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Pattaya’s first bed race a big success
Staff reporters
Sunday February 8 saw a little bit of history in the making, with
the running of the first ever Pattaya International Bed Race. Whilst similar
events are undertaken in other parts of the world, it is the first time that
such a race on such a scale has taken place here.
 Mayor
Itthipol Khunplome speaks to Rotarians, bed race “athletes” and the crowd of
spectators.
Organized by the Rotary Club Of Pattaya, along with Pattaya Mayor Itthipol
Khunplome and his team from city hall supported by the police, Sawang
Boriboon Foundation rescue workers and many other parties, the day was an
overwhelming success with 29 teams of 6 taking part, pushing their beds from
the start line outside the Royal Garden Plaza, down Beach Road, through
Walking Street and ending up at Bali Hai Pier.
There were many colorful entries, including a fantastic ‘take off’ of the
movie ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’ entered by Boyz Town and a very well
put together ‘Flintstone’ style entry from Alcazar cabaret. Despite that the
emphasis on the day was that of having a fun time, there were also serious
athletic entries. In fact one of the funniest parts of the race was when
over keen teams were in such a rush to get off the starting line they almost
ran over the secretary of the Rotary Club Steve Dickens, who was acting as
starting official!
One lucky person stayed on the bed the entire way until reaching the finish
line. The criteria for judging the winner was not necessarily the fastest
bed to cross the finish line but the best in presentation of the decoration
and teamwork of the pushers.
PDG Jin Srikasikorn said that this event not only raised much-needed funds
for charity, it also introduced a new sport to Thailand, following the
United States, Europe and Australia where people regularly push their beds
around for charity.
Mayor Itthipol said that this bed pushing parade … “Helped to boost tourism
and added to the diversity of events on offer in Pattaya.”
International press coverage has been phenomenal, with reports appearing in
the Chinese newspapers and TV, as well as NBC, FOX and ABC in the USA.
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Prizes were awarded at the after race party held at
Easycart.net, and the main prizes were as follows: |
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Winners |
|
Team Number |
Team Name |
Trophy |
Category |
Time |
|
19 |
Nick The Pizza/WKD |
District Governors Trophy |
Fastest Team |
5.41 |
|
23 |
Murphys Law Bar |
RC Pattaya Presidents Trophy |
Best Dressed Bed |
*22.16 |
|
8 |
Alcazar |
DSL Trophy |
Best Dressed Team |
7.28 |
|
25 |
Boyz Town |
The Mayor Trophy |
Best Overall Effort |
11.58 |
|
17 |
Pattaya International Ladies
Club |
A Toy Bed |
Booby prize for slowest team
* time not counted due to team taking break en route |
12.34 |
From left: Itthipol Khunplome,
Chayansa Suttitamrongsawad,
Pratheep Malhotra, and Jin Srikasikorn signal the start of the race.
The Pattaya International
Ladies Club team is ready to go.
Mermaids make a dash for the
lead.
Murphy’s Law team wins the
“DSL trophy.”
Rotary Interact members are
warming up.
The Bangkok Hospital Pattaya
Team uses a hospital gurney in the race.
Alcazar has an elaborate
“bed”.
Easy Karts and Live Play are
running neck and neck.
Hundreds of spectators lined
the route to watch the fun.
“Are we there yet?” Gasp…
Members of the Pattaya
International Ladies Club anxiously
open their Boobie Prize for being the slowest team.
Pratheep Malhotra (center)
awards “The Mayor’s Cup”
trophy to the Boyz Town team.
Nick the Pizza/WKD team pose
proudly with the District Governor’s Trophy
presented by DG Peter Malhotra (center) and President Gerard Porcon
(center left) of the Rotary Club of Pattaya.
Australian Ambassador attends
AustCham in Pattaya
Andrew Durieux, AustCham
director; Paul Whyte, general manager, Tinfish (Thailand) Ltd.; Mark Patman,
general manager, ANCA Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd.; Paul Grigson,
Australian Ambassador; Jitra Wongjuan, account executive, Watermark Capital
Management Co., Ltd.
