out water from their banca with her
bare hands. Each team got an additional paddle naman. Rico
realized na may talent pala sya pag sagwan. The locals were
telling them not to go far out, pero sabi nila mas mahirap
sa gilid kasi the waves tend to crash on the boat harder,
so the team decided to do otherwise, pumalaot pa lalo. Which
was a good decision kasi they gain more time here. Ang liit
daw nung lighthouse from where they were. Tapos, hindi naman
pala duon talaga papunta but to Calamba Aplaya. They reached
CP15 (5:49pm) after more than 1 hour of paddling. From here,
it was a run race to the FINISH LINE back to the Calamba City
Plaza, the starting point. Yung cheering squad pala were just
hanging out sa city plaza for more than 3 hours na, waiting
for the team to arrived. Nung dumating na yung team hindi
naman namalayan kasi busy sa kwentuhan. The team clocked in
at 6:07pm, taking 11th place out of 15 teams. The winner of
the race arrived in the finish line at 2:23pm.
I'm
very proud of the whole team, for giving this race their best
efforts and for not giving up. This experience proved the
resilient of the human spirit and the wonders of a great teamwork.
To all who participated and shared their resources, gears,
prayers, and support, we all have done it. We are all members
of this team… TEAM UTREK!!!
/jcp-april
2003
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