Saturday, September 25, 2004 @ 14:44
number sixty-three
orienteering competition. what a day. alan toh, lim quan heng, lester lim and i met up at 0635 in the morning at tanah merah mrt station and took a cab down to pasir labe camp. which is at the left-test left left left corner of singapore. on our way, we saw the aftermath of an accident. the man was lying on hte road, no pants because it was removed to make treatment easier, his thigh area was bleeding like mad and his arm bone was sticking out from his elbow. and he was writhing on the road. what a sign. surely means good luck.
then we arrived at pasir laba camp, reported to the BCTC training area. got a lot of other schools. all of them were like slacking away at the training shack. then we reported, without lip tat, but he came a while later. so we waited. and we lied to the sergeant on duty. we told him we had compasses but they were actually with mr yeow, who was not there yet. but their equipment check was damn pro, they asked only, and no one actually told us to take the items out. well done. then we saw some clt's and singapura officers who tested us before there. w.h toh was there too. former anglican dude. now sergeant. pro.
when we arrived and reported, our route was route number 2, and we were from detail 4. after the other crap schools that arrived late, we were pushed back to route 4 detail 18. what a move. springfield secondary came in their p.t kit. well done. disqualified. all were sent back. pro-ded yalams.
when we went to collect the maps, the stupid officers took their time and left us with only a minute to plot map. so the minute was up and we ran and ran and ran. halfway, we got to a crap checkpoint called the bridge. across a "stream" about three feets across. what a bridge. so we missed that, and went to write the numbers of another bridge. shit.
well, we had six checkpoints to reach. five of which was on an area of about 10 by 3 grid squares. the last one was the best. it was at the top right hand corner of the map. it was between two hills. and the only paths leading to it were streams of water, which we were not allowed to step into. so we gave that point up. and arrived at the ending point. half and hour earlier.
total score: 4/6 on checkpoints and 54/60 on timing. we lost because the other teams were better. better than anglican. but we got a free lunch, so i guess the trip was worth it. well, there's always next year and the year after.
so come on, tell me.