Special Feature
10
FINATHON TRIATHLON FOR WORLD OCEANS DAY
Later in the evening, the crowd was entertained by live music by Ray d’Sky, Jah on Holiday, and S2B – who all generously donated their time to support the event. Raffle tickets were sold to raise funds, with great prizes donated by some of Gili T’s top businesses, and there was a fire show and cocktail flaring display. The main fundraiser was an auction of fabulous prizes including high value items such as a Komodo Livaboard trip provided by Blue Marlin, a Biorock conservation course provided by The Biorock Team, a full PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) provided by Trawangan Dive, and a PADI staff Instructor Course also donated by the Trawangan Dive Go Pro Team.
To celebrate “World Oceans Day” on 8 June 2013, Trawangan Dive on Gili Trawangan hosted an amazing Finathon / Triathlon in conjunction with Project Aware and the Gili Eco Trust. The Trawangan Dive and Gili Eco Trust ‘Finathon & Triathlon’ was a full day event that involved local people, dive shops and businesses on the island. To kick off the fun, around 65 local children jumped into the pool for some swimming lessons and then tried out snorkelling equipment, supplied by Divemasters and Aqualung.
They then headed to Trawangan Dive for face painting, hand printing, games and lunch before the main Finathon and Triathlon event in the afternoon. 16 teams and 7 individuals from dive shops and Gili T businesses competed in the Triathlon with an 800 metre ocean swim, 7.9km bike ride and 5.6km run around the island. Hundreds of people gathered to cheer them on and place bets on the winning teams. With windy weather and choppy seas, the 800m swim was a gruelling start to the event.
Cycling and then running around the small island was also an exhausting challenge, particularly with the roads crowded with tourists, horse carts and other obstacles. It was a mighty effort from all competitors!
More than $7,500 was raised by the event with funds benefiting Project Aware and Gili Eco Trust.
The winners were the team from Big Bubble Dive (Becs, Max and Anders) with a time of 53:48. Second placed were Manta Dive II team (Silvia, Rich and Laura) who finished in 55:45. Third was the DSM/Scuba Dive team (Jordi, Diego and Peluca), with a final time of 57:16.
Project AWARE is a non-profit organisation that works to support sustainable tourism and protect the ocean environment. Their “Finathon” initiatives involve divers from around the world who are competing in swims, ocean relays, fun runs, triathlons and wacky races to raise funds to end shark finning and protect endangered shark species.
Fastest net time (after discounting a 10 minute handicap) was the Manta Dive team (Shannon, Andy and Freddie) with a net time of 48:43.
For more information, visit the Project AWARE website at: www.projectaware. org and the Gili Eco Trust at: www.giliecotrust.com