A family that exercises together, stays together will not play tennis again because we all suck! But we can juggle

So I write a lot of drafts for my blog, and sometimes I forget they were there and they get paginated to page 2 and 3! Found this jewel of a post from June 2007! Oh how I miss my mountain bike.

I wrote an entry on the pre-race setup, but somehow didn’t post this one for the actual race.

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We were awake before dawn to set up registration, get the prizes dressed and ice into the eskies.

After getting all set up, the crowd started streaming in, and soon there were close to 200 people at Echo Valley. My stomach was starting to churn, and I could feel my throat closing up. I just had to keep telling myself to keep calm, start the race, and enjoy it.

While waiting for the horn to blow, I took a quick glance around, trying to spot him. Ah.. there he was, camera in hand, and smiling at me. He was my #1 fan.

Race started, I tried to speed ahead of the rest of the girls, knowing there was this climb ahead, and the worse thing would be getting caught behind them all. The trail loop was approximately 7km, so we had to do two laps of that.

I felt pretty okay throughout the ride, and didn’t feel like i was going to keel over and die. I paced myself

Crossing the finish line.

With Janice & Rebecca.

2nd place in the Women’s Open.

Nick and Luke.

 

Best shot of the day taken by Rohan on the 200m.

People always say you should have loud thumping music when you run, you know, keeps you pumpin and the adrenalin going. Sometimes it works, but it was only 2 years ago that I realised that talk radio was also a great running companion.

I used to listen to alot of Scott Mills podcasts. I’d listened to it at work, on my commute, at home, so much so I got Janice on it as well. I guess it’s great for running because you’re concentrating on what is being said that I tend to forget how painful or how long the run is.

adidas recently took this step a bit further. They have created “missions” for your run! I thought the concept was really cute! The adidas Colour Missions is a set of downloadable tracks that can be downloaded from www.adidascolourmisssions.com that can be uploaded onto your mp3 player. There are 4 missions to choose from:
Yellow – The Getaway
Green – The Mothership
Blue – The Rockstar
Red – Before Dawn

Each one has a different scenario using sounds effects and storytelling. The storytelling goes through the whole track. It’s kinda cool because you try to visualise the scenario.

For example
“You are the lead singer in an international rockband, tonight is the gig of your life and you’re late…”

It’s a novelty thing and a cute campaign for the new ClimaCool Rides and worth trying out for the fun of it. Check out the splash of colours in this season’s shoes!

Anyway, going for a run with Mission Yellow – The Getaway, the scenario when my heist has gone wrong and I need to escape!

I never knew how much goes into being a Caddy!

The word caddy comes from the French word for student, cadet, which is pronounced cad-DAY.

Someone told me that the caddys would have to walk the 18-holes prior to the game and examine every hole carefully, because when game day is here, they’d give golfers advice and reassurance on how the ball would run on the greens.

Walking 18-holes is quite alot.
Walking 18-holes twice is tiring.
Walking 18-holes + with a golf bag on your back for the second 18-holes must be freakin exhausting!

Hence why I think it’s great HSBC has the caddie-of-the-year award and appreciation cocktail during the tournament.

Besides reading the greens, here are some other caddy duties:

• Need to be able to coach golfers not just to hit the farthest, but to the best of their ability.
• Carry the golf clubs
• need to understand all proper golf etiquettes and rules
• clean golf balls if asked
• fix ball marks
• attend the flag if asked
• raking the bunkers
• help with club selection
• reading the weather variables
• marking balls on the green if asked
• taking care of any menial tasks like handing golfer water or towel
• and lastly to provide motivation

Dang that’s hard work. But I guess the rewards are worth it. Caddys earn a percentage of their golfer’s winnings, which can be as high as 10%. A common pay scale is 5% for making the cut, 7% for a top 10, and 10% for a win. No wonder Tiger Woods’ caddy is a millionaire!

How lucky were we over the weekend! Fine weather on both days has left me with 2 free brollies, a healthy glow and a new found appreciation for the sport and the caddys.

