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Home > Adventure Racing > Eco-X Races >

Eco X-Treme & Ultra Sprint / Pedal 2007
07 April 2007 @ Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor

Press Report

The Eco X Treme and Eco X ULTRA Sprint race held on Saturday, 7th April 2007 was a roaring success with a total of 112 local and international competitors. Adventure racers from all parts of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan came to test themselves on Nomad Adventure’s most challenging adventure race of the year. The countries represented in this international field are Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States of America.

“More Pain, More Pleasure” was the tongue-in-cheek theme for grueling race, the 12th installment of the Eco X Race Series which was established in 2000. The race was held in Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor, the historic site of Nomad’s Eco X-Treme 2002 Dusk to Dawn race, which received an award from the Malaysian Book of Records for the “Longest Non-Stop Adventure Race”.

In this year’s race, teams of two persons mountain biked, jungle trekked, bamboo rafted, navigated, abseiled and tyrolean traversed from the morning of 7th April till late that night. The teams had to complete the challenging race course together. If one member gives up, the whole team is disqualified. The Eco X-Treme was not only a test of strength and endurance, but also of fighting spirit and teamwork as competitors battled fatigue, heat and the psycological factor of racing through the length of the day and into the late night.

Race Director Chan Yuen Li said, “It was good to see a wide range of team taking part in this event. There were the highly competitive and international level teams who were battling it out in front. There were also relatively new adventure racing enthusiasts who simply challenging themselves against the immense distance of the race course and aiming to complete the race. For these teams the competition was not against the other teams but to fight that voice in their head that whispers “Why don’t you just give up?”.”

Chan, a four-time finisher of the Eco Challenge and many other international adventure races, added, “That is the amazing thing about adventure racing. There is a fantastic sense of camaraderie amongst the teams, because you are all out there challenging yourselves and trying to survive the environment and sheer difficulty of the course. Physical strength is important, but it is mental toughness that is absolutely vital in a race like this. The team that finishes last certainly displays as much courage and tenacity as the winning teams.”

Apart from mountain biking (60 km) , trekking (20km), and paddling, the teams also had to negotiate various rope obstacles like abseiling and a spectacular tyrolean traverse across the top of the famous Sungai Chilling waterfall. Throughout the event, strict emphasis was placed on environmental awareness, with strict penalties for teams who littered along the race course.

The Eco X Treme race was flagged off from the center of Kuala Kubu Baru town by Dato' Dr. Lim Thuang Seng, Selangor Executive Counselor for Tourism, Health and Consumer Affair. Also officiating there event was District Officer Yg Bhg Tuan Tukiman, and Yg Bhg Tuan Haji Lahuri Redewan, the General Manager for Selangor Tourism Action Council. The course began with a challenging and scenic mountain bike ride through rubber and oil palm estate and logging roads. Alertness and the ability to route find was crucial on this hilly and technically challenging mountain bike ride. Two teams had to pull out after taking bad tumbles off their mountain bikes. The fastest teams finished the off road mountain biking section in an hour, while the slowest teams took more than 3 and a half hours.

Next up was a lake rafting section where teams had to use bamboo rafts to cross a lake. It was an opportunity to cool down from the now-blazing sun. The rafts were heavy and difficult to steer, making this not only a test of their paddling skills, but also of their precision and problem solving abilities. Just before getting on the rafts however, teams had to first complete a mystery test. Each team was given 3 eggs, which one member had to throw across a 4 meter wide canal and the other team member had to try to catch the egg intact. For every broken egg, the team had to run a penalty run of 200 meters. It was a fun challenge which had many teams taking the penalty rounds, but also continuing the race with raw egg on their face!.

From there the teams faced the most exciting part of the race course. A few kilometers of mountain biking led the teams to a 52 meter high abseil from a bridge to the banks of Sungai Selangor. Not for the faint-hearted, the abseil was entirely free-hanging. It was one of the longest abseils ever attempted on an adventure race. “Even though I am an experienced rock climber, I have never done such a long free hanging abseil, “said Roland Cheah from Team Bantai. With a huge grin on his face, he added, “What a rush!”

Another biking section brought the teams to a jungle trek with four river crossings to get to the famous Sungai Chilling waterfall. A spectacular tyrolean traverse had been set up across the top of the waterfall. Hooking themselves onto a special pulley, each participant had to pull themselves across the chasm with the waterfall crashing far below. The Nomad rigging team spent a week setting up this stunning rope challenge. “The traverse was the most exhilarating part of the race course. I didn’t really want to go at first because I’m quite scared of heights and they almost had to push me off!,” said Heath Buggs of Team Mismatch. The American who traveled from Thailand to take part in this race added, “But after I did it, it gave me an adrenaline boost. I was so pumped up after the traverse, I just ran out the rest of the way.”

From there it was a test of endurance to mountain bike up 25 km to the The Gap, on the border of Selangor and Pahang. Along the way the racers passed many historic sites, include the site where Sir Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner of Malaya was ambushed and killed during the Emergency. The final sting in the scorpions’ tail was a jungle trek up Gunung Hulu Semangkuk (1394 m). The moss forest on this mountain was an beautiful reward for the exhausted racers.

The finish line of the race was at The Gap rest house. This historic building was a hospital during the Second World War.

“This event attracted a wide range of people from top athletes to weekend warriors and even to once-in-a-blue-moon warriors. This attests to the broad appeal of the sport where athletes of all levels can race side by side. What is important in adventure racing isn’t so much beating the other team, but rather overcoming your own limitations,” said Chan.

In this long endurance race, the women competitors really excelled. The first team in at the finish line was Team AIM from Singapore in the Mixed category. They finished the race in 7 hours, 24 minutes ahead of the next team. Team captain Esther Teh, a professional diver, is amongst the top adventure racers in Singapore, male or female.

In second place overall and top in the men’s category was Team VAT, winners of the 2002 Eco X-treme race. In third place overall and first in the women’s category was Team Eco Wizards who completed the race in 8 hours. Certainly the most improved team was Team Powerbar Sunshine girls who came in fourth overall and second in the women’s category. The third women’s team, Team Escapade from Singapore, was the last ranked team of the race course, finishing at 9 pm that night after 12 hours of hard racing.

The 12th race of the Eco X Series organized by Nomad Adventure Sdn Bhd, this event was supported by the Selangor Toursim Action Council and Majlis Daerah Hulu Selangor. “With the strong support from the government sector, we are confident that the Nomad Adventure race series will continue to attract the best athletes in Malaysia and the region,” added Chan.

“Our race sponsors, namely Power Bar, Red Bull and Teva also made this event possible with their generous contributions. Power Bar has a range of nutrition products that are vital for endurance athletes for grueling events such as this. Red Bull is an energy drink that certainly everyone on this race course appreciated. Teva produces some of the best footwear products on this planet and it is well suited for this mixed terrain.”