Tuesday, August 07, 2007

SINGAPORE SNAPSHOT - 9 EXTREME SPORTS


I am not sure why they call stunts and acrobatics performed on bicycles, in-line skates and skate boarding as extreme sports, but they are called as such. Singapore is not left behind in the world of extreme sports and last weekend saw an extreme sports challenge take place right in the heart of down town. There is an area next to the Somerset MRT (train) station that has been designated as a graffiti area and for people to enjoy practicing their “extreme” sports. I have been watching young chaps accompanied by their doting girlfriends do their thing at the skate part (for lack of a better word). Skate boarding is a fun thing to do, for me at least, inline skating and stunt biking is not the thing for me although I’d watch people doing it.




So, yours truly had a weekend off, well almost the whole weekend, and what better way to spend the morning and a part of the afternoon but hang out at an extreme sports event? So, there I went, being among the oldest looking chaps at the place, in shorts, scrawny legs and all, gawking at youngsters ability to throw themselves and get hurt in as many ways as the imagination can stretch!


The event was well organized and that is one of the things that I have said in the past and perhaps I sound like a broken record now, everything happens in Singapore the way it is supposed to happen. That said, the event had rock music and sponsored by various sponsors of extreme sports equipment, the Singapore Sports promotion people, a local radio station that plays the latest music including my favorite genre (rock) and other sponsors.


The morning session was dominated by the bicycle stunts participants and by noon the inline skaters had done their thing followed by the skate boarders. Young Singaporeans have taken to the sport, although not in huge numbers and they had their colorful spectators to cheer them on and the locals were joined by some expats as well, especially in the skateboarding part of it. Can’t say that I saw any of my fellow Indians there though, conspicuously missing as usual, perhaps at home or perhaps doing typically sedentary activities on a lazy Saturday, even watching extreme sport can be too tiring for some!


For those of you who have watched these events on T.V. I’d say that being there is better, the spills and thrills are better to watch from up-close except that I never managed to take any pictures of mid-air acrobatics and there were some of them who looped their bikes and skates. Since the options were unlimited on the day and since I was tempted to pack more things on my off-day, I wandered off to the annual rock concert that takes place in Singapore and is free to the public. That’s going in my next post along with a preview of the flying displays that I watched and took pictures of, in preparation of the National Day Parade. Singapore is celebrating its 42nd Birthday on the 9th of August and I’ll tyr and put in some information after the celebrations.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Capt,
I am a Regular reader of your blog. u have been givin such a valuable knowledge on Aviation & Singapore through your Blogs, thats really appreciated. I have heard of Mar lion of Singapore can you put some light on in it in your next blog?

Anonymous said...

Hi Capt,
I am a Regular reader of your blog. u have been givin such a valuable knowledge on Aviation & Singapore through your Blogs, thats really appreciated. I have heard of Mar lion of Singapore can you put some light on in it in your next blog?

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thank you for your kind comments. Merlion is a symbol for singapore, a mythological figure of sorts comprising half lion (top half) and half fish. The name mermaid is familiar to most people, half woman and half fish, same way this has been named mer-lion in one word. In one of my future write ups, I will certainly give more information on the origins of the legend behind the merlion and also post some pictures of the merlion statues we have in Singapore.

Quodlibet said...

I've seen the various Xtreme sports on tv and they can certainly do amazing things. I always wonder who was the person to first try some of the crazy things they have perfected. I'm not a fan of pain so stay far, far away of those kinds of sports!! Watching is more my speed!!