The free brollies were given for those who signed up at the interactive village, an area set aside for non-tournament fun for the family. With activities like the HSBC putting challenge, golf nets, golf simulator, children’s zone, kart track and photo experience booths.

The actual tournament was pretty exciting for those who follow golf. We walked a few holes with the leading flight and a few holes with another, and made a stop at the HSBC pavillion to cool off in the aircon. How these golfers walk all 18-holes in morning and midday sun is beyond me. Actually I take that back, I pity the CADDYS who have to carry their golf clubs and walk all 18-holes. I think caddys are the unsung heroes behind every great golfer. That deserves a separate post by itself.

It was a close fight between Karrie Webb, Yani Tseng and Chie Arimura (Last year’s champion) till the last hole. I must point out that Karrie wasn’t exactly the crowd favourite. Everyone was rooting for Tseng and Arimura to overtake the lead on the last few holes, or for Webb to screw up.

So how is the prize kitty split? It’s divided among 63 players so everyone goes home with something.

Here’s what the top 5 would get:
1st prize – $210,000
2nd prize – $132,846
3rd prize – $96,370
4th prize – $74550
5th prize – $60,004

Some really random facts about golf I found really interesting

• 22.8% of golfers are women
• Balls travel significantly further on hot days.
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.The dimples on the outside of a golf ball help the ball fly farther and more accurately.
• A titanium driver hitting a golf ball can create a sonic boom
• Golf has been played on the moon! (Alan Shepard 1971)
• Don’t feel bad about your high handicap -80% of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18

Had a great time watching the game, getting a tan and spending time with friends. Was the first time in a long time I had a beer, and it tasted so good! I guarantee the driving ranges would be packed for the next few weeks, until the fad dies off. Think it’s time to find a new set of golf clubs.

So last weekend was all about golf here in Singapore. The Tanah Merah Country Club (TMCC) saw record number of spectators this year for the HSBC Women’s Golf Champions 2011. Even if you weren’t into golf, it was still a fantastic afternoon out on the lawn under the sun and ice cold Stella in hand.

The official start of festivities and events was at the opening reception held at the Raffles Hotel Bar & Billiard Room. These events are usually held for VIPs and invited guests, where people mingle, eat, drink and meet the golfers in a casual setting. If you were a fan, I’m sure it would have been an opportunity of a lifetime.

I was there together with Faz, Adrian, Rosemary and later joined by our little Singapore rockstar golfer Christabel. The poor girl was a bit stunned when presented with a gift and asked to say a few words on stage. Crystal looks like you have to start her on some media training

The night turned out to be better than expected even though I was feeling quite frumps, but I really enjoyed the company and especially thought Faz was a très cool chic to hang out with.

So how do you spot a female golfer from the crowd? Just look out for a girl with bad tan lines on their hands, arms and ankles caused by their gloves, golf shirt and socks.

Tournament days post coming right up!

Heat is on… lots of golf enthusiasts gearing up for the HSBC Women’s Open 2011 here in Singapore. All the big names in womens golf are in town and it looks like an interesting weekend ahead.

Every year during the photocall, they’d make the golfers do something unique, usually something cultural and relevant to the host country. Last year at the HSBC Mens Open in Shanghai, they made Tiger Woods do Tai Chi.

Quite amusing for the photographers and camera men at the photocall. For the Singapore one held yesterday, they donned
Michelle Wie in a Korean hanbok and Paula Creamer in a Japanese kimono.

Above: Michelle Wie (left) and Paula Creamer (right) dressed in traditional Asian clothes at a photocall for this week’s HSBC Women’s Champions, with world number one Yani Tseng (centre)
Photo: Getty Images

You know what’s also different about Women’s golf? That added dimension that the men don’t really pay attention to? Fashion. I mean sports merchandising is huge! I find myself checking out what the golfers are wearing on the green – shoes, shirts, caps, gloves. And it was in golf that i first came to know about SKORTS!

While we are on the lines of fashion, there was even had a special Caddy Bib Design Competition held in collaboration with Raffles Design for the HSBC Caddy of the Year awards.

Tonight is the HSBC Womens Golf Welcome Reception at the Fairmont. Hope it was just as spectacular as the one in Shanghai.

