University’s adventure and recreational club (ARCIIUM) to go diverse

By Ummi Fauzianul Husna Abd Rahman

The Adventure and Recreational Club of International Islamic University Malaysia (ARCIIUM) has continued to grow with tons of glories and achievements since its establishment in 1984. ARCIIUM is one of the most well recognised clubs among outdoor-nature clubs outside IIUM. ARCIIUM has stepped in the outdoor world for quite a long time. It is among the earliest outdoor university clubs that has been established in the outdoor world of Malaysia.

The previous tenure had come with a mission to bring ‘ARCIIUM to the next level’. And with that mission, and under the new tenure lead by Amar bin Zaid, it is making the mission to become reality by stepping into another stage of victory.

The president wanted to implement a new hashtag for ARCIIUM which is #ARCIIUMGoDiverse. There will be three divisions in the club which are; first, the ARC itself, related to general outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking, and many more; second, the Lunar Climber, with a focus on climbing; and the third division is the X-Team, of which their main field of concern will be on race such as running, orienteering and obstacle.

Developing IIUM Lunar Climber

The formation of IIUM Lunar Climber has actually begun since the past two years. It is developed to concentrate on climbing activities specifically. This division is monitoring three major types of climbing which are wall climbing, rock climbing, and bouldering.

The climbing sport has started to receive a prodigious attention from fans of extreme sports in Malaysia. In fact, in 2016 itself, there were a number of climbing competitions being organised in Malaysia compared to two years back. Hence, like other climbing clubs around Malaysia, IIUM Lunar Climber does not want to miss this chance to pursue for the victory while making themselves known to the others as well.

Recent rock trip organised by Lunar Climbers at Kampung Paya Gunung Climbing Park, Pahang
Safety gears were used by Lunar Climbers in every climbing activity

So far, IIUM Lunar Climber has joined many competitions and among the remarkable ones are the Varsity Artificial Wall Climbing 2015 (VAWC 2015), Rock Conquest 2015, Rock Conquest 2016, MMU Boulder X 2016, and BoulderActive Competition.

Reformation of IIUM X-Team

IIUM X-Team was already established for the past few years. During the early  part of its existence, IIUM X-Team was quite powerful and excellent for sending a team to take part in the Iron Man Malaysia. But then, the efforts gradually diminished throughout the time. Thus, in this new tenure, ARCIIUM demands to revive back IIUM X-Team.

In its essence, X-Team encompasses three disciplines of sports which are known as running, swimming and cycling. Hence, for the time being, ARCIIUM will stress on gathering people who have interests in activities such as marathons, trail runs, and ultra runs.

“We focus more on the runners because it is a bit difficult to find swimmers and cyclists within IIUM students. Now, we already have collected about 30-40 talents for IIUM X-Team and our first official race will be Gunung Nuang Ultra Challenge 2017,” the president stated.

He added, “ARCIIUM will be organising weekly run every Thursday night to train the X-Team members. The training module will be depending on the coach in charge on the respective night.”

The motivation of bringing back X-Team was awakened when two of the ARCIIUM members won the competition in Rinjani 100 2016 in Indonesia where both of them won the fourth and fifth places in 60KM category. Amazingly, in many competitions participated by Malaysians, they were the first and second to complete the run.

ARCIIUM members participated in the Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) 2016

Enthusiastically, the president wished to bring a lot of developments in the club as he thought that it will give benefits not only to the club’s reputation but also to the members themselves. He intended to give all members the opportunities to taste the privileges, including those who have been in the club for a long time or even to those who have joined in recent times.

A few years back, ARCIIUM was represented more like a team rather than a club because in most of the trips organised by the club, they were attended by a small group consisting of the same persons. Consequently, the trip that will be organised later will also be determined specifically by the small group. Here, the disadvantageous will hit the new members as they will have less opportunities to participate in any trip.

“So, this time ARCIIUM will diversify its activities. I’m not saying that it will only focus on new members, but rather than satisfying only one side’s need, the club will provide both leisure and challenging activities that can be participated by everyone according to their level of capabilities,” said Amar.

Previously, ARCIUM had always organised activities that were only limited to its members. Thus, the club had come with an idea to allow the public to take part in the club’s events. Also, besides limiting members to outdoor activities only, ARCIIUM had also initiated an effort to expose its members with management skills.

“Another thing that I want to implement is that we (the management committee) will teach members of ARCIIUM how to organise big events that involve the whole IIUM community. They will not only be exposed to outdoor skills, but also including soft skills in handling big events. These soft skills later can be very useful for them once they have finished their studies in the university,” added Amar eagerly.

One of the benefits of joining ARCIIUM is to gain soft skills. What about other benefits? Interestingly, ARCIIUM members have never spent weekends with a waste or doing nothing. There will always be activities conducted on weekend. No force, but optional. The flexibility of participation allows its members to split their time wisely between study and sports.

Health? It is of course a promising benefit to the members on condition that they have to exercise regularly and to practise healthy lifestyle in every possible way. Fortunately, they need to be always fit and maintain their stamina to perform well in activities that will be organised by the club.

It is known to everyone that extreme sports are dangerous if they are not conducted properly. Thus, this is what it makes ARCIIUM beneficial to its members. To prevent from any mishap, members of the club will learn the basic survival skills when conducting outdoor activities. Slowly, when members have possessed the basic skills, they will be exposed to another advanced skill.

Exploring the highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia, Mount Tahan

“Do not underestimate the forests and the nature even the seem-easy-to-hike hills like Broga Hill and Tabur Hill. Anything can happen to anyone. So, before you begin your expedition, ask for help and knowledge from the experts or from people who have lots of experience with the nature.

Do not simply enter the jungle with a zero preparation. Or maybe, you can register with ARCIIUM and we will provide you with such skills once you have become a member,” advised Amar, giggling. ***