Mt. Kinabalu sending-off dinner

2 large banners showing the team in action (MK Recce in July)

A sending-off dinner was organized for the Team NTUC Climbathon team @ The Carlton Hotel this evening. It is 2 weeks away to the Climb on Sep 30, and the 10 of us in the team were to be hosted a dinner, with Guest-Of-Honour MP Teo Ser Luck to grace the occasion. Many of us looked forward to meet with TSL, an accomplished Ironman as well as rising MP. We invited quite a number of friends and family to join us for the happy occasion.

I arrived with Beverly at around 6.45pm, and to crowd of about 50 people had gathered. DO had earlier sms-ed me that there were large posters put up, and there was to be a nice makan awaiting. Met up with many friends Jaime, Ong, Bug, Elaine, SC5, Wildcat, ChoonWei, Phei Sunn, Colleen, Jancy, Vincent, Sotong, Cokiee, and of course the entire Climbathon team (Rodney, Timothy, Roland, Yulan, Henry, Anthony, Sim, David, Hee Shen, Lingam, Xavier). There were 2 large banners put up, showing the team in action during our July recce/training trip to Mt. Kinabalu. I like the part (on the left of the banner) showing us coming down the flight of stairs (ala Indiana Jones...haha) from the start point at Timpohon Gate. We had cocktail while waiting for the arrival of the rest of the guests and VIP. We did a quick rehearsal of the proceedings, and when TSL arrived with his entourage, the show bagan. There was a grand speech by the MC about the Climbathon and the team's preparations.

Then the guests were treated to a Video Show of the team in training and interviews conducted with individual team members. It was great, but we had to wait outside to prepare to make our grand apperance. Great organization by the Team NTUC Managers of Yusoff, Hamidah, Wilna, Carmen and trainer Lingam. There was a group of shwe NTUC gals helping out with the registrations and ushering of the guests... Kudos to all of them for making this a 'happening' evening for us. Special mntion goes out to Kevin of Camper's Corner who was generous with his sponsorhip of the team's gear, as well as the useful tips on mountain trekking he had been dishing out.

MP Teo Ser Luck & Team NTUC MK Climbathon

After about 20minutes, it was finally time for up to go up stage. Our names were announced, and certain nice encouraging words said about us invidually. Then lots of photo shots by photographers, and MediaCorps were there to cover the event too. It was shown on Channel 8 10pm news, but I didn't get to catch the broadcast :(. Then there were some presentations of momentos, before we finally dug into the nice spread of Japanese, Western and Chinese food. We had a fun time chatting, listening to tips from Ironman TSL, as well as the other ironman buddies of ours. It was a fun evening where we took more photos, and the MP was friendly to move from table to table mingling with friends and sporting enthusiasts.

The night drew to a close at about 10.30pm, and we all left feeling very satisfied with the nice food and company. We now look forward to the MK race, and hope to do our best, and not give up no matter what. In the words of MP Teo, we are representing Singapore, and we should do our best....wow, stress sia...hahaha. Whatever, we will go there with a positive attitude and enjoy the journey. Can't wait to get a copy of the Video Clip as well as all the nice photos to share with friends...stay tuned!