X-Capade & X-Sprint Hulu Langat, Selangor

HULU LANGAT, 18 May 2008 -- Approximately 200 participants were accounted for in this year's 13th Eco X-Series adventure race, Eco X-Capade and Eco X-Sprint.

Eco X-Capade is a competitive race, whereby all men, all women and co-ed teams of three are put through a series of eco-challenges, such as canyoning, in-line skating, jungle trekking, abseiling, waterfall climbing and bamboo rafting.

Other than Malaysia, the Eco X-Capade racers came from all over the world, such as Singapore, Nigeria, America, Australia, Austria, Holland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, to take part in this event.

Amongst the 20 all men teams, 5 all women teams, and 13 co-ed teams, six of them were from the Royal British Navy.

Meanwhile, Eco X-Sprint is a non-competitive race for individuals, who would like to get a taste on what it is like to be on an adventure race. Participants have to already have the basic skills and knowledge of adventure racing to take part.

There were 65 participants in the Eco X-Sprint, whereby two of them were newly weds Spencer Clark, an IT specialist, and Grace Tabitha Lim-Clark, an Entomologist.

They have just gotten married the day before and were spending their honeymoon being a part of the race.

"It's something we've been doing since our courting days five years ago," said Grace. "All the while, we've been doing abseiling, rock climbing, kayaking and the likes, and we thought it'd be a good idea to do that as a honeymoon challenge."

Officiating the flag off was the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia, YB Datuk Ong Hong Peng.

"Other than putting Malaysia on the map as an eco-sports and tourist destination, the Eco X-Series is a good way to promote the wonders and beauty of nature, as well as encouraging teamwork and fellowship among the participants," Datuk Ong said.

"Although Hulu Langat is only an hour's drive away from the city centre, it's not a well-known tourist spot, and through word of mouth of the participants and the media, I hope we're able to spread the word about this hidden gem."

The first Eco X-Capade team to arrive approximately two hours ahead of the organiser's estimated time was the team from Watakgi University.

"It's quite challenging and pressuring to be in this race alongside some of the national competitors, like the professional athletes from Powerbar Salomon," said Suhaimi Mohamddin, one of the members of Watakgi University. "But I'm proud and relieved to have reached the finish line first."

"The toughest parts of the race for us would probably be the canyoning and the bamboo rafting -- we just kept on bumping into rocks!" Suhaimi added. "But overall, the race has always been a clear path ahead for us, and I do believe that the fittest and the fastest can finish this race hands down."

Other team members from the Watakgi University team included Jusery B Gani and Murin Majana. Murin has just returned from the Sultan Ahmad Shah International Tioman Eco-Challenge last week and was in the Amfibia team, which finished in the third placing.

They have won themselves a cash prize of RM2000, and a Salomon cash voucher worth RM1500.

The first runner-up for the men's category is Powerbar Salomon, and the second runner-up is Scoreboard All-Starz (A), bagging home cash prizes of RM1000 and RM500 in that order, and a Camelbak backpack each.

For the women's category, the champion is Scoreboard All-Starz (B), and coming in at the second and third placing are Powerbar and The Shell Pigs, respectively.

Eco Wizards Powerbar Salomon leads the co-ed category pack, with Adventure in Motion in second place, and OBML Remeyek in third.

The champions from the women and co-ed categories each won a cash prize of RM2000, and a Salomon cash voucher worth RM1500 each. The first runner-ups bagged a cash prize of RM1000 each, and the second runner-ups won a cash prize of RM500 each.

All winning team members also won a Camelbak backpack worth RM110 and up each.

The first three racers to complete the Eco X-Sprint race were Zabil Ihram bin Zainol, Mohd Shahezwan, and Lau Tze Ping, respectively.

"I was quite stunned to know that I've finished the race first because there were other better and bigger participants from overseas," Zabil, a MAS Airline pilot, said.

Zabil has been a regular eco-challenge participant for the past four years, and he has decided to take part in the Eco X-Sprint race to keep the interest for eco-sports going.

"I would've liked to join in the Eco X-Capade, but unfortunately, my racing partner isn't available and I wasn't able to gather a team in time, thus I decided to just go for the individual race in Eco X-Sprint," he said. "But it was all worth it in the end, and I'm proud of what I've achieved."

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Malaysia
• Selangor
• Hulu
• Langat
• X-Capade
• X-sprint
• adventure
• events