Trails & Tribulations in Taiping - (30 November & 1 December)
Welcome back to the latest edition of my irreverent and irregular blog. As usual, it attempts to share my experiences and lessons from some of the crazy events I participate in.
This edition is about The Malaysian Mountain Trail Festival which whilst not being the longest is most likely the toughest trail run that I have ever done (so far) in my short, but very joyful time of off-road running.
To be honest, I registered for the event on a bit of whim when Ewegene Tan, it's Race Director, invited Elsa and I to join, after she had guided him and a few friends on a long hike earlier in the year. I remember him describing the event as a festival of running and it seemed like a bit of "no brainer". As...
a) it was just up the road from our place here in Ipoh;
and...
b) its was some good causes too.
So, when Ewegene messaged us later that week the registration page details I signed up for the long course (70km) option and entered Elsa for the intermediate version (30km) and immediately forgot about it until a few weeks before the event when Elsa started reminding me about the messages she was seeing about mandatory equipment reminders and, rather amusingly for me, how her race distance kept getting longer.
Anyway, long story short, in keeping with our minimalist lifestyle and our preferred alpine like approach to things we do, before we knew it, we were heading up to meet friends for dinner in Taiping on the Friday evening. Before doing so though, we obviously had to collect our race numbers, submit our "you are not liable for my insanity" form and have our gears checked for all the mandatory gears which the organising team dealt seamlessly and efficiently with.
There was also the race briefing to attend which was done very professionally by Ewegene with Kanan & Adele (the events 2 MC's) appropriately and, at times, amusingly chipping in with remarks.
On this point I experienced my only disappointment with the event. As I did not see enough participants at the briefing. When someone suggested that I need not be there either, I have to confess to scolding them for such a remark. The reason for this is that not only is it disrespectful to the Race Director and their team not to be there. It also shows a certain lack of seriousness and possible complacency on the part of participants as got their preparation for the event. For example, certain last minute changes and health and safety matters usually are mentioned here and attending them should be made mandatory in my opinion. OK, sorry, that's my little rant over with now 😇
The plan for the rest of the evening with the starting time of 9pm for the 70km event was a simple one. It was eat adequately but not excessively and get back at the start with enough time to take some rest, compose myself and to socialise. After seeing me off Elsa would then head for a hotel that she and Zacix, her friend, had booked as their race didn't start at 5am the next morning. We'd then all reconvene the following afternoon/evening when we were all done with our respective distances in a comfy little Homestay that was booked through Air B&B (Thanks Zacix for organising that ;-).
Given that Taiping is Malaysia's wettest place it was no surprise that as we headed for the start line after dinner the heavens had opened up and were depositing a very generous helping of rain on us. This meant that the start area was already a couple of inches underwater thanks to the constant downpours that had been happening for the past few weeks.
I'd risen at my usual time (05:00 to 05:30) earlier in the day and knowing it was going to be a long night had tried, unsuccessfully, to have a bit of a "Siesta" after lunch. As a result of missing this I thought I'd try to get a bit of rest before the start. But sadly Adele prematurely dashed those plans very quickly, but quite correctly, by calling the near 400 70km runners to the start area at around 20:45
Sadly, despite everyone gathering accordingly in good order and in good time, the start was delayed by the usual impoliteness of the VIP, whose PR people had presumably told him, in their infinite wisdom, that it was OK to be fashionably late which he was and, as a consequence we did not start until almost 21:20.
We filled in time though as best we could by exchanging greetings with old familiar friends and making introductions to some new ones. It was frustrating hanging around but thankfully my choice of clothing for the night ahead (a long sleeve compression top and an Xterra MTB vest top) kept me warm enough to be comfortably uncomfortable.
Despite the usual misspent youth in the clubs and bars, I had, I confess, never ever 'pulled an all nighter at a festival' before though. So, this was going to be another first for me. It wasn't going to be totally unfamiliar territory for me though by comparison to those who were doing their first long distance event with a night start though. As a result, as well as being comfortably uncomfortable I was calmly confident that whatever the beast out there would bring to this party I was ready, willing and able to deal with it.
With that thought we were off and I settled myself into a steady pace that I considered was not just sustainable but also placed me in or around the top 20 runners. This was not only where I wanted to finish the race tomorrow, it was also where I felt I should be before the trail narrowed in about 2km where there would be (we were warned about at the briefing) a bottleneck.
Sure enough, along with the tall and distinctive tall figures of Chris and Thibo from the Mont Kiara Running Club (MKRC) and Jack Oh we wound our way through this slippery single track trail without hardly breaking stride. Except that is for the wee nose plant I suffered as I stubbed my right big toe into a totally immovable rock that sent me spreadeagled at the feet of Jack who nimbly and thankfully avoided stepping on me.
The track then opened out on to a wide and open trail that was generally rough road and after about 1 hour and 40 minutes I reached CP1 which was at the 13km marker and a simple basic water only station. Here I refilled my water back up to half capacity that I had started with as, as per my plan, I did not want to carry anything I did not intend to use before the next checkpoint.
The trail then became a lot muddier as we starting climbing and descending through the plantation fire roads where caution was needed not to end up turning an ankle by going down some of the serious rutting that had been caused by the heavy rains. After another 90 minutes I reached CP2 which was lite up like a highway service station with all hydration (water/isotonic/coke) and nutrition you could care too think of.
I heard one of the other runners asking how many in front and he was told that he was in 15th spot so my estimation of being in the top 20 was confirmed. What I didn't know about at this time was that Daved Simpat the eventual winner from The North Face Adventure Race Team was almost a full 50 minutes ahead of me already.
Even had I known this though it would not have impacted on me. As a) he's in a different league as is his colleague Samfrey and b) I was well on track to what I wanted to do with my 1961 diesel powered operating system which was ticking over nicely and ready, willing and able for the 1,100 or so meters of climbing that lay ahead of me in the next 6 or so kilometres.
After refuelling fully my hydration (1 bottle pure water, 1 bottle of energy which was a carb/protein mix of powder, sugar, honey & electrolytes) and eating 2 bananas and grabbing 2 more I left CP2 on my own.
Without the other handful of runners around me I was blessed with the full spectacle of the course markings that now seemed to explode before me and my solitary head torch. This was truthfully excessive but at the same time most reassuring as the path to the summit was in effect light up like a Highway. After crossing the agricultural forested area the trail dipped into the tree line of the hill and after a few river crossings I started to head up toward the moon that was peaking through the cloud cover above me.
Climbing is my strength and along the way I steadily and progressively caught and passed a few other runners although we had all been reduced to a walk by now. Up ahead I could see a few more lights and I resolved my self that my approach of relentless forward progress to attack a summit (e.g. one without rest) was not only holding me in good position but slowly and gradually improving on it.
After a about 2 hours and 30 minutes of tough climbing me and another runner popped out simultaneously on to the RTM Mast service road and about 10 minutes later after descending this we arrived into CP3 which was beautifully timed as on summiting I had drained the last of my hydration and was ready for a refill and some hot food.
On entering CP3 there was a mandatory item check done by the friendly staff and while they did this I busied myself getting onboard more hydration and refilling my bottles. I also feasted on the fruits and then poured in the hot porridge and a very tasty serving of vegetable soup on top for good measure.
During this time I was told that I was now in 15th place overall and 2nd in my age group. This corresponded to the mental arithmetic that I'd been doing in my head from CP2 and the fact that I was placing in the podium for the 40+ age group I was racing in was a further mental boost for me. I enquired as to how far ahead of the 1st place guy was to which the Marshall responded by simply pointing rather covertly at the gentleman I had entered CP3 with. He (The Marshall) smiled at me and I knowingly now, smiled back.
I also smiled at bib number 682 who turned out too be Tang Yew Choy. Although, I never got to find that fact out until the results were posted. As it turned out that Tang was the strong silent type and didn't want to talk or exchange pleasantries ;-) Given my minimalist and relentless approach I don't ever hang around in a checkpoint for too long and so left CP3 ahead of Tang with, I confess, a sniff of a thought that it was now perhaps "game on".
That said, I realised soon on during the descent that I was going to have my work cut out if I wanted to take the top step on the podium as not only did Tang look much younger than me (turns out he was 15 years my junior) he was way, way quicker than me as well. As he soon caught and skipped past and pulled away from me on the descent. Admittedly, I was not rushing myself as I knew I needed fuel in the tank for what was still ahead, as I'm sure he did. As a result though by the I ran into CP4 he was leaving it.
On reflection, I made what was probably my one and only mistake of the race on this section of the course. As I definitely ran for too much of the 13km descent with too much weight as it turns out I had needlessly filled these. I covered the descent in 71 minutes but I failed to recognise that I had way more fluid than I needed for this section of the course and worse still, didn't ditch the unnecessary weight until I was almost in CP4.
In CP4 I filled the bottles back up and added the electrolytes into one of the bottles in prep for the renascent of the races major climb. I also started eating my own fuel at this point which were the nut, fig and fruit energy bars that Elsa had made for us and which she'd adapted from Ross Edgley's The World's Fittest Book recipe. These were delicious, packed a great energy kick and are totally recommended.
Leaving CP4 I focused on trying to stay in contact with Tang for our 2nd ascent of the night of Bukit Larut using a more natural trail that brought us out at the ruins of the Maxwell's residence when he was the Governor of Taiping under the old colonial rulers of Malaysia and when Taiping was the State capital of Perak.
Along the way I know I made up one place as about 1 km into the trail I can across a participant slumped across it. At first I thought he'd collapsed until I asked if he was OK and he thankfully responded by telling me that he was just tired and had decided to stop to sleep.
Needless to say this climb was more challenging for us all. As, not only was the long night now taking its toll, the trail was more technical with lots more twists and turns to it and I felt that it was steeper too. Although this might have been because it was narrower and more natural type of hikers trail versus the "elephant" like trail that the Hasher's had made for the 1st climb. This meant my 2nd climb was almost 30 minutes slower than the previous one. Although thankfully the non responsive and almost anti-social Tang was once again at CP5 waiting for me it seemed and had not managed to noticeably extend his lead on me.
Dawn was just breaking and it afforded us both a great view of Taiping as it slept below us while we took our respective breakfasts in our own sleep deprived little worlds. The Checkpoint staff were busy encouraging us on our second loop and simultaneously motivating others who were leaving CP3 for the is time and in the absence of one arising with Tang I found some volunteers to talk to including Arman's wife from Team Pacat.
As a result of these interactions, no matter how sleep deprived I was feeling, I knew which position I would rather be in and I have ton confess that I felt a tinge of guilt as left CP5 for the last time compared to the poor participants who were being urged to leave what was their CP3 and who would have to descend and then reascend in most likely the heat of day!
To put our race into perspective though down below us at Race HQ at the Spritzer Eco Park, Daved Simpat was just about to cross the finishing line, as it turned out that he'd passed through CP5 just over 3 hours ahead of Tang and I.
Not being one for hanging around though once I'd refuelled both bottles and eaten my full of soup and bread a pisang goreng (fried bananas) I donned my gloves for what was now the technical descent. Tang left with me but I think he'd forgotten to put his gloves on because very quickly he was out of view as I seemed to cope with the extensive rope sections that the Trail Master's and creators had installed.
I say that he "seemed to forget" as before started to think too hard that this might be my chance to open up a gap, he was back on my heels with his gloves on and was clearly making better work of the technical trails than I was. Proving that as well as being quicker across non technical ground he was more than a match for me at technical descents too. I allowed him to pass and just focused on my own feet and staying safe and smooth throughout the remainder of the trail to the tar road at the bottom.
By now the heat of the day was kicking in and Ewegene's decision to instal a "bonus" water station between CP5 & CP6 was welcomed with open arms as by the time I reached it I was sucking air from both of my bottles and getting to CP6, given the relatively small but considerably wicked climb that was still ahead of us, would have put me in serious jeopardy of seriously dehydrating.
Once more my game of "cat and mouse" with Tang meant that as I arrived at this "bonus" checkpoint he was leaving it having arrived there a full 5 minutes ahead of me apparently. I tried to minimise the gap by being as quick and as slick as my tired body would allow by simply filling my bottles and removing a few stones from my shoes that had started to irritate me on the tarred road we were now on.
It was at this point I noticed really for the first time in the full light of day the extensive love bites I had from those loveable little creatures we call leeches. I had several still feasting and after removing one particular monster that had definitely had his fill of me I marched on relieved to still be able look up the road and still see Tang up ahead also marching.
Shortly after here the road disappeared sharp right and we returned to the trails. This is where the trials and tribulations really began for me. As, as I started to climb again on an all be it less severe incline than what we'd be on all throughout the night, the tiredness, the lack of protection from the canopy of the forest and the increasing and incessant temperature of the sun was indeed a cause of great suffering and tested my, up to now, steady and strong levels of relentlessness and resilience!
Up to this point I had stuck to the plan of run everything I could and power walk everything else. I have to confess that this up to now well executed plan started to falter and I eventually had to seriously adapt it. As, firstly, I needed to preserve and control my water, as I could not afford to run out of this too far from CP6. Secondly, the descents were very steep and on concrete roads which my model '61 knees do not take kindly to these. So running these sections simply was not an option I could risk.
As a result, I was reduced to a march for much of the remainder of the way to CP6 where I eventually arrived almost 3 hours after leaving the summit. My cumulative race time was now 13 hours and 6 minutes and worse still I had pretty much lost hope of catching Tang who I suspected was long gone. The new goal was set to stay stay strong enough to cover the final 6kms to finish in under 14 hours.
This turned out to be very naive thought, as it actually took me a further 1 hour and 24 minutes to cover this distance which again included not a particularly dramatic climb in terms of length but a none-the-less "ball breakingly" brutal one.
Having been passed by a handful of the 36km runners going into CP6 there were now however plenty of the 15km runners for me to chase down from CP6. I proceeded to do this one by one and my reward for this was that as I crested this final climb I got a glimpse of Tang to ahead of me.
Thinking he might have at least broken one of his balls and that there might be a sniff of chance after all for me to get the best out of myself and make the top step of the podium. I gave myself a good stern talking to which included one final kick up my butt to push on. In doing so not only did I catch him but I passed him the next descent.
As soon as I did so though I knew that the game of "cat and mouse", that we'd been having with each other for the past 10+ hours, had him firmly in the role of the "cat" playing with me. As not only did he pick up as I passed him, he comfortably overtook me and as soon as we reached the broken road section for what was the final 3km run in to the finish line he left me for dead and was able to reestablish his lead and finally finished almost 5 minutes ahead of me.
As a consolation the 84 minutes I spent to complete this final section was marginally quicker than Tang's and, whilst being embarrassingly slow for a 6km distance, it was a relatively strong one, with only 4 of the other 10 participants ahead of me going faster than me over this section. Given that I pride myself in whatever I do, to finish it strong, I'm more than pleased with this fact. In fact, whilst I'm far from being the King of this mountain I feel tremendously blessed at my resilience and ability to endure it and keep fighting for my place until the very end.
After crossing the line to the collective congratulations of the ultra endurance performing MC's of the Kanan and Adele and getting my hand cleaned up from some superficial cuts that I didn't want to get infected. I showered up and settled in to chatting with as many of the other competitors that wanted to talk to me.
Rather disappointingly Tang wasn't to be seen though and even on the podium at the awards ceremony later that evening, he seemed reluctant to even shake my hand for reasons best known only to himself.
Irrespective of his lack of social skills in this department I have the upmost respect for his endurance and would like to thank him as his efforts/ability definitely added to the stiff test this course allowed me to give myself.
The remainder of my day was spent wondering at the amazing achievements of the 2 front runners who completed the course in well under 11 hours (4 hours ahead of me), waiting with and waving/welcoming home all the other participants as best as I could.
In this regard, I confess that I may have missed a few of these, as I definitely nodded off on more than a few occassions. Apologies for that and thanks to you all for chatting with me and cheering with me both the participants as they finished and the organisers for their amazing efforts as well.
The 6 most useful things for me & hopefully for others are...
"Less is always more" - packing the least amount of gear as possible proves this point.
It actually takes considerably more time and effort to use this approach (as planning and preparing consume time) versus a "lets throw in the kitchen sink just in case we need it" approach. The return on this investment is invaluable though as when you travel a long distance the less baggage you have the better you will do. I see this as a wonderful metaphor for life too. As it reinforces perfectly the fact that we should only ever take what we need to get by on and make do/improvise along the way.
"Being competitive isn't being disrespectful"
"Eat little and often" - avoid processed packaged stuff whenever possible.
"Be prepared" - not being at the briefing potentially puts you at risk and a disadvantage PLUS it is very disrespectful.
"Inclusivity and Equal Rights" - VIP's are only as important as all the other participants
If you are late we don't wait for you. I have used the approach myself but first saw it used by a UCI Commissaire called Geoff Krohneburg. He used it on none other than Tun Mathathir in Langkawi. The approach is quiet simple and works. The rule applies to all participants and must apply to VIPs too. To "The Tun's" credit his timing was impeccable as was his level of engagement with the athletes before the start. Please give participants the respect they deserve and don't let politicians use an event purely for their own PR!
This edition is about The Malaysian Mountain Trail Festival which whilst not being the longest is most likely the toughest trail run that I have ever done (so far) in my short, but very joyful time of off-road running.
 |
| Course route/profile of the 70km |
a) it was just up the road from our place here in Ipoh;
and...
b) its was some good causes too.
So, when Ewegene messaged us later that week the registration page details I signed up for the long course (70km) option and entered Elsa for the intermediate version (30km) and immediately forgot about it until a few weeks before the event when Elsa started reminding me about the messages she was seeing about mandatory equipment reminders and, rather amusingly for me, how her race distance kept getting longer.
Anyway, long story short, in keeping with our minimalist lifestyle and our preferred alpine like approach to things we do, before we knew it, we were heading up to meet friends for dinner in Taiping on the Friday evening. Before doing so though, we obviously had to collect our race numbers, submit our "you are not liable for my insanity" form and have our gears checked for all the mandatory gears which the organising team dealt seamlessly and efficiently with.
 |
| Part of the traveling "Crazy Gang" |
There was also the race briefing to attend which was done very professionally by Ewegene with Kanan & Adele (the events 2 MC's) appropriately and, at times, amusingly chipping in with remarks.
On this point I experienced my only disappointment with the event. As I did not see enough participants at the briefing. When someone suggested that I need not be there either, I have to confess to scolding them for such a remark. The reason for this is that not only is it disrespectful to the Race Director and their team not to be there. It also shows a certain lack of seriousness and possible complacency on the part of participants as got their preparation for the event. For example, certain last minute changes and health and safety matters usually are mentioned here and attending them should be made mandatory in my opinion. OK, sorry, that's my little rant over with now 😇
The plan for the rest of the evening with the starting time of 9pm for the 70km event was a simple one. It was eat adequately but not excessively and get back at the start with enough time to take some rest, compose myself and to socialise. After seeing me off Elsa would then head for a hotel that she and Zacix, her friend, had booked as their race didn't start at 5am the next morning. We'd then all reconvene the following afternoon/evening when we were all done with our respective distances in a comfy little Homestay that was booked through Air B&B (Thanks Zacix for organising that ;-).
Given that Taiping is Malaysia's wettest place it was no surprise that as we headed for the start line after dinner the heavens had opened up and were depositing a very generous helping of rain on us. This meant that the start area was already a couple of inches underwater thanks to the constant downpours that had been happening for the past few weeks.
I'd risen at my usual time (05:00 to 05:30) earlier in the day and knowing it was going to be a long night had tried, unsuccessfully, to have a bit of a "Siesta" after lunch. As a result of missing this I thought I'd try to get a bit of rest before the start. But sadly Adele prematurely dashed those plans very quickly, but quite correctly, by calling the near 400 70km runners to the start area at around 20:45
 |
| Before the call to the start line |
We filled in time though as best we could by exchanging greetings with old familiar friends and making introductions to some new ones. It was frustrating hanging around but thankfully my choice of clothing for the night ahead (a long sleeve compression top and an Xterra MTB vest top) kept me warm enough to be comfortably uncomfortable.
Despite the usual misspent youth in the clubs and bars, I had, I confess, never ever 'pulled an all nighter at a festival' before though. So, this was going to be another first for me. It wasn't going to be totally unfamiliar territory for me though by comparison to those who were doing their first long distance event with a night start though. As a result, as well as being comfortably uncomfortable I was calmly confident that whatever the beast out there would bring to this party I was ready, willing and able to deal with it.
 |
| Ready for Action |
Sure enough, along with the tall and distinctive tall figures of Chris and Thibo from the Mont Kiara Running Club (MKRC) and Jack Oh we wound our way through this slippery single track trail without hardly breaking stride. Except that is for the wee nose plant I suffered as I stubbed my right big toe into a totally immovable rock that sent me spreadeagled at the feet of Jack who nimbly and thankfully avoided stepping on me.
The track then opened out on to a wide and open trail that was generally rough road and after about 1 hour and 40 minutes I reached CP1 which was at the 13km marker and a simple basic water only station. Here I refilled my water back up to half capacity that I had started with as, as per my plan, I did not want to carry anything I did not intend to use before the next checkpoint.
The trail then became a lot muddier as we starting climbing and descending through the plantation fire roads where caution was needed not to end up turning an ankle by going down some of the serious rutting that had been caused by the heavy rains. After another 90 minutes I reached CP2 which was lite up like a highway service station with all hydration (water/isotonic/coke) and nutrition you could care too think of.
I heard one of the other runners asking how many in front and he was told that he was in 15th spot so my estimation of being in the top 20 was confirmed. What I didn't know about at this time was that Daved Simpat the eventual winner from The North Face Adventure Race Team was almost a full 50 minutes ahead of me already.
Even had I known this though it would not have impacted on me. As a) he's in a different league as is his colleague Samfrey and b) I was well on track to what I wanted to do with my 1961 diesel powered operating system which was ticking over nicely and ready, willing and able for the 1,100 or so meters of climbing that lay ahead of me in the next 6 or so kilometres.
After refuelling fully my hydration (1 bottle pure water, 1 bottle of energy which was a carb/protein mix of powder, sugar, honey & electrolytes) and eating 2 bananas and grabbing 2 more I left CP2 on my own.
Without the other handful of runners around me I was blessed with the full spectacle of the course markings that now seemed to explode before me and my solitary head torch. This was truthfully excessive but at the same time most reassuring as the path to the summit was in effect light up like a Highway. After crossing the agricultural forested area the trail dipped into the tree line of the hill and after a few river crossings I started to head up toward the moon that was peaking through the cloud cover above me.
Climbing is my strength and along the way I steadily and progressively caught and passed a few other runners although we had all been reduced to a walk by now. Up ahead I could see a few more lights and I resolved my self that my approach of relentless forward progress to attack a summit (e.g. one without rest) was not only holding me in good position but slowly and gradually improving on it.
After a about 2 hours and 30 minutes of tough climbing me and another runner popped out simultaneously on to the RTM Mast service road and about 10 minutes later after descending this we arrived into CP3 which was beautifully timed as on summiting I had drained the last of my hydration and was ready for a refill and some hot food.
On entering CP3 there was a mandatory item check done by the friendly staff and while they did this I busied myself getting onboard more hydration and refilling my bottles. I also feasted on the fruits and then poured in the hot porridge and a very tasty serving of vegetable soup on top for good measure.
During this time I was told that I was now in 15th place overall and 2nd in my age group. This corresponded to the mental arithmetic that I'd been doing in my head from CP2 and the fact that I was placing in the podium for the 40+ age group I was racing in was a further mental boost for me. I enquired as to how far ahead of the 1st place guy was to which the Marshall responded by simply pointing rather covertly at the gentleman I had entered CP3 with. He (The Marshall) smiled at me and I knowingly now, smiled back.
I also smiled at bib number 682 who turned out too be Tang Yew Choy. Although, I never got to find that fact out until the results were posted. As it turned out that Tang was the strong silent type and didn't want to talk or exchange pleasantries ;-) Given my minimalist and relentless approach I don't ever hang around in a checkpoint for too long and so left CP3 ahead of Tang with, I confess, a sniff of a thought that it was now perhaps "game on".
That said, I realised soon on during the descent that I was going to have my work cut out if I wanted to take the top step on the podium as not only did Tang look much younger than me (turns out he was 15 years my junior) he was way, way quicker than me as well. As he soon caught and skipped past and pulled away from me on the descent. Admittedly, I was not rushing myself as I knew I needed fuel in the tank for what was still ahead, as I'm sure he did. As a result though by the I ran into CP4 he was leaving it.
On reflection, I made what was probably my one and only mistake of the race on this section of the course. As I definitely ran for too much of the 13km descent with too much weight as it turns out I had needlessly filled these. I covered the descent in 71 minutes but I failed to recognise that I had way more fluid than I needed for this section of the course and worse still, didn't ditch the unnecessary weight until I was almost in CP4.
In CP4 I filled the bottles back up and added the electrolytes into one of the bottles in prep for the renascent of the races major climb. I also started eating my own fuel at this point which were the nut, fig and fruit energy bars that Elsa had made for us and which she'd adapted from Ross Edgley's The World's Fittest Book recipe. These were delicious, packed a great energy kick and are totally recommended.
Leaving CP4 I focused on trying to stay in contact with Tang for our 2nd ascent of the night of Bukit Larut using a more natural trail that brought us out at the ruins of the Maxwell's residence when he was the Governor of Taiping under the old colonial rulers of Malaysia and when Taiping was the State capital of Perak.
Along the way I know I made up one place as about 1 km into the trail I can across a participant slumped across it. At first I thought he'd collapsed until I asked if he was OK and he thankfully responded by telling me that he was just tired and had decided to stop to sleep.
Needless to say this climb was more challenging for us all. As, not only was the long night now taking its toll, the trail was more technical with lots more twists and turns to it and I felt that it was steeper too. Although this might have been because it was narrower and more natural type of hikers trail versus the "elephant" like trail that the Hasher's had made for the 1st climb. This meant my 2nd climb was almost 30 minutes slower than the previous one. Although thankfully the non responsive and almost anti-social Tang was once again at CP5 waiting for me it seemed and had not managed to noticeably extend his lead on me.
Dawn was just breaking and it afforded us both a great view of Taiping as it slept below us while we took our respective breakfasts in our own sleep deprived little worlds. The Checkpoint staff were busy encouraging us on our second loop and simultaneously motivating others who were leaving CP3 for the is time and in the absence of one arising with Tang I found some volunteers to talk to including Arman's wife from Team Pacat.
As a result of these interactions, no matter how sleep deprived I was feeling, I knew which position I would rather be in and I have ton confess that I felt a tinge of guilt as left CP5 for the last time compared to the poor participants who were being urged to leave what was their CP3 and who would have to descend and then reascend in most likely the heat of day!
