KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8, 2009): It was a bigger, better and certainly tougher - the sixth instalment of theSun Motor Hunt proved to be a resounding success with 1,200 participants testing their mettle for a chance to win great prizes in the fun-filled event.

A total of 292 teams took part this year, compared to 274 teams last year.

“We have an increase this year due to overwhelming response,” said theSun distribution channels senior manager Joehari Abdul Jabbar at the flag off this morning at the Sime Darby Convention Centre
“And we did not want to disappoint the people who applied for the event,” he added.

Joehari said this year’s hunt was a good mix of “newbies” and regular “hunters” with a lot more prizes available for the winning teams.

“We are offering prizes to the first 170 teams in the open category as compared to last year where we gave prizes to the first 145 teams,” he said.

The prizes that are up for grabs include RM200,000 worth of Samsung products.

With so much at stake, it was a hunt against time as participants had to solve 36 cryptic clues and purchase four “treasures” within a six-hour deadline.

The hunt’s course setter Dominic Roache of Time Out Solutions Sdn Bhd said the questions this year were tougher to solve and were worthy of the better prizes on offer.

“I can say that this year’s hunt was tough. There were six to 10 questions that were of high standard,” he said.

He also said the tougher questions were not bolded this year to give participants added pressure to get to the next clue without solving the previous clue.

Roache said that the biggest challenge for theSun Hunt was the management of the big volume of cars participating in the hunt to ensure the vehicles did not choke the roads.

 “So our strategy is to spread out the sectors involved so that the participants can choose the sectors they want to solve first,” he said.

“The locations we used in both legs of the hunt like Damansara Utama were perfect for handling a large volume of cars because of the long and wide roads,” he said.

The hunters were divided into two categories - Open and Masters - which had different sets of questions and routes. The Masters category featured seasoned treasure hunters while the Open category comprised the general public.

This year's hunt was divided into two legs and took the teams to four areas in the Klang Valley namely Kota Damansara, Damansara Uptown, Sunway Mentari and Puchong.

In the first leg, hunters had to decipher cryptic clues at certain locations in Kota Damansara and Damansara Utama before returning to the checkpoint to submit their answers and collect their “tulips” for the second leg of the hunt.

Hunters were also required to collect four items at different locations in Sunway Mentari and Puchong. Participants also had to tune in to Mix FM from 10 to 10.30am to find out the clue for their first treasure.

One of the treasures doubled as a charity effort as participants had to purchase a calendar from Bethany Home Teluk Intan. The money raised from the sales of the calendar will be channelled to the home.

Once teams completed the second leg, they had to return to the checkpoint to hand over the items.

The teams' scores were then calculated based on accuracy of answers and items garnered from both legs.

The winning teams will receive their prizes at a prize giving ceremony in Sime Darby Convention Centre this evening.

The main sponsor of the motor hunt was Great Eastern Life Assurance, with Samsung as prize sponsor while the venue sponsor was Sime Darby Convention Centre.

HSBC, McDonald’s, Sports Toto, Kao Men’s Biore and Northport were major sponsors, while Petronas Primax 95 was the fuel sponsor.

Other co-sponsors and partners include Mix.FM, PVSL Sound and Light, clerk-of-course Time Out Solutions, Elken Bio Pure, Milo, Nescafe, Dentyne, Clorets, Ambipur Car Perfume,  Protex, Harimau Kuat Dishwashing Liquid, Win Fabricare Powder Detergent, M&M’s, Clear Unisex Shampoo, Kenny Rogers Roasters, Bata, Malaysia Airports, Sunway City Bhd and Berjaya Air.

Click here for theSun Motor Hunt pictures