Pumpfest is the name of my committee in ODAC! :D Initially I had no idea what I was applying for when I applied to become a Pumpfest sub-committee logistics officer...I didn't even have an inkling of what Pumpfest was...I only knew it was some rock-climbing event then and joined it together with Chor Seng and Kai Sen.
Well, I now know clearly what PumpfestXV is about after I emceed for Pumpfest2012! :D haha! I have to spice up the definitions of what bouldering is about, talk about what Pumpfest is about to a crowd of 200-300 people in Changi City Mall!
On top of that, I'm also the logistics officer which means I know all the stuff that goes into Changi City Mall from NTU and I have to plan their going and return trip.
Anyway, I think I joined the best committee in the whole of ODAC...Why? Because Pumpfest takes place during our holidays!! HAHA! And I think Pumpfest (15th committee) has the liveliest bunch of people in ODAC! :) During our ODAC CNY celebration we were also awarded the "Best committee" award...haha!
Yup, now that Pumpfest2012 is over, so is my appointment as a logistics officer in PumpfestXV :( We had good times...especially during ODAC BBQ planning and countless other meetings and especially while putting Pumpfest2012 together.
Held on the 15th-17th of June 2012 in the Eastern sunny side of Singapore - Changi City Point - is a adrenalin-pumping bouldering event called Pumpfest2012 - Break Your Wal1, Unlea5h Your Potential! If you're wondering why the numbers 1 and 5 are included in our slogan, we are the 15th Pumpfest committee! :)
Yup, here's a sneak peak at what the bright yellow Pumpfest2012 wall looks like in its early stages :D
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| Pumpfest2012 wall just up! |
Yes it is indeed stunning! It's 20m wide by 4.5m high! And it was put together by Climb Asia in a mere 5 hours! The scaffolding and infrastructure involved are no easy-peazy building blocks. They are humongous metal poles and ultra-heavy weights to keep the whole structure up...so 5 hours is indeed a feat.
After a lot of hard work by our PumpfestXV design team...this is what our wall was transformed into...
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| Pumpfest2012 wall with logo in! :D |
The first few days of preparation involved setting up all these including carpeting the whole area, barricading up the perimeter, etc...And I wasn't there! LOL! The first 3 days of preparation I was still in Bali with my family! HAHA! We were still holidaying there!
I knew our ODAC-ers helping out at Pumpfest really gave a lot of energy because when I returned, this is one of the most memorable scenes I saw...HAHAHA!
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| ROS SLEEPING LIKE A BOSS! :D LOL LOL! |
I came back on the 4th day on 14th June in time to help out the DAS kids charity climb :D DAS is the Dyslexic Association of Singapore...a charity organization that we partnered with...I think...haha.
One of the fun part of the charity climb is that we all became ROUTE SETTERS!! WHOAAWWW! We get to set the routes for the kids! HAHA!
Chor Seng and I set the toughest routes for the kids...haha...so to ensure our route wasn't too tough for the kids, we got our very own "mei mei" of ODAC...Shi Min to try out our route! :D HAHAHA! She's probably the smallest sized person in ODAC...Ai Ting's also pretty small that's why I used the word "probably" haha.
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| Shi Min testing my route to see if it was climb-able for the kids...haha! |
Shi Min made it! So Chor Seng's and my routes are not insurmountable! Haha. Anyway, both our routes ended at the same last tile! LOL! That's not allowed actually but we figured that no 2 kids will be able to reach the last tile at the same time...HAHA! And we were right...LOL!
Yup, we took care of all the DAS kids and accompanied and encouraged them as they climbed the wall :) But before climbing the wall, we once again started of with a round of ice-breaking :D After that, we released the swarm of children to attack the wall! LOL!
My buddy is Ming Jie! :) He's a super cute and loving boy...loving because he likes to hug you and nua all over you...HAHA! Here's a picture of him :D
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| Ming Jie on the wall's volume! :D |
Yup, that big blue block is called a volume...They are large freeform shapes that span more than 1 metre in diameter :D I've memorized all these already...all in my emcee script...LOL!
So that was Charity Climb...it was really hectic. I had to run around with them, chase them and prevent them from doing anything that might compromise safety...Toilet trips were also a hassle because they just LOVE TO RUN!! So you'd see Ming Jie sprinting off to the toilet and Kor kor Jonavan running behind him to catch up...haha!
After Charity Climb is the real thing already...they are the qualifiers for the U17, novice and intermediate category. This is the warm-up wall for our climbers to warm up their biceps, triceps and whatever ceps before attempting the problems on the main wall.
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| Warm up wall :D |
Yup, we're started! Here's where my emcee role comes into play! I've NEVER emceed for a sports event before and my climbing vocabulary is really limited so much of the more important parts of the talking I left to the pro - Michael - the guy on the extreme right :D LOL!
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| Jordan, Me & Michael :D |
Jordan is the official paparazzi for Pumpfest2012! Haha. He's giving updates on twitter and facebook about the event and his company iClimbinc has a superb website covering several climbing events across the world.
Apart from being the emcee, I was also one of the paparazzi for our own Pumpfest Facebook page...haha...Here are a few shots below taken by me and posted on our Pumpfest Facebook page :D haha...
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| Novice Men Qualifier wall problems :D |
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| Intermediate Men Qualifier wall problems :D |
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| Take 2 from another angle :D |
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| Take 3 front face with Pumpfest logo |
Here is the man who set the problems for all the categories! He is Uncle Ben from Singapore Climber's Association (SCA) as you can see from the back of his T-shirt below :D
He is one hell of a good climber. He may be a man of few words but when he mounts the wall, he really leaves you with few words to say. Haha!
