The MAAC 15^th Annual Go-Kart Challenge 2015

The MAAC Annual Go-Kart Challenge started on a fine day on Saturday morning, August 8, 2015 at the Sepang International Circuit with increased participation from various Australian Alumni. A total of 12 teams participated in the challenge representing their respective university alumni chapters. There was a spark of excitement as Monash University Alumni is the returning champion for 9 consecutive years. The other teams that competed include University of Technology Sydney, The University of Queensland, The University of Melbourne, University of New England, Australian National University, University of Newcastle and James Cook University. Everyone was treated to vegetarian noodles for breakfast, with bottled water drinks sponsored by Monash University Malaysia campus. Everyone was excited and ready to take on the track at the completion of registration and briefing.

The Australian High Commission was represented by Ms. Melissa Hutchings, First Secretary for Political & Economic Section as our guest of honour. Just as last year, foreign exchange students from Monash University came to support their team. Melissa gave a short speech about the Alumni Engagement Policy that the Australian government will be adopting to engage with Australian Alumni more closely after the successful implementation of the New Colombo Plan. After all the formalities, Melissa, accompanied by Pat PW Yeoh, President of The MAAC, Adrian Ong, Vice President (Alumni Relations),  Nicole Lim, Vice President (Bilateral Relations) and Representative from Monash University, officiated and circled the circuit followed by a flag off by  Melissa and Pat, setting the endurance race off for the next hour.

With the great sunny weather throughout the race, everyone were excited as their respective teams passed by the Grand stand and were seen taking pictures. After an hour, the race ended and everyone took off their helmets and waited anxiously for the results. As the results were announced, it was no surprise that Monash University Alumni won the Challenge for the 10th consecutive year. It’s a feat so far unbeaten. In her remarks before the prize giving ceremony, Pat PW Yeoh, The MAAC President announced that next year, there will be an additional rule to the current Go-Kart Challenge. After 15 years of competing in this competition, all Alumni will need to include at least a female driver in their team from year 2016 onwards. The MAAC would like to thank Monash University Malaysia campus for their sponsorship of bottled water, Australian High Commission in Malaysia and The MAAC Executive Committee for their assistance at the event. Thank you all for your support and see you again next year! For those who wanted to see more of the Go-Kart Event pictures please go to our album here.