PRIDE TRIUMPHED OVER PAIN
TEAM 11 CAME IN 2ND PLACE!
Mount Kinabalu, Borneo 4100 m
I have been struggling to find the words to describe The Kinabalu Challenge.
Every time I think of where to start and what to say I am confronted with the most fantastic whirlwind of action, colours, emotion, pain, the jungle, laughing, intense excitement, mud, sweat and pounding heart rates, the mountain, sea as warm as a bath, helicopter riding into the jungle and achievement... that I find myself engulfed in the memories.
Minutes later I realise I became lost in the memories of one of the most challenging, rewarding and fun weeks of my life. I also realise that although I have not managed to acquire the knowledge as to how I should write about my experience, I have a got a big smile on my face.
As great as this is, it has left me in a position where I feel there is only one way for me to write this:
Every time I think of where to start and what to say I am confronted with the most fantastic whirlwind of action, colours, emotion, pain, the jungle, laughing, intense excitement, mud, sweat and pounding heart rates, the mountain, sea as warm as a bath, helicopter riding into the jungle and achievement... that I find myself engulfed in the memories.
Minutes later I realise I became lost in the memories of one of the most challenging, rewarding and fun weeks of my life. I also realise that although I have not managed to acquire the knowledge as to how I should write about my experience, I have a got a big smile on my face.
As great as this is, it has left me in a position where I feel there is only one way for me to write this:
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
THE HIGHLIGHTS
1. Remembering what my cousin Rory had said to me before I left England - "Don't leave anything behind" (... and we're not talking about material posessions) Putting this into practise, giving it all I had, taking on the jungle and ensuring that Pride Triumphed over Pain!
2. The feeling on the 1st day of the race driving around Borneo, sandwiched in between the mountains in the sea, the excitement and anticpiation of what we were going to be
doing, right at the very start of it all.
3. The South China Sea.
4. Coming strong through the finish line of the first race, a 4km bike run which left me feeling hotter than I ever imagined I would feel, but with the first taste of the recurring and continually intensified sense of achievement I would feel throughout the week.
5. BEING HELICOPTERED INTO THE JUNGLE.
6. Waking up spontaneously with the moon casting a clear white light over the jungle in the middle of the night and whispering team tactics for the following day's race with Chloe before crashing out in my hammock again.
7. Trekking out of the jungle and the start of another one of the best days of my life.
8. Competing in a series of events that involve running through the jungle, through padi fields, Malay villages with children jumping up and down cheering us on, across rope swing bridges, past waterfalls, up a mountain that looked like it belonged in Lord of the Rings and on towards each finish line, and landing in second place!
9. Coming in 2nd place.
10. Having cheesecake delivered to a huge bath in a suite in a 5* hotel.
11. The after race party and the massages I had the day after to ease the pain from the race.
12. Arriving at Laban Rata (3/4 of the way to the summit of Mount Kinabalu) knowing I had physically and mentally exerted everything I had into the challenge and that the race was now finished.
13. Chilling on my own during the push to the summit, the first time I had the time to reflect on the week that had been. Arriving at the summit minutes before sunrise....
Actually making it to the top of the highest mountain between Papa New Guinea and the Himalayas.
14. Returning from the summit to descend the mountain an
d reach the hotel and after race party, wondering if we would ever make it below the cloud line again...
15. Arriving at the hotel at the end of the race dumping all my dirty smelling jungle gear on the balcony, having an amazing shower surounded my marble and mirrors. After the shower once clean putting my bath robe and slippers on and chilling out on my balcony overlooking the South China Sea. Then I phoned home to break the good news and the communication blackout.
16. The general shenanigans after the race that proceeded to unfold in Borneo. Predominantly centered around the pool bar.
2. The feeling on the 1st day of the race driving around Borneo, sandwiched in between the mountains in the sea, the excitement and anticpiation of what we were going to be
doing, right at the very start of it all.3. The South China Sea.
4. Coming strong through the finish line of the first race, a 4km bike run which left me feeling hotter than I ever imagined I would feel, but with the first taste of the recurring and continually intensified sense of achievement I would feel throughout the week.
5. BEING HELICOPTERED INTO THE JUNGLE.
6. Waking up spontaneously with the moon casting a clear white light over the jungle in the middle of the night and whispering team tactics for the following day's race with Chloe before crashing out in my hammock again.
7. Trekking out of the jungle and the start of another one of the best days of my life.
8. Competing in a series of events that involve running through the jungle, through padi fields, Malay villages with children jumping up and down cheering us on, across rope swing bridges, past waterfalls, up a mountain that looked like it belonged in Lord of the Rings and on towards each finish line, and landing in second place!
9. Coming in 2nd place.
10. Having cheesecake delivered to a huge bath in a suite in a 5* hotel.
11. The after race party and the massages I had the day after to ease the pain from the race.
12. Arriving at Laban Rata (3/4 of the way to the summit of Mount Kinabalu) knowing I had physically and mentally exerted everything I had into the challenge and that the race was now finished.
13. Chilling on my own during the push to the summit, the first time I had the time to reflect on the week that had been. Arriving at the summit minutes before sunrise....
Actually making it to the top of the highest mountain between Papa New Guinea and the Himalayas.
14. Returning from the summit to descend the mountain an
d reach the hotel and after race party, wondering if we would ever make it below the cloud line again...
15. Arriving at the hotel at the end of the race dumping all my dirty smelling jungle gear on the balcony, having an amazing shower surounded my marble and mirrors. After the shower once clean putting my bath robe and slippers on and chilling out on my balcony overlooking the South China Sea. Then I phoned home to break the good news and the communication blackout.
16. The general shenanigans after the race that proceeded to unfold in Borneo. Predominantly centered around the pool bar.