Dr. Iain Corness
The Australian Chamber of Commerce Thailand’s Seaboard Sundowners
networking evening in Pattaya welcomed Mr Paul Grigson, Australia’s
Ambassador to Thailand, to the function held at the D2 baraquda hotel on
Second Road last weekend.
In an exclusive interview with Pattaya Mail TV, Ambassador Grigson spoke on
the financial problems besetting the world, and in particular Thailand and
Australia. He mentioned that both the Australian and Thai governments were
facing the challenges with stimulus packages to kick-start the economies. He
also placed great faith in the future and stability of the TAFTA
relationship, saying that it had already demonstrated its worth to both
countries in export volumes.
Incidentally, Thailand is one of four countries with which Australia has a
free trade agreement. The Australia-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA)
came into force in January 2005 and has helped boost bilateral trade.
Thailand is Australia’s eight largest trading partner with two way
merchandise trade reaching $12.3 billion in 2007.
One of the other Australian Embassy staff who was present was Trade
Commissioner Craig Senger, who vowed that he would try and get to more of
the Eastern Seaboard Sundowners in future. Australia’s Embassy in Bangkok is
one of the largest overseas missions, providing consular services to the
estimated 50,000 Australians present in Thailand at any one time.
A fair percentage of Thailand’s 50,000 Australians attended the D2 baraquda
evening, with the new executive director of AustCham, Brett Gannaway being
the affable mine host, with current president Shane Torr being unable to
attend the function but did express his regrets, so was forgiven!
One of the sponsors of the evening was Tinfish, the sheet metal fabricators,
with its GM Paul Whyte saying how diversification was his company’s model
for success, and all his business contacts came from the networking
evenings. A sage piece of advice.
The other sponsor of the networking evening was the design group dwp,
represented by the MD Saeed Zaki, the people behind the spectacular design
of the D2 baraquda, who’s GM (“guru”) Paulo Randone was on hand to show
anyone interested, the spectacular new venue.
While the networking evenings are ostensibly for the Down-Under contingent,
a goodly number of former UK residents attended this function, with regulars
Peter Smith and Malcolm Scorer (AA Insurance Brokers) and the Eastern
Seaboard representative of AustCham Paul Wilkinson (AGS Four Winds) plus
Thailand’s oldest front row forward Jimmy Howard. America was represented by
the sartorially splendid George Strampp (the man in the blue jacket) and AFG
president Mike Diamente (Dana Spicer).
With the Eastern Seaboard always a place where staff are coming and going,
the relocations people were there in numbers, with Paul Wilkinson (AGS Four
Winds) mentioned above, Pat Gossett Transpo Tigers and Robin Hyde and Serdal
Sahin from Schenker Thailand all making invaluable contacts.
The next Seaboard Sundowners will be on March 13 and notice will be given in
the Pattaya Mail.
Norm Thomtson; Alan Parker, VP
of global accounts for APAC, Tyco Kire,
Security & Services (Thailand) Co., Ltd.; Adrian Beecheno, E/I manager,
Downer Edi Engineering (Thailand) Ltd.
Debra Patman and Kris Fering
enjoy conversation and wine.
Robin Hyde, manager of
Schenker (Thai) Ltd.; Jitra Wongjuan, Account Executive for Watermark
Capital Management Co., Ltd.; John Faulds, global account manager logistics
services for Gulf Agency Company (Thailand) Ltd.; Serdal Sahin,
key accounts sales manager for Schenker (Thai) Ltd.
Paolo Randone, “guru” of
dusitd2 baraquda
Pattaya and Paul Whyte, general manager of Tinfish (Thailand) Ltd.
Paul Strachan (center)
interviews Sarinrath Kamolratanapiboon (left),
AustCham Thailand dwp, and Saeed Zaki (right), AustCham director for PMTV.
Craig Senger, Austrade,
AustCham and Paul Wilkinson,
AustCham ESB Coordinator.
John Black, managing director,
Real Estate Magazine Thailand
and Dave Buckley from Real Estate Magazine Thailand.
