DEAR GOBO: Saigon Cyclo Challenge 2009

During my job search in early Fall last year, I had read about the Saigon Cyclo Challenge, a cyclo race to raise money for charity. It was billed as "Saigon's Most Prestigious Charity Event." Little did I know how much both Steven and I would be involved in Cyclo Challenge just 7 months later.

Saigon Children's Charity's 9th Annual Cyclo Challenge was held on Saturday, March 7. Through my work at SCC, I had worked in various capacities in preparation for the event: calling potential sponsors, encouraging local travel agencies and international schools to display posters of the event, editing press releases and other race day material, consulting on games, even volunteering my husband as an extra volunteer. When the race day came, I was part of a silent auction team with the special distinction of being placed next to the VIP area, allowing us access to the VIP area and all of the fancy food and beverages that came with it. Steven had agreed to work at the front gate with another team of volunteers and at the last minute, his school, which had a team in the race, asked him to join the race team to fill in for a teach who couldn't make it. So in addition to his volunteering, Steven would also be racing a cyclo for the American International School.

We rode our motorbike the 15 minutes to the Taipei International School in District 7 where the event was to take place at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday morning. The skies were cloudy, but no rain had yet begun to fall and we arrived to a volunteer team filled with the promise of what the day would bring. The entrance to the school was decorated with a huge banner announcing the Saigon Cyclo Challenge 2009 and the school grounds were set up with ticket booths, food stands, sponsor tents and a fully stocked VIP section. After wandering around to get our bearings should anyone ask us where anything was, Steven and I parted ways, me to the silent auction tent and Steven to the front.

Just as the clock hit 12:30 marking the opening of the event the skies let loose and didn't stop for four straight hours. After the initial disappointment, the crowd seemed to resign itself to getting wet and the race went on. Because the downpour discouraged many people from venturing over to the auction table, I took advantage of the free food and wine in the VIP area and my front row view of the races and sat back to enjoy the day.