1) What medicines should I have if I get an allergic reaction to plants?

1. Antihistamines, preferably non sedating: Clarityne, Telfast or Xyzal tablets

2. Topical steroid creams: Betnovate or Dermovate cream for faster
relief. Not advisable for long time use but OK for short-term to
relieve the itch and inflammation.

Please consult your doctor before you buy any of these medicines or creams.

2) Can I take the 2pm bus instead of the 11am bus as I want to spend more time shopping in downtown Kota Kinabalu?

No as we have limited seats and have allocated seats for the 11am bus to Tambunan strictly for teams arriving anytime 

on the 31st March or before who have had adequate time to unpack and set their bikes up for competition. Teams who 

are flying in on the 1st April will have far less time to prepare and need the extra 1-4 hours to get sorted out so we need 

people to be a little bit sensible about this. If you are however insistent on leaving later, we can arrange a separate mini 

bus to Tambunan at a cost of RM250 with a 6 seater van provided you book this at least 3 days before the 1st April. 

3) Clip shoes or standard pedals?

My personal opinion is it is possible to use clip shoes but you will need to make a firm decision based on your own personal assessement each night ahead of the next day's race once you are briefed and recieve your race instructions.

There are river crossings certainly on day two and jungle hikes/runs throughout day 1 and 2 so if you don't favour swapping shoes around or carrying your clip shoes or running shoes in your pack because of added weight, it is something to consider with your team mate and to weigh the pro's and con's of choosing one, or the other or both.

4) For 3 men team, for team biathlon, would that be 2 bikes or 1 bike per 3 people? 1 year it was 2 bikes, last year it was 1 bike. How abt this year?

1 bike per team, irrespective if they are 2 or 3 person teams.

5) For 3 men team, if 1 person drops out, will the remaining 2 be ranked?

Yes. 

6) For team biathlon, there is no rule against leap frogging or towing right? 

All's good unless someone has the ability to sit 2 people on their Mt.Bike (a no-no!) or gets a lift from a support crew or hop's on a mini bus to get ahead of everyone. Towing is fine and I gather what you mean by leap frogging is cycling ahead, dropping the mt.bike and running on, leaving your team mate to catch up on foot, to grab the mt.bike and cycle on past you. If thats the case, then yes, thats perfectly fine and a sound tactic to use.

7) Is water provided before the start of the 1st day of the race? And is there a place to buy groceries etc. where we are staying (or en route to the race site on Thurs morning)?

I would recommend you do your grocery shopping at the supermarket opposite Hotel Mega D'Aru before you get on the bus to Tambunan. You can cycle from TVRC to Tambunan township (10 minute cycle at a very casual pace) and there are 2 supermarkets open till 9pm as well as several chinese and muslim coffeeshops.There is a cafe at TVRC which serves decent chinese food and local dishes at reasonable prices and we have found 1 food outlet (with Astro tv no less!) at the back of the Tambunan township (last row of shops facing the wet market) thats worth a visit especially if you want western food.

Tambunan, is a sleepy, farming town so don't expect high end shops, or products to be sold. It's town is far less vibrant than say Tanjung Aru, where Hotel Mega D'Aru is located, but still has the essentials of what you may be looking for, food/grocery shopping wise.

8) I have a support crew and need maps for them before the race.

Sorry, but no maps will be passed out before the race. Maps are given out on a day by day basis during the official briefing each night. All support crews MUST be registered with the race organization as we are issuing ID tags to all competitors, sponsors, officials for security reasons.

9) What guarrantee's will you have support crews are not a hinderance to other competitors and not going to "assist" teams unlike teams who don't have support crews?

Look, all teams have the option of bringing a support crew. Its an option that most preferred not to go with. If a team does have a support crew who are willing to give their time and put in the effort to support the team, then great. However, that doesn't mean there are no rules or restrictions as to what a support crew can or cannot do during a race.

There are. And we will make these rules clear during the race briefing so everyone is crystal clear what is acceptable and what isn't.