1987 - Camel Trophy Selection

I am wearing the number 13 beep

Half of my body buried in the mud

The odds against being picked for the ultimate off-road adventure are enormous. Five hundred thousand hopefuls applied to join the elite twenty-eight members bound for Madagascar and the 1987 Camel Trophy.

Fifteen hundred miles of tortuous jungle tracks, swamp crossings and rock hard desert roads made up the punishing route for the eighth Camel Trophy - the toughest four=wheel drive event open only to amateurs. Fourteen two-man teams battled against nature and each other for three backbreaking seeks on the world's fourth largest island.

Seven Special Tasks were designed to determine the overall winning country in tests of driving skill and navigational ability. The battle was fierce; Italy and the United States showed that they meant business from Day 1. Covered in the ever-present mud and dust of the Great Red Island, the teams hauled their identical Range Rover Turbo Diesels down the eastern 'Pirate Coast' of the Indian Ocean Island. Day and night, the convoy fought through the virtually uncharted tracks - some of which had not been used for twenty years or more. The reward at the finish in the ex-French colonial port of Fort Dauphin was one of historical importance. The 1987 Camel Trophy was the first expedition to drive the length of Madagascar via the near-impossible east coast route. For team members, the chance-of-a-lifetime was unforgettable.

How to earn your berth

The ticket to ultimate adventure

It's no wonder every Malaysian with an ounce of adventure in his blood is clamoring to find out more about it. To date, more than 30,000 letters have swamped the organizers, some from as far away as Sabah and Sarawak.

"This overwhelming response is obviously due to the enormous impact that Camel Trophy '86 made," said Malaysian Camel Trophy coordinator, Ronnie Kok.

"Malaysians everywhere are now fully aware that Camel Trophy offers a ticket to the ultimate adventure. Camel Trophy is not far fetched event meant for the rich or the famous, but rather, offers the man in the street a chance to represent Malaysia in the world's foremost off-road event. It's an opportunity of a lifetime to represent one's country in an event held in an exotic location that is filled with excitement and which offers the satisfaction of pitting one's off-road survival skills against the best in the world," added Ronnie.

Regional Selection Trials
Initially, the search will be for those entries with the right aptitude in their resume and a group of 150 will be short-listed throughout Malaysia. Successful candidates will then be requested to participate in the regional Selection Trials which comprise aptitude and psychological tests. They will be held at six major town centres through Malaysia.

The National Selection Trials
Only 27 will be selected after the regional trials qualify for the National Selection Trials. They will then go on to the National Selection trials to be held in Selangor from Jan. 7 to 11, 1987. Drawn up by professionals, the National Selection Trials are geared to determine that only the best candidates will be selected to represent Malaysia.

The trials will fall basically under five categories:

1. Four-wheel drive skills
2. Outdoor survival abilities
3. Mechanical aptitude
4. Ability to interact with others
5. Mental and physical stamina

The National Selection Trials are specially designed to simulate a number of Camel Trophy special tasks. This is so to allow participants to get a feel for the actual Camel Trophy environment and to provide the judges with a standard for performance. Only the best four Malaysians will be chosen. But before they start their 18-day jungle adventure, the four will undergo three days of intensive training at the Eastnor Castle Estate in Birmingham, England from February 11 to 13, 1987. The final two-man team will only be send to Madagascar.

Malaysian Finalist

1. Abdul Halim bin Abd Rahman
2. Donald Eric Anthony
3. Ching Neng Bin
4. Edmund Chye
5. Suling Ejau
6. Foong Tai Yueh
7. Joe Gan Woon Ping
8. Hashim bin Ahmad
9. Jamal Hussain
10. Kamaruddin Jaafar
11. Mah Yoon Hoong
12. Mohd Sidik Ali Vohd
13. Entalai Ak. Munan
14. Osman bin Percy King Jones
15. Othman Abu Bakar
16. Samson Riong
17. See Toh Kow Cheng
18. See Toh Ying Hee
19. Shahrome bin Yang Rashdi
20. Sia Cheng Ho
21. Dr. Linus Singam
22. Nermel Singh a/l Gurdial
23. Tang Kok Heng
24. George Thu
25. John Wong Yut Heng
26. Yap Ah Tiong
27. Zainal b Mohd Sharif