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| Uncle Ben - Route setter and climber |
It's quite cool setting your own wall problems and then after that you go and demonstrate to the climbers how to solve your own problem. LOL. Kinda like exam script setters...They set the questions and answer it themselves...HAHA!
Fun climb was the most fun...It lived up to its name...Haha. Fun because a lot of our own NTU ODAC friends came to climb. I was emceeing and making fun of them professionally from the emcee table...Haha! It's still a public event so I have to maintain the professionalism of an emcee. :D Haha.
The best part of Fun Climb is the prize-giving ceremony. I mixed up the names of the 1st and 2nd place participants!! LOL! The couple who was supposed to come in 1st ended up taking the 2nd place prizes! LOL!
Wei Hong immediately corrected me and I was like "Sorry, I got your positions mixed up! This prize is not good enough for you!" LOL! By then there was quite an audience already and they were like "LOL!" at my comment...Haha!
That wasn't the only blunder I made...HAHA! I also read a lot of wrong names during the flash format climb...Haha! :D Michael who was seated beside me was like "No, no, no, you missed this name" HAHA! :D
Oh well, the detail sheet given wasn't for the emcee's reference, it was tailored to the isolation zone official's reference...Yes, justify my mistakes I always will...HAHAHAHA! Ok la...I was kinda stressed la...Haha!
Anyway, the rest of the pictures below are taken by me during the Open Category FINALS! :D Because it is the Open Category FINALS, I left it to Michael, the pro climber cum emcee to commentate the rest of the event...HEE HEE! So I became the PHOTOGRAPHER! LOL! The view from the emcee table is really good! HAHA!
Yup, enjoy the open category photos below :D
Oh and I must say...only like 2 or 3 climbers managed to complete the Open Men Final problem number 3! Pictured below is one of the few climbing talents who managed to nail the toughest problem in the Open Category! He is Mr Yam from Xin Min Secondary if I remember correctly..haha
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| Mr Yam COMPLETED the toughest problem!! |
Pictured below is problem no. 3 of the Open Women FINALS. NO ONE COMPLETED IT! LOL! The furthest tile reached is shown below...Just 2 tiles away from the final tile! The climber below I believe is Judith, a teacher previously from VJC :D
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| The best progress made on problem no. 3! |
The atmosphere throughout the Open Finals was SUPER INTENSE! Whenever a climber slips, you could feel your heart miss a beat and the whole crowd will sound off a loud "OHHHH!" in disappointment.
And when a climber finishes a problem, the euphoric uproar of cheers and applause simply overwhelms the whole of Changi City Point. I wonder how the shoppers will be able to shop with such a smelting climbing scene occurring right beside them.
Yup, I really learnt a lot from Michael after emceeing with him. He is a really prudent emcee. He came the night before to test the sound. He even went up 2nd floor and 3rd floor to hear out the sound as he EQ-ed the sound system.
He also brought his makeshift turntables to give the music the hype and extra beat. That really helped to pump up the atmosphere.
The main takeaway for me from him is his FANTASTIC LINES! He has a wealth of climbing vocabulary and as he was rattling away, I was copying down his lines for future use. Haha!
All in all, I had fun :) It was really tiring but fun working together and seeing our planning come to fruition :) So here's the team of NTU ODAC volunteers who brought Pumpfest2012 together!
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| Pumpfest XV and its treasured seniors!! :D |
ALLEZ!!! Long live Pumpfest!! HAHA! By the way, it is one of the oldest committee in ODAC with 15 years of heritage...The other committees are only around 5 to 6 years old :D
Oh before I end off...I left out 2 of the most important emcee moments that left a deep impression in everyone's minds...HAHA!
The
FIRST is...after the event ended the climbers and their friends left A LOT OF LITTER everywhere -.-" So when asked to tell the people to clear up, this is how I phrased it...which left a lot of people laughing...LOL!
"Good evening climbers!
If you can pinch a tile on the wall, you can also pick litter from the floor! So climbers please help to clear up the litter around...."
All around me was the sound of laughter after I said the statement in bold above...LOL! Not wrong right? I identified with the climber's strength and showed them how to use it for the greater good...HAHA!
The
SECOND is really epic...I was talking about the Pumpfest photo competition and telling the audience that the prize is 10 free movie passes.
Upon finishing that, Michael was like "REALLY? 10 FREE MOVIE PASSES? YOU GET TO WATCH 10 DIFFERENT MOVIES??"
That question wasn't supposed to be answered....BUT I ANSWERED IT!! LOL! My answer went something like this, with a hesitant, uninformed and inconfident tone...LOL!
"I guess so...You can either watch the same movie with 9 friends or watch 10 different movies. Well, that's a little surprise for our prize winners! :D"
Upon putting the mike down, Rosalind and few other ODAC seniors were staring at me with a smile...and I was like "I DON'T KNOW!" in my usual high-pitched voice...A few of the audience behind were laughing! LOL!
Yes, the audience refers to the supporters of the climbers. There were hundreds of them all inching toward the emcee table screaming, shouting and cheering -.-" I almost went deaf...HAHA!
Yup, those 2 moments are the ones that will always be remembered by our Pumpfest officials...LOL LOL LOL! Even as I type this, I am laughing! HAHAHA!
Yeash, it was an awesome time of planning and putting all these together :) Through this many new friends were made and I for myself discovered some stuff about myself while working with these awesome people too :)
So once again, LONG LIVE PUMPFEST! :) ALLEZZZZ!!!
