STYG Youth Camp 2008: Amazing Race

STYG Youth Camp 2008 - Looking good in THE ONE T-shirt!

There's a 1st for everything, and at this camp I told Iwan what role or task I've never taken up before - GAMES!!! Last year, I did logistics with Uncle Devan. Not that I expected to really take on the role... but soon after I discovered I was in-charge of games with my co-IC, Cammy. Honestly, I had wanted to take on a more relaxed task, but surprise (or no surprise) we were short on manpower as the Kids Camp had just ended a week ago and we didn't want to burn out the "regulars". Moreover, it was more important that the "youth" actually took the opportunity to enjoy themselves at this camp, without having to worry too much about all the works that went backstage.

So the mammoth task of putting together a 4 day 3 nights, 50% fun, 50% spiritual Youth Camp fell onto the laps of Iwan, Uncle Devan, Cammy, Fawn, Devinia and myself. Besides ensuring that our area of task is taken care of, we had to also entice and convince 30 restless, opinionated young people that they will not regret spending 4 days of their precious lives with us.

Cammy and myself proposed and inquired numerous activities which included Kelong / Mangrove Kayaking, Forrest Adventure and Paint Ball. In the end, we picked Amazing Race and Laser Quest, which best suited our time and budget.

Unlike last year's "Amazing Race Pulau Ubin", Cammy suggested that this time round, we'd do "Amazing Race, Singapore City" - destinations will be further apart and taking public transport required.

What we didn't expect was how lighting FAST the teams were during the race. Here's the organisers, behind the scene commentary:

Cammy briefing the teams before flag off


Running toward Mount Faber

Time: 9:15am
Location: St. Teresa Church
Flag off,
1) Teams must run to the back of church to pick up an envelope
2) Decode a puzzle clue of the next location and check with the Station Master before heading out

"What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes
And yet never grows?"

Thankfully my riddle was rather tough. A few teams took a while to get the answer which will lead them up Mount Faber.

Time: 9:30 (at least 1/2 hours before expected arrival time!!!)
Location: Mount Faber
Teams travel by foot to Mount Faber (Marina Lookout)
1) Obtains envelope from Station Master
2) Performs Physical Team Activity
3) Upon completing the task to obtain another envelope from Station Master


Trust Cammy and Joachim to think of the "Pass the Big, Fat Cucumber with your feet" task

Yet again, the first few teams finished the task in incredible time and rushed off to their next station at Vivo City.

Time: 10:05am (expected arrival 10:45am!!!)
Location: Vivo City
Teams travel by foot to Vivo City (around CitiBank)
1) Obtains envelope from Station Master
2) Solves a Black & White jigsaw picture of IKEA
3) Upon completing the task, Station Master will release them to the next destination

Thankfully again, I chose to show just a cropped section of the IKEA building which got a no. of teams stumped at the actual location.

By now, Cammy and I were sweating at the speed of the leading teams. We called Dennis who was the Station Master at IKEA to hide and not reveal himself till 11am. Putting us back on track a little with schedule. I don't know how he did it, but he hid himself so well, even I didn't know where he was!

Where's Dennis?!?!

Time:10:40am (not expected to arrive till 11:30am!!!)
Location: IKEA (Alexandra)
Teams make their way to IKEA Alexandra
1) Obtains envelope from Station Master
2) Find prices of 5 IKEA Items
3) Upon completing the task to obtain another envelope from Station Master

Finally, at 11am we got sight of Dennis at the BEDDING Section. To drag the task longer, he made the team members take turns to locate the pricing of the items two by two. The time delay tactic was working flawlessly, until the a securities manager from the store requested to speak with the organisers.

Cammy and myself had a word with the guy-in-charge, Tang; who commented that we will require a permit to have such an activity within the premise. Then he sited the Mumbai Bombing which raised all public securities to be on an alert. Of cause, being away from civilization, I actually had no clue of the bombings' seriousness until Sunday, and with more details only on Monday after the camp. I told Tang we will cut short the intended activity at IKEA and did not wish to cause any trouble.

So, all teams were given their next clue which was a mandatory rest period for lunch at Hort Park.

Lunch at Hort Park - No permit required Hahaha!

Time: 12noon
Location: Hort Park
No teams are allowed to leave until 1:00pm
1) Teams must find and pick envelopes indicating their release times in 0min, 5min and 10min intervals

Time: 1:30pm
Location: Esplanade (around Sound Stage)

Teams were only expected to arrive at the Esplanade at 2:30pm. In fact when the 1st team arrived, Dennis (the Station Master) was still parking his car!!! Fortunately he dropped off Joachim and Bob who sat within Glutton Square awaiting the teams. We decided to squeeze in another task for the teams to make their way to the small Merlion and take a picture with one of the Service Team members. In this case, Uncle Devan. It was tough, as the mid afternoon sun was shining down hard and they had to make the trip there and back by foot.

It physically drained them out, before Dennis handed them the "real" clue.

Detour:
Clue:
a) Look for the founder of Singapore (Victoria Theatre) OR
b) Look for the eye of Singapore (Singapore Flyer)

Time: 2:30pm
Location: Victoria Theatre
Teams travel by foot to Victoria Theatre (around Raffles Statue)
1) Obtains envelope from Station Master
2) 8 close up pictures of the surrounding (from Fullerton Hotel to the end of the Parliament House) will be provided. Teams must use their phone camera to take the same picture
3) Upon completing the task to obtain another envelope from Station Master

OR

Time: 2:30pm
Location: Singapore Flyer
Teams travel by foot to the Singapore Flyer
1) Obtains envelope from Station Master
2) 8 items will be provided. Teams must source for these items and bring them back to the station master
3) Upon completing the task to obtain another envelope from Station Master

By the original scope of play, teams who finish EITHER one of the task can race back to the FINAL PIT STOP at church. However, they will be at least 1 solid hour before the official end time. We could either end the game early (which means doing nothing all the way until 6pm) or think of another ad-hoc task. Cammy suggested a water rally task, which we were rather pressed with time to put together at the last minute. I proposed that instead of us working out another game, why not have the teams do the OTHER Detour activity. Considering we had spend time planning and preparing for it.So we started calling both Station Masters at Victoria Theatre and Singapore Flyer and informed them of the new plan!

Teams arriving at the FINAL PIT STOP

Time: 4:00pm
Location: St. Teresa Church (Final Pit Stop)
Teams make their way to the FINAL PIT STOP!

The teams made good time returning back to the Final Pit Stop. With the 1st team arriving around 4:00pm and the last team around 5:00pm.

Still the youth found the entire Amazing Race pretty swell and "well organised"!!!
Guess they really didn't realise how much we were panicking on the inside.
And lesson learnt, they may be young; but they are faster and smarter then we think!!!

More STYG Youth Camp 2008 Pictures