Adventure racing is a multi-disciplined test unlike any other. It combines running, biking, climbing, rappelling, kayaking, and mountaineering into a multi-day package over the most inhuman terrain known to man. If you’ve seen Eco-Challenge Adventure races on AXN, you must’ve cringed at the sight of men and women of iron crumble from sheer exhaustion and fungus infection. But didn’t you catch yourself thinking, "I wonder if I can do that?" Well, guess what? You can.
You’d have to be pretty gutsy to jump into professional adventure racing right off the bat. For us mere mortal, there’s the Urban Jungle Adventure. Organized by Neyney Guevarra and with courses designed by veteran adventure racer Thumble Remigio, the Urban Jungle race is geared to give non-athletes the chance to experience the highs – and cries – of his rapidly growing sport. Urban Jungle has a twist however. Races take place in cities like Manila, Cebu, and Baguio. Hence, the urban jungle moniker. Instead of slippery roots and foliage to deal with, racers must contend with traffic, rabid askals, and lethal phlegm-splitting vendors.
Two classes make up the race: Elite which is an overnight romp through city streets; and the Fun category, a four to six hour mad dash for congregating weekend warriors short on experience but long on desire (and sometimes, delusion).
My very first foray into adventure racing was expectedly masochistic. I had just arrived from a week-long shoot in Malaysia, and the shows producers decided to welcome me back by texting me an enthusiastic "Welcome bak Carlo! Btw, ur joining an advntre race tmrw!" message. I was not prepared!
With the help of my teammates, I managed to (deep breath…) run and bike from Rockwell to Luneta Park, kayak across our sparklingly clean Manila Bay, rappel down the Department of Tourism building, run and bike back to Rockwell in the midday heat, climb 30-foot artificial rock wall, then limp to the finish line. I was tired beyond comprehension. I couldn’t speak, and my legs refused to follow what my mind would them to do. But all pain took a back seat to the bliss of finishing. Crazy? Yup! But there’s an amazing sense of fulfillment there that easily tops any previous sense of fulfillment ever. It is immensely ego-building and you do feel like your personal limits have just been pushed a few notches higher.
My personal fitness revelation? After my very first race, I lost four pounds the next day!
Gliding Down
This is one sport I have yet to try myself. Not that I’m dying to, since the thought of running off a cliff strapped to a parachute isn’t exactly the safest thing to do. That’s what paragliding is, gliding through wind thermals in the air using a parachute and nothing more. No engines, no wings, no cute flight attendants serving beverages.
Former Gameplan host Suzi Entrata-Abrera had the good fortune of trying it before. Although good fortune wasn’t exactly how she regarded it. "I have always had this morbid fear of heights and they (Gameplan producers) decided that I should jump off a cliff in Tagaytay strapped to an American and a parachute. How poetic my death could have been," Suzi laments.
That American was Gabe, her guide. Gabe was to take Suzi up on her very first paraglide trip strappe dto him via a tandem harness. Gabe would handle the toggles used for steering and all Suzi had to do was sit back and relax. A lot easier said than done. To take off, Suzi and Gabe would have to back up a few hundred feet away from the cliff, break into a run and just fall. (Not jump! Jumping raises the possibility of the chute collapsing). The chute would then catch air and lift them up into the blue yonder.
Suzi recalls: "When Gabe screamed ‘Go!’ we ran like hell, feeling the chute rise and tug at us a little. We knew we had to go faster to fight the resistance of the chute. Then we got to the edge. I just kept on running and falling!" Obviously, Suzi followed instructions well, because climaxes with both of them gliding gracefully up the air, the serene Tagaytay atmosphere punctuated with our heroine’s screams of terror.
"I felt peaceful," Suzi says. "The wind caught the chute and gave us one hell of a ride. Gabe was maneuvering the chute with toggles while I was taking footage with my video cam. It was great! At some point, I asked Gabe how we were supposed to land. He just told me to do the same thing as takeoff, only in reverse. While still in the air nearing the ground, we needed to do the running motion and just keep on running until we hit the ground. Wow! What a rush!"
(To be continued)