Under the glare of Sanchung Athletic Stadium's floodlights last night, the three members of Kwan Yang (觀陽隊) team prepared for Taiwan's second Action Asia Challenge.
The top-placed local team in last year's competition could once again be the country's best hope of success in this year's competition, to be held at Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County this Saturday.
PHOTO COURTESY OF STAR TV
Though eager to take up the challenge, team members said their preparations had been too last-minute and they could find themselves at a disadvantage against well practiced teams from Hong Kong and Thailand.
The three men, Kuo Chung-chih, 50 (郭宗智), Lin Fu-cheng, 45 (林福城), and Sun Jin-lung, 42 (孫金龍), came first last year in the Evergreen category of the Action Asia Challenge, which requires a combined age of 120.
Good record
PHOTO COURTESY OF STAR TV
Despite a number of missteps during the race -- it was the first time any of them had taken part in an adventure race -- they also managed to place in the top five overall.
"We basically just toughed it out," said Lin, a keen distance runner who works as a taxi driver. They certainly had few advantages going into the race.
The three had been in a kayak just once before and Sun rappelled for the first time during the race, from a 30m-high bridge.
"We weren't even carrying water," Sun said, "Thank god it rained or we would have died of thirst."
Last year, contestants were not required to provide equipment, but this year it will be different, as the competition gears up to the same level of competition found in Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia.
Although kayaks will be provided by the competition organizers, contestants must provide their own climbing harnesses, carabiners (to fasten ropes), figure eights, gloves, helmets and mountain bikes.
During its interview with the Taipei Times the team spread out its equipment on the Sanchung Athletic Stadium pitch, with most of the items still in plastic wrapping and the price tags not yet removed. "We were only told about this a couple of days ago," Lin said.
The three men met as running partners and Kuo, the team leader, has already become part of Taiwan's sporting history.
In his mid-20's he was crowned Taiwan's marathon champion four times and two years ago, aged 48, he broke the national record for the 100km, or ultramarathon, while racing in Holland.
Breaking the mould
By winning the national championships, Kuo was one of the first ethnic Chinese to break into a field that has traditionally been dominated by Taiwan's Aborigines.
He currently works as a public servant at Taiwan Rail.
"We decided to take part in the race simply to do something different," Kuo said, adding that he was not interested in becoming more proficient in more disciplines.
Last year in the kayaking leg, Kwan Yang was observed spinning around in the water before capsizing.
Asked if they had done any kayak training since then, Lin shrugged and said, "Well, we don't have a boat, do we! At least on Sun Moon Lake we won't have to deal with rapids."
So, they will be relying on luck and their strength in the running sections to do well. "Basically if you are not fast in the running legs, you don't have much of a chance," Lin said.
The addition of the mountain biking leg is also troubling the team, who with the exception of triathlete Sun, have little bicycle experience.
Even Sun, who races on a road bike, said he had to borrow his teenage son's bike for this race.
The team had gone on its first and only off-road cycle the day before and Lin said it had been pretty scary. "Actually, we might be faster if we simply carry the bikes and run," he said ruefully.
"We have been given very little time to prepare," said Lin, adding the problem was exacerbated by the lack of a regular adventure race circuit in Taiwan.
According to Lin, last year teams were given more time to prepare, because of the role played by the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association (中華民國路跑協會) in helping organize the race.
This year, with those duties taken over by international sporting giant IMG, local groups have been denied the benefit of pre-race demonstrations in disciplines they may not be familiar with.
Otherwise, the return of veteran teams -- such as Asia Non-Stop, Ford No-Boundaries and Team FEAR -- should ensure that the race is run at a cracking pace.
Kwan Yang's team members, however, are unfazed. "I think there are some really good people in Taiwan," Kuo said, "it's just that this is still so new."
Participating primarily for the fun of it and confident of the team's physical condition and team spirit, Lin said. "It will be all right when the time comes."
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS