UNAIR NEWS – Taking on an extreme 44.5-kilometer route with five outdoor sports stages, the WANALA student activity unit Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) finishes fourth in the SuperAdventure Adventure Race 2026. The competition took place in Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi, West Java, from Friday to Sunday, September 11–13, 2026.
The 44.5 km challenge
The national-level event for nature-lover student clubs (Mapala) across Indonesia featured five extreme sports disciplines. The WANALA UNAIR team was made up of four students from different faculties: Farrel Ihsan R (FV), Muhammad Nur Khamim (FIB), and Rajab Tri Saputra and Rayhan Arya Ramadhan (FPK).
Ihsan said the team went through intensive preparation that sharpened its physical ability, technique, and mental strength. “The preparation was exhausting because we had to train endurance while also refining our technique in each discipline. The mental aspect was also crucial so that we could stay calm, keep communicating, and not panic when making decisions while exhausted,” Ihsan said.
The stages included trail running, canyoning down the 25-meter Curug Cigangsa waterfall, orienteering, unguided rafting without a skipper, and coastal trekking. According to Ihsan, the orienteering and coastal trekking stages were the most dramatic challenges, draining both stamina and navigation skills.
“The orienteering trek was very challenging, with climbs and terrain that kept us from running continuously. It tested not only our physical strength but also our ability to read maps and find direction when we were already tired. On the coastal trek, the challenge was keeping our rhythm and teamwork when we had almost no energy left,” Ihsan said.
Team strategy and support from university
Facing accumulated fatigue along the route, Ihsan explained that the key to the team’s success was open communication and adjusting the pace. The team’s main strategy for reaching the finish line was to complement one another and never let any member struggle alone.
“We communicated with each other, checked on each other’s condition, and then adjusted our pace. The principle was simple: we could keep moving together until the finish. If one of us starts to fall behind or lose focus, it can affect the whole team,” he explained.
For this achievement, Ihsan expressed deep appreciation for the full support of the WANALA family and UNAIR. In his view, that support gave the team strength, especially when facing challenges in the field.
“All the support we received made us feel we were not walking alone, especially when we were out there and started to feel how hard the journey was,” he said.
Ihsan also cited a line from “Sambutlah” by The Jeblogs that he says reflects their journey. For him, a journey is not only about how far a goal can be reached, but about how well every step of the process is lived.
“For us, the most important thing is to go through the process as well as possible, keep moving forward, and give our best together. How far we end up going will follow from that process,” Ihsan concluded.
Author: M. Yasir Dharmawan Diniy
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
