Puffed balls of cotton candy-like clouds dotted the freshly laundered blue sky setting the backdrop for the Shah Alam Extreme Park’s “Piala Datuk Bandar” competition. The two climbing walls towered majestically over the heads of the climbers while the convenient refuge of Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King wafted smells of its delicacies in the background.

The first dry spell in a long string of rainy days and the sun shone menacingly in vengeance. The sweltering heat however did little to evaporate neither the climbers nor the spectators (who perched in groups under tiny umbrellas and lazed on make shift mats) spirits. The wall came to life in a flurry after the mayor of Shah Alam officially opened the event after a speech on further encouraging the sport and the importance of safety. The climbers wasted none of the two hour time limit and immediately flocked to the walls. Despite the relatively slight turnout of competitors, the competition proved to be an immense success for the Kedah-ans trained mostly by national coach “Abang Zam” in terms of exposure as well as winnings.

Mostly comprising of first timers, the top 5 places in the male novice bouldering category was almost a clean sweep by the Kedah-ans. In spite of qualifying fourth, Mohammad Kamil emerged the winner taking home the RM400 prize money. Zikril Hakim came in second while Mohd Asyraf third. Malindo Herman from Kuantan thwarted Kedah’s bid of bagging all the male prizes by coming in fourth and Ahmad Azri fifth.

Regardless of there being only 12 routes and the simplicity of the competition, “Abang Zam’s” final routes which tested balance proved too challenging and elusive for some of the climbers. Nevertheless, the women’s novice bouldering category further confirmed Kedah’s dominance with a one, two finish by Wan Iryani Ariffin and Nor Hayati Shuib. Nur Liyana Ahmad Shahab and Siti Syazana respectively took home the 3rd and 4th placings.

However, the highlight of the event was probably the open speed category. The event which could probably be equated with track’s 100m finals pulled crowds from the fast food chains nearby as well as the neighboring skaters and BMX bikers. Indeed this is no surprise as the interesting route, packed with dyno after dyno saw the climbers a step away from flying. While many decided to attempt the extremely challenging route, including crowd darling 11 year old Mohd Azry Zulkarnain who wow-ed the crowd with his immense potential during the bouldering competition (13th place), the climbers were short listed to six who had to endure 3 grueling rounds of the route. Mohd Tarmizi Jaafar who took home first place impressed by virtually vertically running up the wall clocking a time of 21.03 seconds as his best. Mohd Redha Roslan finished with a best of 21.84 seconds to take home the second place while 23.81 seconds saw Khairul Hafiz Abu Hassan’s coming third. Mohd Azizul Mohd Affandi came fourth with 27.28 seconds, Ahmad Jihadilislam fifth with 41.47 seconds and Azrul Aminur Rashid sixth due to an unfortunate slip though he actually qualified second in the first round.

All in all, the most apt way to describe the event would probably be to say that it was a festive yet cozy affair and we shall be anticipating anxiously for more friendly get-tog ethers/competitions as these.

Written by,
Adeline Choo

Below are the results of the competition: