It’s a week since I’m back from beijing and the lovely memories (and very much the flu) still linger in my mind. Better blog about it before it gets buried under all the work that is filling up my days, and nights.
1 of the 4 Singapore teams had a head start in bejing with an early flight on Thursday morning while the rest had to wait till late afternoon to get on the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 flight SQ822 to the chinese capital.
Arriving in the middle of the night, we quickly settled down in our rooms and got some much needed rest. Not much though, cos we had to get up early to squeeze in some sight-seeing the following day before we register for the PwC Cup finals back at our hotel.
First stop – the Bird’s Nest! We were told that we would be competing at olympic sites so we were there to familiarise ourselves to the site… riiiiight. It’s super hazy though! Beijing has a long long way to go to clean up the pollution – it wasn’t long before I fell sick thanks to the smog.
Anyway, our stomachs were rumbling pretty soon so we asked around for directions to shopping centres near a subway station where we can eat. Unfortunately, shopping centres weren’t the places where the locals eat and we were ended up at a store in the middle of nowhere. Meant for tourists i guess. We were very lost but eventually found ourselves a restaurant. We ordered quite a bit but it was dirt cheap. Happy.
Running late (and still not knowing exactly where we were), we cabbed back to our hotel to register and get ready for dinner with the PwC Cup participants and organisers.
We intended to get a good rest after dinner to get ready for the 4 stages of competition that was ahead of us. The schedule given to us stated that the first stage would only begin early saturday morning. But the organisers gave us a surprise by announcing that the first stage would start after dinner and captains would have to go for briefings in 15 mins time. That gave me 5 mins to gobble whatever food i can get my hands on before running back to the hotel room to change into the competition gear and attend the briefing. Besides the dinner, there were plenty of information and rules to digest quickly. Soon, we found ourselves transported to a nearby university.
Stage One
The first stage in the dark required us to navigate the campus ground (with the help of maps and a lousy headlight). We had to choose as a team of 5 which combination of checkpoints we want to visit (with varied points) and then register our choices, before split into 2 sub-teams to visit the checkpoints. To do well, the teams have to make sure that both teams took about the same time to visit their respective checkpoints. If not, they would have to waste time waiting for their teammates to catch up and register for the next set of checkpoints to visit. They must also plan their runs well so make sure they don’t check in at the end point after the stipulated stage time.
And that was the strategy we adopted as we ran non-stop to the various checkpoints. Was cruising through though, as the darkness and the bad air gave us second thoughts to really go for it. In the end, our team did well to finish 3rd among the field of 59! Well done!
Stage Two
After the strategising, we had less than 4 hours of sleep before getting up for breakfast the next day. For this stage, we were taken to first of two olympic sites that we would compete in – the triathlon olympic site at the ming tomb reservoir.
If stage one was 5 out of 10 on the physical scale, stage two would get a score of 15, plus minus 2.5, depending on whether you’re going up or down the steps. Didn’t help that the rain started to fall and it was very very cold and windy. This stage is also high in strategic demands. 5 of us had to split again into teams of 2 each, with 1 all-important trader giving instructions on where to run to. The idea of the game is to choose which checkpoints to run to with limited cash to ‘buy’ products and then run back to the trader who sells it for profit. The teams will be ranked at the end according to how much profit they have made.
The twist to the game is that only the trader would have information to the profit margins and the selling prices will fluctuate at various points into the stage. The rest simply run (and run and run). The running was so intense, we really yearned to go to a couple of checkpoints where we could for a change, ride bikes or sit in a rubber dingy (they call it a speedboat) to get to them. I sweared the first time we climbed up this dam, only to swear a few more times as we went up and down again and again and again. Eventually i decided to keep my mouth shut. Towards the end, the climbing got so bad my quadriceps cramped up bad. Mark from the other Singapore team had to help me up those last few steps!
We didn’t manage to do very well despite all that hard-running. Eventually we finished 9th. Terence’s team did extremely well to win the stage! Congrats to them. I was very very impressed as he explained to me how his team’s strategy formed and evolved as the game changed.
Stage Three
We were happy to hear that the next stage would not be physical and it would take us to the Bird’s Nest. After taking a group photo with the brilliant stadium as the backdrop, we got right down to business. Given various kinds of wood pieces, bungee cord and other tools/materials, we had to construct a vehicle to transport a wooden log and pail along the running track. We will be given 3 tries to set off our vehicle and accumulate the distance. The faster we finish the task and the longer the distance traveled, the more bonus time we will receive. With that in mind, and the fact that we got tickets to go into the stadium until 7pm, we couldn’t wait to get going.
We got the concepts of the mechanisms to release and move the vehicle really fast but struggled to get everyone on the same page with regards to who does what. To reduce the weight of the vehicle (which would theoretically move the vehicle further), we kept the length of the vehicle to the minimum. However, that was, to me, the fatal decision. After testing the vehicle, we realised that the length of the free tensioned bungle cord decided the power of the vehicle, not how tightly the bungle cord was tied around the wheel axle. We had to lengthen the vehicle, and fast, as the other teams have already began testing and going for the actual (and final) test.
To make up for lost time, we extended the frame of the vehicle, noticing how most teams have the same length and even design. They had copied exactly how the vehicle looked like in the hint photo that was provided 30 mins into the task. As the sun set, we scrambled to get our vehicle ready for final testing. After getting a good distance on our first try, we went for even more tension in the bungee cord, seeing how the wheels got slowed down as it rubbed against the frame of the vehicle. Unfortunately, as our vehicle set off on its second voyage, the wood began to give way. As we tried to coil up the already disintegrating vehicle, the wood cracked at various places and it turned from low tech flintstones to high tech transformers. But it was a transformer mid-way into its transformation. Heart-breaking bad luck! As we stepped into the Bird’s Nest for the sight-seeing, I was thinking.. Oh well, time to give up and start to enjoy the scenery. The disappointment was overwhelming. The morning after, we found out we finished 22nd in this stage.
Stage Four
Having slipped down the standings since we started, we were determined to stop the rot. We were taken to Tian Chi, high up the mountains near the ming tombs. If the second stage was a 15 on the physical scale, this was a 50. Plenty of running, and lots of steps down the mountain to finish at the place where we had our stage 2. My knee got injured badly after the repeated pounding down the steep and narrow steps.
For this fastest-to-finish final stage, teams can choose how to get the best timings. Either complete the minimal tasks along the way, or choose to complete more tasks to get bonus time. The tasks are a mix of puzzles and photos to observe, where we noted down as much information as we want to answer the questions that were asked later. Knowing how ‘smart’ we are compared to the locals, the strategy was simple. Do the minimal tasks and finish the race ASAP.
Everything went according to script at the start as we scrapped through the roadblocks and were the first team to answer the questions. Unfortunately, we did badly at the puzzles and we were one token short to finish the race. We had to suffer a 15 minute penalty to buy that token. It didn’t help that the locals hired to be marshals weren’t sure of the rules and directions. As the first team to reach the various points in the race, they weren’t sure which way we should go and what we could or could not do. Wasted even more precious time! Eventually, we were the first team to cross the line before the second team which arrived 15 mins later. In the end, we paid the price for this penalty and our horrible stage 3 result and could only finish 6th overall. We were left to rue what could have been if we had not committed those mistakes – we would have gotten a top 3 finish that we were gunning for. I guess our only consolation is that we maintained our position as the top Singapore team in the competition.
Even though the competition was physically daunting, I don’t regret going through it. I learned a lot about others and more importantly, myself. I hope the lessons that i’ve learned would last longer than the injuries that i’ve picked up in the race!
Next up, photos from the sight-seeing! Stay tuned!