Peter Smith, director of AA
Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd.; George Strampp, managing partner with
Automotive Manufacturing Solutions; Jitra Wongjuan, account executive for
Watermark Capital Management Co., Ltd.; Steve Duckworth, general manager of
Waste Management Siam Ltd.; Malcolm Scorer, director of AA Insurance Brokers
Co., Ltd.
Labor of love: Many volunteers help build New Kingdom Hall
An elder gives thanks for the
noon time lunch.
Having a little fun at the
lunch break.
Just a few finishing touches.
BPW
Scaffolding, cement, hard hats, dust masks and elbow grease. A
work-site at Soi Khaotalo/Soi 4 has all the markings of a traditional
construction job, with one exception - all of the 30-plus work crew are
volunteers.
“Absolutely everyone,” said project foreman Sataya Pongsri. “This is 100
percent volunteer work.”
 Brother
Vito and Diane, just checking up on the day’s progress.
“One person doesn’t take credit,” Pongsri said, “It’s completely a joint
effort.”
Similar to an old-fashion barn raising, many Jehovah’s Witnesses are known
to come together to build their houses of worship, called Kingdom Halls. It
is a most sincere effort on their part and one that gives them personal
satisfaction and at the same times pleases their God.
The new building in Pattaya, including finish work inside and out,
landscaping with all the trimmings, will be completed by volunteers.
“Hiring a general contractor, plumbers, electricians, and the typical
professional staff to do the same work would increase the cost of our
Kingdom Hall a tremendous amount,” noted minister, Vito Bonventre, an elder,
serving the English congregation here in Pattaya. He is also the on-site
spokesman.
Instead of hiring out, church members (referred to as publishers), some of
whom have experience in construction and others who are complete novices,
agree to meet to do the work gratis. And not everybody is driving nails or
plastering walls. Some are sweeping, picking-up trash, preparing meals,
bringing water to the workers, painting and a variety of other tasks, that
are found at a typical worksite.
“You might say that many hands make the load light,” said one volunteer from
Bangkok.
A food service staff serves the volunteers a hearty lunch and snacks
throughout the day.
“As hard as people work, no one seems to lose weight. The food is that
good,” said Aaw Lowe, a Jehovah’s Witness sister who lives in Jomtien and
serves in the English congregation.
“As construction is continuing, it is extremely important that we all
conduct ourselves in an orderly and professional manner. The building is in
the midst of a residential area, where our neighbors live right next to us,”
said Fred Baars, an elder with the Pattaya congregation.
Elder Joe Butler commented, “It’s kind of what you might call organized
chaos,” he said of the construction site. “Everyone knows their job, their
time slot, and when they have to be here. Everything just goes together in a
nice succession.”
Although Jehovah’s Witnesses are serious about their faith, they enjoy the
fun and camaraderie that seem to surface when one of their Kingdom Halls are
being built.
“Our Kingdom Halls are simple in design but very practical for our spiritual
needs. The most important thing is not the building but the lessons taught
inside,” said Elder Vito.
Elder Vito continued, “The Kingdom Hall when completed will be a very
functional building and a tribute to our great God, Jehovah” (Psalms 83:18).
Construction began on October 15, 2008 and will be completed by February
15-20, 2009. Their first meeting will be the 27th of February at 7:00 p.m.
Even though this meeting is not the official dedication service where the
public is invited, but as always, all of our meetings are open to the
public. Our meetings are always free. No collection plate is ever passed at
any of our meetings!
Note: Jehovah’s Witnesses are best known for “witnessing or evangelizing”
from door-to-door telling people about God and His Kingdom; while at the
same time offering magazines, books, tracts, etc. All of their publications
are free of charge.
Their services are also unique. Along with songs and prayers, they have a
public talk by a different speaker each Sunday, whereas the speaker
encourages people to follow along with him with their Bibles. They also have
other meetings through-out the week.
If anyone would like to contact the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they can do so at:
[email protected]
Directions: From Sukhumvit, go down Soi Khaotalo to Soi 4 (2nd street on
right) turn right, and proceed down Soi 4 (approx. 100-200 meters to Soi 1
or Soi 2, turn left and you will see the new Kingdom hall
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