Papillons were once again very active on a Sunday morning. This time, the stage was set in the classy CBD, with Singapore River and the majestic Fullerton Hotel as our backdrop. The atmosphere was carnival-like with tents and milo goodie bags and people all around.
Papillons, by nature, can be categorized into two basic groups: one – the Punctuals; two – the Delayeds. On this day, the early arrivals blinked and yawned, struggling to not fall asleep. However, nothing beats a good, loud, totally unexpected last-call from the organizers to fall in: “… EXXONMOBIL, please gather at __ and get ready for heat (7?)” In a flash, everyone was wide-awake – AARH??? SO EARLY??!
The bunch of frantic Papillons scrambled for their life vests and paddles. Summoned by a phonecall, Ah Ben teleported from the nearby McDonald’s and was thrown straight into battle, ignoring his body’s calls to poo first then row. Due to the limited supply of EM beings around, we enlisted the help of Yew Thong to be our drummer – which the good fella gamely agreed to.
More drama was to follow – just as Papillon was about to push off, our Vincent Teo, Minister-of-Defence-Teo’s-possible-seventh-cousin-twenty-times-removed, appeared! A personnel overhaul ensued – Jessica swapped to be drummer just as Yew Thong managed to squeeze into the impossibly tiny life vest; while Vincent took Jessica’s position on the left.
With all stars in place, the troop of Jon, Desmond, Christy, Dawn, Freddy, Marilyn, Vincent, Ben, Ken, Patrick, Jessica drummer and Jackson coxswain set off for the starting line. Having switched on our Race-mode, the bump boats and tourists faded into the background. “ARE YOU READY. Attention…BORRRH” later, Papillon shot off to a pulsating good start. Seat by seat, we gradually pulled in front of our nearest competitor, finishing strong with half a boat length lead to book a place in the final.
Papillons disembarked feeling a little “high” and woozy after the overdose of adrenaline attributable to the chaotic pre-race happenings and the race itself. Shaking and stretching off the lactic acid and any residual shock, we were joined by a gleeful Dennis who exclaimed that the race was super exciting man!!!
After settling down, hunger pangs awoke and we heard random orders of “tau huay chooi” (soya bean milk), duck rice, “char siew rice” and “chwee kuey” to no one in particular – we -must- be woozy from that energy-sapping race.
The Sun then decided to take urgent leave without notice and went MIA as dark clouds rapidly descended upon us. The subsequent downpour created a very despondent sight indeed – a bunch of cold, hungry and pooped-out Papillons huddled on the floor.
Eons passed. We stared blankly at each other. Some chit chat. A giant can of Milo danced. …and finally, time for the finals, yipee! As usual, a couple of us dashed to the toilet. It was then, that Ah Biow appeared. I couldn’t quite remember what transpired; all I knew was - we all started chanting “Ah Biow, AH BIOW, AH BIOW AH BIOW…”, then Vincent stripped, Pierre swapped his top, Christy transferred to the right, and Papillon was all ready for the showdown against Tanker Pacific. As we rowed off to the starting point, in the distance, we saw that our Captain Su Li had arrived right on time and was on the river bank waving and cheering us on.
Perhaps overwhelmed by the sheer presence of such a large audience along the Singapore River, our coxswain attempted tricky maneuvers just to get our boat oriented correctly.
With all teams in place, the air-horn went again. Flanked by Stanchart and Tanker Pac, the pressure was on for Papillon. Nevertheless, we never wavered; we kept our cool and fought all the way to a photo-finish, capturing the second place! Pats on backs for yet another super performance, Papillons were jubilant as we achieved another significant milestone in the short span of two weeks. It was also a great experience having Coach Patrick row with us instead of coxing, as well as the cameo by good ole Vincent, and last but not least – great effort by Ken and Dennis!
Despite the long wait to get our medals, Papillons cheered wildly when Derk went on stage to accept a token for ExxonMobil’s sponsorship of the event, and went delirious when Jon claimed our medals. “Go GO GO! ExxonMobil GO!”
Couple of photos-with-medals later, we trudged to Han’s in search of our delayed lunch. The famished gang went on an ordering spree of steaks and salmon fillets, chicken chops and pastas; then wiped out the food almost as soon as they landed on the table.
Pierre then negated all the efforts of our gut-busting, fats-zapping 1min44sec and 1min32sec rows respectively by introducing sinful cakes and ice cream. Strangely, the desserts seemed to gravitate towards Dawn and Co’s table as many plates of cakes suddenly materialized from nowhere.
With the hearty lunch as a superb way to end off the day’s events, the team dispersed; no doubt with each and every Papillon harbouring a deep-seated conviction and determination to complete the three-week-trilogy with a Gold medal in the J.I. race the following Saturday.
= Chief Editor signing off =
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