A "Fool" Print

Adventure Trail Challenge(ATC) is an annual adventure race brought by the NTU Outdoor Adventure Club. ATC is a time-based, sub-urban adventure race caters for both the amateur and professional alike. This year, there were four categories opened for participation : 1) Inter-Varsity(4 per team); 2) Amateur (2 per team); 3) Men's Open (2 per team); 4) Mixed Open (2 per team). The route would cover a total of 26km, excluding the bike and kayaking. As usual, for any adventure race, the route was not allowed to disclose only upon in the race.Came to think about it, it was my first adventure race apart from my participation at X-physique held at 2 weeks ago which I considered more like an amazing race to me.
This year, I partnered with Grace for the first time. We were told to report at 7.45am. For unknown reason, our category flag-off time was delayed and started at 9.15am. Dora and Ronald were leading the group with us running at third position.

At the first checkpoint, we were tasked to tied our legs and walk to each station to follow the origami folding instruction. My hand was so sweaty that the paper crumbled into pieces at the first instruction point. We made a request to the volunteer to bring us a new piece of paper. Due to our dismay, the request was rejected and we had to walk back to the check-in station to perform the task all over again. Me and Grace were extremely bad in Origami. But thanks to Michael and Ivy's assistance, we had completed the instructions which took us some time. Next, we needed to crossed over a high drain. Again, with Michael and Ivy's help, we were pulled up by them where we subsequently dashed into a trail after the drain.

The next challenge was kayaking. It was a tiresome experience as we needed to carry the canoe for 300m before reaching the sea. Then after, Grace and me seem to be fighting among ourselves since our pedals kept hitting each other. To worsen our situation, our canoe was stuck at the Kelong and made a few detours before pedalling back to the shore.

Afterwards, we ran a fair bit of distance via the stretch ofSeletar Link to reach our third checkpoint. At this checkpoint, we were asked to throw 3 balls into a basket which would reduce the timing by 2mins for each successful attempt. None of us able to do it.

The next stretch of the route was a bit hilly. The weather was really hot as the time coming close to noon. Grace was bit of exhausted and we jogged and walked before reaching the fourth checkpoint - 12km mountain biking. This time, the task was to remember the 3 signatory which we came across along the route. The bike trail route was relatively flat and suitable for beginners.

After the biking, we had to ran through the bushes again, bypass muddy trail and slippery down-slope. Never mind since our fifth checkpoint was river crossing a small canal with a life jacket.

From the fifth checkpoint onwards, we ran past another trail route along the MRT track. Chin Yen was pacing and chitchatting with us along the way. From our conversation, I was appreciated by the effort the students had put in!! They had tried out the route not once but twice!! The first was for recce purpose and the next was for trial to gather feedback. Good work!!

The sixth checkpoint was located under the highway bridge. The challenge was Sudoku which I perfectly had not a single idea what was it!! Grace was also not good in this. We struggled for 20mins to crack the puzzle. There was once where we nearly solved it if not for the one last missing piece to fill in. Siew Lee told us not to waste time and took the penalty of 30mins extra. We agreed.

The last stretch took us off along a pretty boring Sembawang Road, then made a left turn into the woods where we walked in a river for about 1km. The water level was slightly above our knee position. There was no need for us to wear life jacket for this exercise.

After the river walk, we had to bypass a small stretch of Kampong area, via park and HDB Flats to arrive the last checkpoint - Abseiling. The abseiling was done at the third floor outside a multi-carpark. It was easier than I imagined. Me and Grace took less than 1min to abseil down. Finally, we headed to our end point, holding our hands and crossed the finishing line!! It took us nearly 4:30hrs to complete the race.


I was impressed by the effort and the logistics that the NTU students had put in. The route was well planned, with lot of water elements and good support spread evenly. It was a fun and challenging race. Moreover, the goodies bag was definitely worth the price packed with Flip flops, North Face Towel and few other vouchers.

I definitely will come back to join in the race if opportunity arises again. Well Done, NTU students!!