SIM Incandescence: The Amazing Race (11/10/2010)

Our chingay contingent Incandescence met up for the first time on Saturday, 11^thSeptember in School, where we then proceed for our amazing race game at Marina Bay. This is what the dance captains have to say:

Group 1 – Shiqi

With less than a 30 minutes nap, I made my way to school on a Saturday morning for the Chingay amazing race orientation. Reached school at 8am SHARP!! The earliest I’ve been so far in these two years. Heh! Ran like mad from the Flyer to Suntec back to Esplanade, then to Chinatown, Raffles, etc. My mind went blank at one instant, but my legs just kept running… and running… and running…. the number ‘1’ just kept appearing in my head.

Was rather grateful that most of the people in my team turned up. We ended up being the largest group, having a total12 people including the facilitator Qing Yong from Love Retreats. There are definitely disadvantages for being such a huge group. It was difficult to oversee the welfare of everyone when you have so many people, but it was also because of the size of our group that everyone came together and pushed ourselves to finish the race as a team.

I told my group in the bus to Marina Bay, “Hey! in my group means must get first leh”. They all looked at me and smiled. A bunch of really enthusiastic people!! Had so much fun with them!! Of course, at every station I constantly reminded them how it will be like when they announced the scores at the end of the race and we came in first. WE DID!!!!!! We should always begin with the end in mind, right?? Haha!! Really want to share this verse I came across on the net randomly some time back that inspired me to the soul.

If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you think you can't win, it is almost certain that you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost. For out in the world we find, success begins with a fellow's will. It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are. You've got to think high to rise. You’ve got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.

by C. W. Longenecker

HMMMM…. shall I remind everyone during the weekly practices in the future how it will be like if we emerged champion for the FIRST Singapore traveling mass dance competition? HAHA!!!

Group 2 – Florence

Personally, I felt that this amazing race helped bond the people together.

Not only do they work together as a team to complete tasks at each station, they are also given the chance to lead and decide who to follow for the next station. From this event, we can identify who the leaders and who are the followers.

This amazing race is a very good way to start off the preparation for the competition and mix the whole contingent around. It definitely marked a good start! I believed everyone enjoyed themselves in this amazing race and am definitely excited to know what we have prepared for them next.

Group 3 – Shawn

A great success in bonding the teams and the dance captains indeed! Although only 6 of the 12 people in my team turned up for the race, it was not handicapped at all. In fact, we managed to win 2^nd place overall!! Having said that, I realized that winning wasn’t really the main thing that day because even when we were running out of time, I can still see my group members talking and getting to know each other while we moved from checkpoint to checkpoint throughout the entire race. That’s why it was a great success!

Group 4 – Linda

The Amazing Race allowed my team and I to bond and get to know each other better. Although we had to endure the hot sun and the endless running and walking to get to respective stations, all of us held on to each other till the very end! I learnt that it is not at all about winning, although it is a bonus, but it is more of encouraging each other during the race and lifting their spirits up. I am very proud of my team and their individual efforts in making the race a fun experience!

Group 5 – Mu En

The amazing race really included much more running than I had in mind, but no matter what, it was still a memorable amazing race experience. Our group definitely got to know each other better and we became more bonded. Being deprived of drinks and running in the hot sun was that something we shared in common, at that point of time. Maybe it's times like this that makes us rely on each other more. Grumbling to each other about how hot the sun was etc became a topic for everyone to talk about at least. For me, i realized the power of google maps and being able to use it to navigate around. In conclusion, we had fun together, running as a team.

(will update photos of Mu En’s group as soon as we get it from the facilitator)

Group 6 – Beifang

Waking up early in the morning, reporting to school by 8a.m isn’t really my sort of thing, but weird as it may seem, it was all worth it. It was really nice and especially important, for SIM to hold such bonding sessions through this amazing race, to allow us, the dance captains, to bond with our group members. Tiring as it may seem, I had fun too! Working together, solving clues, cracking our brains, this is definitely a big step in getting us ready for the challenges we are going to face in the coming months.

Group 7 – Steph

I felt that the best part of the amazing race was that we got to work together as a team in a fun and light-hearted manner. Despite working together for the first time under the scorching sun, our team still went on to complete all the checkpoints. Every one supported and looked out for each other during the course of the race. What I like most about our team is that no one gave up and practically gave their 101%. The enthusiasm is contagious and it motivates me to match up or if not, to strive beyond that. YAYYYY!!!

Group 8 – Windy

Not even one day. All it takes is just a few hours of adventure. A few hours to build the bond and the strong foundation. First time seeing them, my thought was like "O my god.. I'm in hell right now.. Look at all those strangers in my group". Exact same reaction I have every time I joined a group. Believe me, I could have stayed silent and simply run the race and we'd eventually reach the finish line. But then it strikes me. I decided to do my absolute BEST to make the day special.... Simply because I realized that this group of people will be the group I'll be working with until the end of the competition day, and THIS GROUP of people will the the group I'll be working with to bring GLORY to my school..

Meeting people you don't know and try to spontaneously build the connection between them and yourself, is such a wonderful experience. We didn't know about each other, really. All we know is we race as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Run side by side to the finish line and DON'T leave anyone behind. That's exactly what I've learnt, and that's exactly how I feel for the mass dance competition itself. It doesn't matter one step too late or too early and you don't quite make it, or one second to slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it, because I know if we work hard together as ONE, we'll get EVERYBODY in sync. On this team we'll fight and dance our way in one song. Together we're strong, divided we crumble.

Group 9 – Ee Chin

I have never participated in any amazing race related events before, so the amazing race was an interesting first time experience for me. I enjoyed the walking and running around despite the hot weather. I was afraid that my group members would find this group an uninteresting and boring one. However, the group members have shown great enthusiasm in this race, jokes and laughter are being shared between the members throughout the whole race. This event had told me that a team’s bond is important to keep the whole team spirit going.

Group 10 – Megan

Almost as soon as the dawn breaks, we were all gathered in school for SIM Incandescence's first gathering! The amazing race started off from the Singapore Flyer and my group, Tango, was already hyped up for the challenges set for us. Even though our group only had 7 participants in total, including me and the facilitator from Love Retreats, we were pretty sure we can aim for one of the first groups to finish the race. Since we have a small group it should be easy to move around quickly, right? I think that I had set too high an expectation for our group

because along the way, everyone was so enthusiastic and optimistic that we kept on thinking we were ahead of most of the other groups. It was only when we were at our last few stations that we realized it would take forever to walk back from Chinatown all the way back to our starting point. It was definitely a little disappointed knowing that we might not be able to make it on time. The facilitator did a good job in keeping the spirit of the group up. Afterall, it was just a game for team bonding. I'm glad that all of us had fun during the race.

Last but not least, let us congratulate the CHAMPION TEAM!!!! (AHERM… Shiqi’s team)

Shiqi: Thank you Iris, Emily, Ashley, Beverly, Gabriela, Ivan, Eddie, Dominic, Jeremy and Tai Wen for being such wonderful team members!!!! Thank you Weiqi for helping me out on Saturday as well!! Really appreciate all the effort you guys put in when I said “RUNNNNN!!!!”. Had a good time with you guys during dinner on Saturday. Looking forward to future rehearsals with you guys, and we shall take another group photo when we receive the $15,000 prize on 12^th February 2011 =P

My deepest appreciation to my 10 dance captains for their hard work as well as the participants for making everything possible.

Last but not least, THANK YOU MS JANICE LOW for all the support you've given us!!!!

Thanks for reading!! Stay tuned for more UPDATES!