The art of being still, Subaru style

This year, the MediaCorp Subaru Car Challenge gathered 320 contestants from Singapore and 80
other hopefuls from other countries in the region.

Photos by Charles E. Buban

By the time you read this, the winner of this year’s MediaCorp Subaru Car Challenge will be known. The winner—hopefully a Filipino this time—must have breached the 60-hour mark or perhaps beat the 82 hours and 16 minutes record set in 2014 by a 50-year-old caterer from Singapore.

But whoever the winner may be, that person is more than phenomenal. Imagine this: you have to place your right palm at a designated spot of your designated Subaru XV. You will do it until your vehicle’s 5-minute break is announced, which comes only every six hours.

Now, if you ask the participants why’d they do it, most of them would say they’d love to drive home the grand prize, a brand new Subaru XV 2.0i worth P1.328 million.

But a few of them would say that more than prized SUV and the opportunity to travel abroad for free, they do it to discover what is possible in terms of endurance limits.

It’s the reason why this is the eighth time Alex Neblasca will be representing the Philippines. The same goes for Filmark Bernante (fifth time); Juan Furiscal Jr. and Juntie Guevarra Torres (their fourth); Francisco Gomez, Albert Saguillo, and Donn Michael Yap (their third); and Carlo Talahib (second time).

And don’t be surprised if first timer Mark Joseph Trinos would do it again next year (provided he is not this year’s crowned winner).

The intense afternoon sun during the second day—over 24 hours into the competition—tested contestants’ perseverance.

“This competition, unlike the others, requires you to be still, to make sure that if ever you will have to move, you will not lift your palm to its spot until break time. You will hold your bladder, you will resist the urge to fall asleep, endure the numbness, the muscle pain, or even the blisters. At this very moment, I feel feverish and have sores in my tongue. Nevertheless, I will block these all out as I am representing our country and at the same time, don’t want to let my fellow teammates down,” said the 34-year-old Talahib, a businessman.

Contestants get disqualified immediately if they are caught showering, bathing or shaving onsite; using any personal hygiene/cleaning materials, e.g., wet wipes, tissues, talcum powder, etc.; engaging in any physical violence (e.g., punching, slapping) or any sort of unruly behavior; relieving themselves (e.g., urinating) in their clothes during the Challenge; and their palms entirely out of their designated palm decals (even if it’s just an accident, like if the contestant momentarily dozes off).

15th staging

Returning for its 15th year, the Mediacorp Subaru Car Challenge 2016 held at Ngee Ann City’s Civic Plaza in Singapore, brings together 320 local participants and 80 regional participants from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

“As we embark on the 15th year of the Challenge, I’m sure that we can look forward to a tense and fierce fight ahead. Just last year, we were treated to a surprising finale when a contestant other than from Singapore—a Vietnamese salesman—took home the grand prize for the very first time in our Challenge history.

“Indeed, anything and everything can happen, we can’t wait to see how the competition pans out!” said Glenn Tan, executive director of Tan Chong International Ltd., which assembles and distributes (through subsidiary, Motor Image) Subaru brand of vehicles in 10 countries across Asia.

In addition to being eligible for the grand prize, contestants from other participating countries will also compete for additional titles and cash prizes.

The title of Country Winner and a cash prize of S$1,000 (around P35,000) will be awarded to the final standing representative of each participating country. The last standing regional contestant will win the Asian Winner title and walk away with an additional S$5,000 (around P175,000) cash.

The country whose participants have the longest combined standing time will be awarded the Country Team Winner title along with a cash prize of S$10,000 (around P349,000) to be equally divided among the team members.

Family affair

Considering this event has grown into not just an endurance competition but also a much-anticipated family affair, Tan related, visitors and supporters this year, will also get to experience exciting onsite activities, including the Subaru Public Challenge wherein visitors can experience first-hand a taste of the Challenge by taking part in their very own endurance challenge at the Subaru Booth. They will be rewarded with exciting prizes for withstanding every 30 minute interval.

Also during the four-day spectacle, the event also added Family Relay Fiesta that features a series of fun challenges that pit families against each other to win exciting prizes.

Family teams will attempt to complete four stations: Memory Puzzle, Family Wheelbarrow, Tire Hop, and Subaru Public Challenge, within the fastest time.

“But more than the prizes, I want to make our country proud. Even in the grip of exhaustion, I will just remember this competition is merely psychological, and after two more days this will be over and I will be back to my regular life,” said Yap, a 26-year-old assistant coach and instructor.

Yap related those coming from other countries won’t be able to take advantage of having family supporters on site. This is because for this year, supporters may play a crucial role: Additional rest breaks were given to contestants with supporters who take part in an online game at toggle.sg/carchallenge.

The top 15 game scorers on the scoreboard will earn their supported participant an extra 5-minute break. The scoreboard will reset after every break and the online game will end

with the last 10 standing contestants.