The HSBC Women’s Champions 2011 will see 63 of the world’s top female golfers, including all of the 2010 major champions and all of last year’s LPGA tournament winners, battle it out over 72 holes of individual stroke play. The tournament is sanctioned by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and will offer a purse of US$1.4 million.

Been quiet on the blogging front due to the limited internet access I have in Nepal, so I apologise for the hiatus.

So besides the ‘POP’ day giveaway, I’ve got another one coming up! Have been blogging recently about the fourth HSBC Women’s Champions event that will be staged once again on the Garden Course at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore from 24th – 27th February.

The HSBC Womens Champions follows after the Mens Champions which was held in Shanghai in November last year. If you remember, I blogged about my visit to Shanghai where I had the priviledge to watch the world’s top golfers swing and putt against each other.

Last month I also blogged about the weekend iPhone augmented reality game they had at Ngee Ann City where you could have won $10,000! It was nice to see our young local golfers at the event and forgot to say a hello to Christabel whom I met at a previous Shell event in Kuala Lumpur! Congratulations Christabel!

So who wants free tickets to watch the tournament!!!

I have 3 pairs of tickets to give away to 3 of you who can tell me who  won in the local qualifying tournament for the HSBC Womens Champions?

 
3 winners will be chosen randomly from the comments section of this blog post with the right answers.

Closing date is 16th February 2011, 11:59pm

Visit the HSBC Women’s Champions 2011 website for more information. Answer is there too!

So the HSBC Women’s Champions 2011 is just around the corner, in about a months time Singapore is going to be inundated with golf fans from around the region to watch the world’s best female golfers tee off at the Tanah Merah Country Club.

A few months ago, the good people at HSBC and Hill & Knowlton Singapore sent me to Shanghai to watch the HSBC Men’s Champions where I got to rub shoulders with top golfers of the world like Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer.

It was a fantastic experience learning more about golf, but also experiencing the other fun activities off the greens and around the interactive village.

So now it’s Singapore’s turn to host the laydaaayys!

I must say its pretty cute they came up with the augmented reality iPhone game for Singapore. You can win S$10,000, LG DVD Players, vouchers from TaylorMade-adidas golf, Fairmont hotel and M1.

Best part is… no golf skills is required to play this game! Just an iPhone

There are 8 golf holes at Ngee Ann City where you just need to “sink” the balls in with the least amount of “strokes”. Just need to press and hold, swing and let go.

So if you’re in town this weekend, go give it a shot! Contest is only open from 21-23 January, so you have a pretty good chance!

Was on the leaderboard this afternoon with 14 points, but to be honest, that’s easy to beat! Come on… boot me off!

In the video:
application on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, an Android phone which I’ve been trying out. Wanted to try a new platform and see how the apps were on this baby.

Was trying out the Endomo application which can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace. There’s a cycling mode which has real-time GPS tracking of time, distance, speed & calories. It works with the Polar Wearlink® + transmitter with Bluetooth®. Haven’t used all the functions but it looks cool.

Above taken from Sony Ericsson Website

Key highlights of the Phone
- Lightweight
- Very Social (i.e. Facebook, Twitter widgets)
- Touchscreen controls
- 3.2mp camera
- PlayNow™ to download music and games
- They have a similar app to soundhound but free
- including all the other bell and whistles you’d get with a normal phone

I reckon the biggest pull for this phone is the apps in the Android Market place. Keep you posted if I find anything else cool about this phone.

Picture is just missing Mich, who is taking the photo, and Dre who was in his Kiddy class.

I must admit, this Japan trip was one of the highlights of 2010. Sigh, wish I could afford to go snowboarding every year!

There are 3 ways to get to the top. Gondola, Ski lifts, trekking and the morning tractors.

The gondola takes you pretty high up, probably half way up the slopes. It’s sheltered from the elements, so it’s quite a comfortable ride up.

Then comes the ski lifts which are usually used to get to small sections of the slopes. Make sure you’re bundled up, because it gets pretty cold on those things! And be forewarned, you thought getting on was easy? Getting off was terrifying!!

