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Camotes Islands, Cebu |
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I was driving when I received Fred Porio's call. He informed me that they (Move Philippines) were joining an adventure race organized by Habagat Outdoor Equipment and Dupont Cordura. The location was still unannounced at that time but invitations were already sent to outdoor clubs and athletes. Fred asked me to replace their teammate who backed-out three weeks before the race. I to Mc Donald's in greenbelt and was introduced to Deo Encarnacion. Fred and Deo informed me that they were having problems with their female teammate's availability. We interviewed a Tae Bo instructor but she eventually backed-out too. Finally, Carol Chua agreed to join the team. She trained with the mountain bike only a week before the race. Four days before we leave for Camotes Islands, our support crew backed-out. I called my UST Mountaineers Francis Ching and Lukus Labrador, and they decided to join us three days before we leave Manila. Deo, Francis, Lukus and I left Manila on board Sulpicio Lines. We arrived in Cebu on June 8, 2000 and boarded another small ferry boat to Poro Pier, Poro Island Camotes. Fred and Carol were already at the pier to help us unload our gears. We boarded a small truck provided by the organizers to carry our gears to our basecamp. We checked-in at around 4 p.m. and the briefing took place at around 5. We stayed in a house rented by Fred together with other teams. I slept at around 4 a.m. after plotting the course. The race started with two racers kayaking 5 km. and the other two running 5km. to a halfway point where the four racers will switch places. Deo and I kayaked the first leg while Carol and Fred ran. At Brgy. Libertad, we switched positions 10 meters off the beach. We ran towards Tudela pier where our support crew waited for us. They handed us our backpacks with water and food and out bikes for the next section. We biked to Control Point 3/Logistics Point 2 in Villa Hermosa where we had our lunch and where we started the trekking leg. We trekked from Villa Hermosa to Puerto Bello. We got our bike and started the second biking section. We biked from CP7 to CP 10 Esperanza, an abandoned pier where the water was so clear but the mosquitoes were unrelenting. We had to leave camp and continued our trek at around 8 p.m.. We stayed and slept for an hour at an elementary school in CP 12. We trekked through several CPs to CP18, Boho Rock Resort, where we had to tackle the rappelling section. After the dizzying descent, we ran another kilometer to CP 19, the most gruelling section, a 1.7 km "Karang" or stilts section. This is where I got my first hand and foot blisters. We arrived at CP 20 at around 6:30 p.m. We rested for an hour to eat dinner and replenish our water and food ration. This is where I tasted Cebu's famous "Puso" steamed rice with the flavor of its leaf wrapper. We started trekking again at around 7:30 towards a small pier then to another dizzying ascent to CP 22- Monte Alegre. We arrived there at around 1 a.m. and decided to rest for an hour. CP 22 was a transition area where the mountain bikes where already waiting for us. We started the bike section to a confusing CP23. We were able to catch up on Team Cuernos and we decided to join navigation efforts on finding the dreaded Control Point. We arrived at CP23 at around 4 a.m. and we found no Marshal to sign our passport. We asked few passing locals if they have seen a red and white flag here, and they answered positively. We had no choice but to wait. The Marshal finally arrived at 6:30 a.m. and he informed us that he was harassed by drunkards the night before, so he had to leave his station. We asked him to relay what happened to us and we asked for adjustment of our time. We lost a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes in two Control Points. We arrived at CP 24 and left our bikes there and trekked to CP 25 and to CP 26 where we had to climb a small hill called "Kalbaryo" or calvary. We hiked down towards a small jetty on the edge of Lake Danao in CP 28. We tackled the swimming section at around 10 a.m. We managed to overtake on a team because they have a weak swimmer. We trekked again towards a PLDT Relay tower and found out some of the teams dropped from the race already. We arrived at CP 32 -Himensulan to get our bikes and we biked to CP 33. We where pushing very hard to get there before 5 p.m. The original cut-off time at CP 33 was 3p.m. but we asked the marshalls to report our lost time in two CPs. We arrived on CP33 the final CP to finish line where we didn't find any Marshall, station or kayaks. We were very disappointed to find out that they pulled-out exactly at 3 p.m. This was the last CP to finish line and we can't finish because of miscommunications. We contacted the organizers through the radio and we were picked-up to be brought to Esperansa Beach, the finish line. We arrived there really disappointed, but most racers agree that we have finished the race. We didn't protest at all because we had to pay the protest fee of Php500. We just ate heartfully and deep in our hearts we know what happened. Photos captured from The Game Plan Carrera Cordura Episode |
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