AS the two-day off-road adventure wound down with participants making their way out of Kuantan, SUViver Zachary Chua screeched to a halt - and ended the trip with a bang.

The long convoy had suddenly hit the brakes back-to-back.

But Mr Chua was the only one who got into a fender-bender - bumping into, of all people, Guest-of-Honour Ken Jalleh Jr, The New Paper's Executive Editor.

The 38-year-old quality assurance manager is $1,000 poorer from the repair bill of his six-month-old Suzuki Grand Vitara.

But that has not dampened his enthusiasm for the event.

He said: "After the accident, I was a bit moody. But on the way back, I overcame it. It was fun, fun, fun, looking at the photographs we took throughout the whole event.

"This is the first time I've joined and next year I will definitely join again."

So, too, Mr Joe Oh, 36, an operations manager whose three-month-old Jeep Wrangler ran into some gear trouble on sand.

He'd feared getting stuck miles from civilisation and having to tow his car all the way back to Singapore.

But he managed to hitch a ride with his friend and fellow participant Piers Bennett, 43, who was with his family in another car.

With the event organiser and Mr Bennett's help, and a half-hour phone call to the Jeep distributor in Singapore, the problem - a disconnected 4-wheel-drive engagement cable - was fixed.

Mr Oh, his wife and 9-year-old son ended up staying an extra night in Kuantan as they didn't want to make the drive home at night.

His son also had to miss a day of school.

But, said Mr Oh: "That's part of the adventure. If you want to go offroad, you've got to anticipate this kind of situation."

It's rare to hear Singaporeans so sanguine over their vehicle troubles.

But then again, they are seldom riding so high on endorphins and adrenaline.

The SUVival Challenge is an annual Amazing Race-style road trip organised by The New Paper, with puzzles, games, tasks, and offroad activities.

A record 130 SUVs with 360 readers took part in this year's challenge to Kuantan last weekend.

More than $20,000 in cash and prizes were up for grabs.

Participants had to solve cryptic clues and puzzles relating to sights seen on the way to Kuantan.

The Fong family, taking part for the first time, were among those wandering the streets of Yong Peng, trying to find a shop sign where 'Goalkeepers might be suitable for this profession'.

(The answer: A shop called Well Save.)

After other stops, a rendezvous at beautiful Sungei Lembing, a quaint little village off Kuantan.

Here, participants had to figure out the locations of four game stations with just one-line clues and no driving directions.

The organisers got permission from the village head for participants to drive through the land. At another location, they had a waterfall as a backdrop.

They passed rustic wooden houses, colourful schools and homes, cows, chickens, and even goats, which took a decided interest in their activities and wandered in front of one gold SUV just when it was the driver's turn at a game station.

"Where did the goats come from?" the driver wailed dramatically, eliciting laughter from the game master and drivers of the other SUVs.

Eventually, it was the trio of Mr Adrian Ho, 38; Mr Joseph Wong, 38; and Ms Jasmine Lim, 20, who topped the SUVival Challenge 2009.

They won $2,500 cash, and a Pioneer in-car entertainment DVD unit with touch screen panel worth $1,000.

There were prizes for the second and third placed winners, two best decorated SUVs, the best dressed SUViver and lots of lucky draw prizes.

After a poolside dinner and a good night's rest at the Swiss Garden Resort, the SUVivers were ready for Day Two: the offroad activities, where they got to watch professional drivers perform demonstrations on a challenging course with sand, rock and steep slopes, using the new Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4.

The 4x4 owners also had a shot at testing their vehicles through the sand course.

And some - like business development manager Anthony Chong, 33 - got stuck.

But that just added to the fun and camaraderie of the afternoon, as a dozen participants sprang into action to help push his car out of the sand.

It had no tow pin and could not be rescued by the standby recovery truck.

Said Mr Chong: "Everyone was so helpful."

Agreeing, Mr Chua, who got into the accident at the end of the event, described how a fellow participant noticed his plight, took out a big box of tools, slid under his car, and got to work.

Said Mr Chua: 'He helped me dismantle it to make sure the front bumper didn't touch the wheel. When he finished, he just say bye bye and drove off.

I didn't even get his name.

"I offered him a can of drink, he didn't want anything else. He was really a good Samaritan."

East Gear, the distributor of Holux GPS navigation device, and Champion Motors, distributor of Suzuki cars, are the main sponsors of the TNP SUVival Challenge.

The event is co-sponsored by Pioneer and YHI Yokohama.

This article was first published in The New Paper.