MANILA, Philippines - Motor Image Pilipinas, the exclusive distributor of Subaru, will once again hold the Manila leg of its highly-celebrated survivor competition the Subaru Impreza Challenge this September at the Eastwood City. Now on its third year, the survivor series will be looking for the top 10 participants that will represent the Philippines at the Subaru Impreza Challenge-Regional Finals in Singapore where they will get the chance to compete for the ultimate prize of a brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX worth P1.728 million.
The Subaru Impreza Challenge was started by Motor Image Enterprises in Singapore in 2002 where contestants outlast each other amidst harsh weather elements and body fatigue in their ultimate goal of winning a brand-new Subaru Impreza. With their right palms firmly placed on the palm decals located strategically on the Subaru Impeza cars, hundreds of contestants embarked on a test of endurance where they are only allowed a 5-minute break once every 6 hours. In 2009, it took 77 hours and 43 minutes for 40-year old Mohamed Annuar of Singapore to take the grand prize beating 399 other challengers from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Motor Image Pilipinas started the Manila Leg qualifier in 2008 and has been sending a 10-man Philippine contingent to the regional finals in Singapore for the last two years. Last year’s winner of the Manila Leg Apple Joy Balibado was also the last remaining Philippine challenger in the regional finals where she recorded a total time of 53 hours before giving in to exhaustion.
The Manila qualifier event will be will be held at the Eastwood City Central Plaza on September 18 to 19 and more than a hundred challengers are expected to participate. The top ten qualifiers of the challenge will be flown to an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore where they will compete with the winners from other Asian countries and have the chance to win a brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX 2.5 Turbo. The top three winners will also receive a cash prize of P10,000, P6,000 and P4,000 respectively.
The conditions are expected to be tough this year with the adoption of the same rules and regulations used in the Regional Face Off event. With only their right palms on their respective assigned positions in the car, contestants are eliminated thru violation of the competition rules and retirement. Contestants can only go to the toilet, rest, eat and drink during the five-minute breaks given every six hours.
The registration for the Subaru Impreza Challenge will run from August 18 to September 18, 2010 at the Subaru Greenhills Showroom in EDSA. Interested participants must be at least 21 years old as of January 1, 2010, a Filipino passport holder and in good health condition. For more details on the event, interested participants can visit the website at www.imprezachallengemanila.com and its Facebook page of Impreza Challenge-Manila or call the Motor Image office at 727-8333 at 727-3687.