Bintan Triathlon 2008 Post Event Report Drawing over 1200 participants of 37 different nationalities at this year’s race, the fourth annual Bintan Triathlon held on the 24 & 25 May at Nirwana Gardens Resort was a resounding success. The new and exciting race course set amidst a lush tropical rainforest, was designed to provide a challenge for everyone, with a total of four races including ‘Sprint Distance’ (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), ‘Olympic Distance’ (1,500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run), ‘Kids & Youth Distance’ and a ‘Fun Duo Challenge’.
Defending champion George Lawson from Australia clinched the Olympic Distance title for overall male and age group in a time of 02:06:56, while Kelley Toy from New Zealand won the overall female and age group title in a time of 02:23:50.
In the Sprint Distance race, Fred Viargues from France took home the overall and age-group title with a time of 01:07:14, while Laura Walsh from Canada won the female and age-group title in a time of 01:17 41.
Jerome Neale from France won the overall Kids and age-group title in the Kids Distance race with a time of 21:41, while Sophia Eristoff did the United States proud with her time of 22:36, which won her first place in both her age group and Female overall.
The Youth distance, implemented for the first time this year, saw Valentin Kunze from Germany and Natasha Bohr from the United States taking away the Male and Female titles with times of 36:21 and 55:09 respectively.
A total of 88 prizes were presented to the top three athletes for individual age group and team categories at a beachside Awards Dinner. The winners took home attractive prizes such as Limar Helmets & Spring Boost Shoes to compliment their traditional Indonesian mask trophies.
Visa Moving Images Photography Competition
The winners of the Olympic-inspired Visa Moving Images photo competition have been selected. Among the thousands of participants from 24 markets across Asia Pacific who competed in the competition, only four amateur photographers, namely Huang Ren, 46, and Yang Huanmin, 53, from China; Doo Young-Surk, 48, from Korea; and Anindya Majumdar, 38, from India emerged as winners. The winners were each awarded with US$5,000 and a package for two to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The competition, which was open to all Visa cardholders in Asia Pacific, included four categories based on the elements of the Olympic Games motto – Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) – China, the host nation of this year’s Olympic Games. www.visamovingimages.com
Singapore Wildlife Reserves Commemorates World Environment Day In line with World Environment Day, Jurong BirdPark, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo jointly planted 75 tree saplings and 120 shrubs on 5 June, to recognise that deforestation affects both animals’ habitats and climate change.
Carried out by employees from all three parks, the tree planting activity took place at the new and upcoming attraction in Singapore Zoo called Rainforest Kidzworld. Scheduled to be opened later this year, the attraction will eventually house up to 20,000 trees, palms, shrubs, ferns, grasses and epiphytes. With the World Environment Day theme in mind, plants with interesting animal names like Spider Lily, Cat’s Whisker, Peacock Flower, Snake Weed, Butterfly Ginger and Tiger Orchid, were selected to kick start the greening of this area.
In addition, various recycling bins have been placed throughout the parks to encourage visitors to recycle their unwanted paper, plastic or aluminum products during their tour.
Singapore Green Summit 2008 Held at the Shangri-La Hotel on 11 June, this year’s prestigious Singapore Green Summit (SGS) recognised four local companies for their contribution to environmental sustainability in Singapore. The awards ceremony cum gala dinner was jointly organised by Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Dun & Bradstreet (Singapore).
The three awards categories presented were the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards (SEAA 2007/08), the Inaugural Efficiently Developing Growing Enterprise (EDGE) Awards and
the SEC-Senoko Power Green Innovation Awards.
The winners included CapitaLand Limited (SEAA 2007/08 – Top Achiever), Grand Hyatt Singapore (SEAA 2007/08 – Merit Winner), Microwave Packaging (S) Pte Ltd’s Healthypack (SEC-Senoko Power Green Innovation Awards), and Marc-Plan Pte Ltd (EDGE).
Established in 1995, the Singapore Environmental Council is an independently managed, non-profit and non-governmental organisation that strives to educate, inspire and assist individuals, businesses, and civil groups to care for and protect the environment. With the status of an institution of public character, the Council is also an approved charity.
Asian Geographic is the official publication for the Singapore Environmental Council.
ASIAN Geographic Conquers Ladakh The ASIAN Geographic Himalayas Expedition 2008 returned from its ten-day flagship trip on 22 June. Participants traversed one of the world’s highest roads, crossing high passes of over 5,000 metres from Delhi to Ladakh, and soaking in the breathtaking landscapes of the Himalayas. The expedition was a resounding success thanks to the support of all its sponsors and very sporting participants, who braved high altitudes and rough roads and made it through this once-in-a-lifetime expedition. Look for the full-length article on the expedition in the August issue of ASIAN Geographic.
Singapore Jurong BirdPark’s Dino Descendants Exhibit In light of the ongoing debate over whether birds are descended from dinosaurs, the Singapore Jurong BirdPark launched its newest exhibit – “Dino Descendants”, featuring four of the most popular Ratites (flightless birds) species in the world, namely the Ostrich, Double-Wattled Cassowary, Rhea and Emu. With over 100 skeletal features in common, certain species of dinosaurs bear a striking resemblance to some of today’s flightless birds, in terms of their long legs and very bird-like feet.
Visitors will be treated to a unique experience of exploring five of the most popular living Ratite species, and be transported back to a time hundreds of millions of years ago when Ratites and Dinosaurs are thought to have lived together on a super-continent known as Gondwanaland.
In addition, there are also a host of fun and interactive elements installed for the whole family, including ‘Dino Dig’, ‘Elephant Bird Display’ and ‘Cassowary Casque’, that will further enable one to discover the ancient link between dinosaurs and birds.
