PERHENTIAN ISLAND CHALLENGE 2007 (24th – 26th August 2007)
24th August 2007 – It was 12 midnight and KL Sentral was a hive of activity with a large group of people (over 280 of them) waiting to hop on one of the 8 coaches leaving for Kuala Terengganu. This was the beginning of an adventure trip for the participants, officials, members of the media and sponsors involved in one of the most happening annual events held in Pulau Perhentian, The Perhentian Island Challenge 2007.
Upon reaching Kuala Terengganu the next morning, everyone was feasted to a breakfast buffet hosted by the State Government of Terengganu after which a briefing on the State’s Tourism activities was conducted. Before departing, some were fortunate enough to have been treated to short trishaw tours around town.
The journey continued after the short stopover in Dataran Shah Bandar as the coaches were police-escorted to Kuala Besut, where participants registered and waited their turn to board their boats and head out to the The Teluk Keke Race Village on Pulau Perhentian Besar.
The Race Village at Teluk Keke was the venue where all participants were to camp for the following 2 nights in the subsidized race package of RM120.00.
In the package participants were given return coach transfers from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Besut, return boat transfers from Kuala Besut to the Race Village, tent accommodation at the Race Village, welcoming & prize giving dinner, all meals at the Race Village as well as Race Participation.
Upon arrival, participants were required to register themselves and were assigned their tents before many headed out to catch some snorkeling, swimming and beach time.
The Kampung Style welcoming dinner was served that night and participants were given an opportunity to feast on some locally prepared dishes (prepared by the local housewife community), though the locals may have underestimated the appetites of the visiting participants and had to cook-up round 2 just before a representative of Taman Laut Malaysia gave the camp community a quick briefing on what could and could not be done in a marine park and the ongoing efforts by local authorities to preserve it.
25th August 2007 – Even before sunrise, Race Officials were already busy preparing their work and were at their respective stations ensuring that everything was ready for the race. Participants were served breakfast at the race village before proceeding to the Fisherman’s Kampung for the Official Launch and Flag-Off of the race.
The event started with a Opening Speech by Mr Ken Cheah, President of PIC Adventures Sdn Bhd followed by a welcoming speech and Official Launch by Y.Bhg Encik Mohd Razif Bin Abdul Majid, representing the Besut District Officer.
Mr Chan Chee Seng, the Race Director took over and briefed the participants on the rules and regulations for both the Novice and Elite Race categories. The first category to be flagged off was the Novice Race category with 62 female and 119 male participants.
The Novice Race introduced for the first time this year was specifically designed for beginners and amateurs who had wished to participate on a leisure-race level.
The Novice Race opened to individuals, had a simpler route covering lesser disciplines such as running and other obstacle courses such as water obstacles, rope climbing, fin run while contestants also had to participate in some mystery games along the course.
The Novice Race course was focused mainly on Perhentian Kecil and though the organizers had expected the race to last over 3 hours, the 1st person from the Men’s category reached the finishing line in 1:06.52.
Richard Habeya from Ghana was followed by Krishna Kumar Jayaran and Goh Choon Aun who both shared the 2nd position as they crossed the finish line hand in hand with a race time of 1:07.01.
In the Novice Women’s Category, 1st prize winner was Jessbird Yip with a finishing time of 1:45.50, 2nd prize winner was Law Suat Cheng at 1:46.20 and 3rd prize winner was Fazilawati Jaafar at 1:52.44.
Both Novice Women and Novice Men categories received RM1,200.00 cash for the 1st Prize Winner, RM800.00 cash for the 2nd Prize Winner and RM600.00 cash for the 3rd Prize Winner. They also received Brooks Cash Vouchers, Deuter Bags and finishing medals.
The Elite Race, on the other hand was designed for racers with prior experience competing in multi-sport endurance events. The Elite Race was opened to teams of 2 and divided into Mens’ and Mixed Category. Elite Racers had to cover both the islands starting on Perhentian Kecil to Perhentian Besar and back to Perhentian Kecil again.
Starting at the Fisherman’s Kampung at Perhentian Kecil, the Elite Racers had to kayak all the way to Perhentian Besar, swim and run all the way to Teluk Keke for the rope and commando crawl obstacles, continued with a run through the jungle trail on Perhentian Besar before jumping back into their kayaks again for their next adventure on Perhentian Kecil.
On Perhentian Kecil, the Elite Racers were required to retrieve sand bags from the sea that weighed approximately 10 kilograms each followed by a rope climbing obstacle, a fin-run and mystery games.