If you want to get to the very top and experience the barren and almost solo decent, you got to earn it. The last bit of Hirafu requires a 30min trek to the last “checkpoint”.

And last but not least, for the more advanced skiers and boarders – the morning tractors. As the night brings about a fresh coat of powder, the dedicated few wake up before dawn to get the morning tractor up to the top. There you will be rewarded with deep untouched snow which was dumped during the night.

Another great thing about Hirafu is night boarding! If you bought yourself the full-day ski pass, it includes the permit to ski/snowboard at night! Once the sun sets, flood lights fill the white slopes and shoos away the crowds.

You’re left with huge amount of unobstructed play area to master linking your turns!

Back to the Japan Niseko posts, by the third day, we were feeling more confident and decided to venture higher up the peak.

Morning ritual: I’d be the first one to get out of bed. So I’ll sneak out quietly to wash up without waking drea, and prepare some brekkie and hot water for the rest. I make myself a hot cup of coffee and that’s when the rest of the chalet starts to stir.

Over the kitchen island, Chris and Mich will start planning the day’s routes and runs.

Soon we all start to get ready and gear up, and make the long trek up to the ski lifts. And for the rest of the day till dark, we’re on the boards or on our bums.

But I must admit, was really proud of first-timers Kimmy, Drea and myself for tackling the blue and black runs. And we had blue and black bruised bums to prove it. Even if we were doing the “Falling Leaf” most of the way down, at least we gave it a solid attempt to stay up!

I really really enjoyed snowboarding, and hope I’m able to do it again sometime soon. Korea? China? Kashmir? Canada?

This should get interesting. I’m sitting here at the Pudong International Airport for another 4 hours due to the fog that rolled in this morning, and trying to get an update on the WGC-HSBC Golf Champions at Sheshan. But with the Great fireWall of China stopping me from seeing any twitter sites, am not sure if its been delayed?

The fog at the airport is so bad visibility is at 100m, lots of flights grounded and delayed till later this afternoon. I doubt the golfers can even see the greens from tee off.

There’s more than the actual game going on at the WGC-HSBC Golf Champions. Visitors are treated to a whole range of hands-on fun at the Interactive Village when they enter Sheshan Golf Course.

First get yourself registered at the booth where you’re given your ID tag and a free cap. With the tag, visitors go round to different stations and log-in their best scores for each game. Attractive prizes to be won for the winners at the end of the day such as Callaway putters, balls, hotel stay at the Le Meridien, and signed merchandise from your favourite golf stars.

Or take advantage of the free 10min coaching session with a CGA golf professional.

What else is free? Two photo booths are also available for all to take home a little souvenir. Had a nice little chat with the vendor and he said on the first day alone 200 pictures were printed within a couple of hours. In Shanghai and still haven’t made your way down to the tournament? You still have one day left.

Wonder what the set up would be like at the HSBC Women’s Champions Singapore in february next year?

Haven’t really followed the tournament circuit, but the buzz in the media centre is infectious. The excitement about this weekend’s golf is probably due to the fact that the world’s top 4 golfers are playing for the coveted title of being world’s #1.

Lee Westwood is currently world’s #1, but a victory by either Tiger, Martyn Kaymer or Mickelson will dethrone the Brit this weekend.

Did you know 15 of the top 20 ranked players in the world are at the WGC-HSBC World Champions in Shanghai this weekend?

Taken from rooftop of The Peninsula, Shanghai.

About The WGC-HSBC Champions
The WGC-HSBC Champions brings together the winners of the highest-ranked tournaments from all over the world and is being held this weekend at the Sheshan International Golf Club from 4th-7th November.

Was a beautiful day in Hirafu, and after our half day class in the morning, we were ready to tackle the ski lifts and blue runs. From then on, it’s all a matter of practice. Less time on the bum this day, and more time doing the skills below:

Credit: Snowboarding abc

Photos from left to right: Michelle gracefully takes a break. Kim and I just before we headed out the door. View from the bottom of the slopes. And a shot from the ski lift!

Chris and Kim looking all so pro!

The non-alcoholic kind.