TALKING POINTS
FEARLESS As kids across DB count down to the Uncle Russ Coffee Adventure Challenge on November 25, Samantha Wong asks four local athletes just how fit the young competitors need to be to cross the finish line in one piece
Photos by Team FEAR’s official photographers for 2017, courtesy of James Branch
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he Uncle Russ Coffee Adventure Challenge, run by Team FEAR, started out as plain old Team FEAR back in 2001 and the original name has stuck. Held annually, the event sees kids, aged eight to 18, race around Discovery Bay’s trails and coastline. The name fits because Team FEAR is well… a team challenge, but also because what the kids are asked to do strikes fear into most parents and all but the very bravest competitors. Team FEAR is an adventure race, designed by adventure racers. It’s not child’s play. Team FEAR comprises three courses of varying length and difficulty – one each for the juniors (under 9, 10 and 11 categories), intermediates (under 12 and 13) and seniors (under 14, 16 and 19). Juniors compete in teams of three, intermediates and seniors in teams of two. Juniors are looking at completing a gruelling 10-kilometre course, while the senior course, at 15 kilometres, is the most demanding. A multi-sport adventure Course design varies from year to year but in previous years all participants have had to mountain
bike, swim, trail/ road run, coasteer and clamber through an assault course. In addition, both intermediates and seniors have been asked to complete a kayak leg, with seniors also tasked with abseiling and, though this was not compulsory, jumping off a boat or pier into the sea. As with all adventure races, participants are not allowed to see the course beforehand but the route is well marked, and there are over 300 marshals along the way to provide guidance and back-up. The first competitors usually cross the finish line in two hours, and all competitors are expected to finish within four hours. How many 18-year olds – never mind eight-year olds – have the skill set and stamina to mountain bike, swim, coasteer, run and complete an obstacle course in just two hours? How many would even want to enter such a challenging multi-sport event? The short answer, at least in our neck of the woods, is over 900. That’s the number of students competing in Team FEAR on November 25, with a great many more on standby, waiting in the wings to see if any of the registered teams drop out due to injury or… fear.
August 2018 www.arounddb.com
Open-water challenge Needless to say, competitors take the race very seriously, and they train extremely hard in the lead-up. The kayak section of the course is one of the most gruelling, since it tends to be one of the last legs that weary competitors are asked to complete, added to which not all of the kids have kayaked before. “The kayak section is a real test of patience and teamwork,” opens Anthony Said of the Lantau Boat Club (LBC) Paddle Section, who has been marshalling the kayak leg of Team FEAR for the past two years. “My advice is for teammates