Part of the Mystery Games required participants to eat wasabi and drink a variety of “potent” drinks such as soy sauce, tomato sauce etc. The Elite Racers then went on running through the jungle trails of the Perhentian Kecil before finishing their race at the Kampung Perhentian, where they were first flagged-off at.
Despite having a few teams return to the finishing line early, it was officially announced that the first official team who had formally completed all requirements and obstacle courses was Team Bubu with a race time of 3:01.21.
The Elite Mens’ champions comprising of Eugene Chan Wai Yong and Heidilee Mohd from Team Bubu won RM3,600.00 in cash, Brooks Cash Vouchers, Deuter bags, finishing medals and an additional bonus of RM3,000.00 as well as the Perhentian Island Challenge trophy for being the 1st team back.
2nd placing went to Ahmadul Bin Tahir and Yusup Tungkub of Team Busat with a finishing time of 3:04.49. Team Busat won themselves RM2,600.00 in cash, Brooks Cash Vouchers, Deuter bags and finishing medals. 3rd placing went to Mohd Shahezwan Bin Abd Wahab and Muhammad Zaki Bin Hyder of Team Last Minute with a finishing time of 3”29.57. They in turn took home RM1,800.00 in cash, Brooks cash vouchers and finishing medals.
For the Elite Mixed, Team Hello comprising of Ong Khe Wat and Tan Cheng June reached the finishing line 1st at 3:44.41 and they too received RM3,600.00 in cash, Brooks cash vochers, Deuter bags and finishing medals. The 2nd team was Mohd Uzaini Bin Rahman and Norhidayu Bt Haris of Team Eco X-Venture with a finishing time of 3:45.04 and they received RM2,600.00 in cash, Brooks cash vouchers, Deuter bags and finishing medals. Finally, 3rd prize winners from the Elite Mixed category went to Tan Suet Fong and Mohd Shukri of Team Batu Dam with a finishing time of 3:45.08 and their prizes included RM1,800.00 in cash, Brooks cash vouchers and finishing medals.
A record total of 291 participants participated in the Perhentian Island Challenge 2007, an increased in 343% compared to the first time that they held the event way back in 2004 that only saw 85 participants.
This year, the participants not only comprised local participants but also participants from countries like Singapore, Sweden, Kenya, Indonesia, Holland, France, Australia and New Zealand while organizer’s objectives in introducing the Novice Category were met with the participation of husband and wife teams and some teams of whole-families turning-up from all over the country.
During the closing and prize-giving ceremony, the event was graced by Y.B. Dato’ Mohamed Bin Awang Tera, Chairman for State Industrial Development and Tourism Committee. Y.B. Dato Mohamed gave his closing speech and then presented prizes to all the winners of the Perhentian Island Challenge 2007. Y.B. Dato’ Mohamed, all invited guests, participants and the local villagers were entertained with local Terengganu cultural shows and to end the night, they were all treated to a spectacular fireworks display that lasted almost 10 minutes.
The Perhentian Island Challenge 2007 didn’t end without a joint community effort where all participants were involved in a big “beach-sweep” on the morning of the 26th. Just before boarding their respective boats and heading out to mainland, officials, participants, members of the media and guests were invited to do their community social responsibilities with the beach clean-up of the Race Village at Teluk Keke.
With the completion of the beach-sweep, participants one by one boarded their boats for their transfer to Kuala Besut to catch their busses and flights back home. By the time the sun set that day, all that was left were some officials clearing and packing up the tents in Teluk Keke where returned after 3 full days of chatter amidst strangers who became friends and where fellow athletes shared the laughter and pain while exchanging stories of an event that would stay in memory for many moons to come.
The Perhentian Island Challenge 2007 would not have happened if not for the initiative of PIC Adventures Sdn. Bhd., The State Government of Terengganu and Terengganu State Tourism Action Council.
This event was also supported by Tourism Malaysia and Tri-Sportz and a big thank you to all sponsors mainly, Cili Padi, 100 Plus, Arora, Brooks, Coleman, Deuter, Go Holiday by Air Asia, King Koil, Power Bar, Spritzer, Sting, The Sports House, Tiger Balm, members of the media that went along to cover the event and last but not least all the officials and volunteers that were involved in the organising and running of the event proper.
As mentioned in Y.B. Dato Mohamed’s closing speech, the Perhentian Island Challenge has created an impact on Pulau Perhentian, making it not only a beautiful island destination but also the venue of one of the country’s most anticipated annual adventure sports events.
Watch out for the Perhentian Island Challenge 2008 which will be bigger and better as it is organized in conjunction with Visit Terengganu Year 2008.
2nd September 2007
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