To put our race into perspective though down below us at Race HQ at the Spritzer Eco Park, Daved Simpat was just about to cross the finishing line, as it turned out that he'd passed through CP5 just over 3 hours ahead of Tang and I.
Not being one for hanging around though once I'd refuelled both bottles and eaten my full of soup and bread a pisang goreng (fried bananas) I donned my gloves for what was now the technical descent. Tang left with me but I think he'd forgotten to put his gloves on because very quickly he was out of view as I seemed to cope with the extensive rope sections that the Trail Master's and creators had installed.
I say that he "seemed to forget" as before started to think too hard that this might be my chance to open up a gap, he was back on my heels with his gloves on and was clearly making better work of the technical trails than I was. Proving that as well as being quicker across non technical ground he was more than a match for me at technical descents too. I allowed him to pass and just focused on my own feet and staying safe and smooth throughout the remainder of the trail to the tar road at the bottom.
By now the heat of the day was kicking in and Ewegene's decision to instal a "bonus" water station between CP5 & CP6 was welcomed with open arms as by the time I reached it I was sucking air from both of my bottles and getting to CP6, given the relatively small but considerably wicked climb that was still ahead of us, would have put me in serious jeopardy of seriously dehydrating.
Once more my game of "cat and mouse" with Tang meant that as I arrived at this "bonus" checkpoint he was leaving it having arrived there a full 5 minutes ahead of me apparently. I tried to minimise the gap by being as quick and as slick as my tired body would allow by simply filling my bottles and removing a few stones from my shoes that had started to irritate me on the tarred road we were now on.
It was at this point I noticed really for the first time in the full light of day the extensive love bites I had from those loveable little creatures we call leeches. I had several still feasting and after removing one particular monster that had definitely had his fill of me I marched on relieved to still be able look up the road and still see Tang up ahead also marching.
Shortly after here the road disappeared sharp right and we returned to the trails. This is where the trials and tribulations really began for me. As, as I started to climb again on an all be it less severe incline than what we'd be on all throughout the night, the tiredness, the lack of protection from the canopy of the forest and the increasing and incessant temperature of the sun was indeed a cause of great suffering and tested my, up to now, steady and strong levels of relentlessness and resilience!
Up to this point I had stuck to the plan of run everything I could and power walk everything else. I have to confess that this up to now well executed plan started to falter and I eventually had to seriously adapt it. As, firstly, I needed to preserve and control my water, as I could not afford to run out of this too far from CP6. Secondly, the descents were very steep and on concrete roads which my model '61 knees do not take kindly to these. So running these sections simply was not an option I could risk.
As a result, I was reduced to a march for much of the remainder of the way to CP6 where I eventually arrived almost 3 hours after leaving the summit. My cumulative race time was now 13 hours and 6 minutes and worse still I had pretty much lost hope of catching Tang who I suspected was long gone. The new goal was set to stay stay strong enough to cover the final 6kms to finish in under 14 hours.
This turned out to be very naive thought, as it actually took me a further 1 hour and 24 minutes to cover this distance which again included not a particularly dramatic climb in terms of length but a none-the-less "ball breakingly" brutal one.
Having been passed by a handful of the 36km runners going into CP6 there were now however plenty of the 15km runners for me to chase down from CP6. I proceeded to do this one by one and my reward for this was that as I crested this final climb I got a glimpse of Tang to ahead of me.
Thinking he might have at least broken one of his balls and that there might be a sniff of chance after all for me to get the best out of myself and make the top step of the podium. I gave myself a good stern talking to which included one final kick up my butt to push on. In doing so not only did I catch him but I passed him the next descent.
As soon as I did so though I knew that the game of "cat and mouse", that we'd been having with each other for the past 10+ hours, had him firmly in the role of the "cat" playing with me. As not only did he pick up as I passed him, he comfortably overtook me and as soon as we reached the broken road section for what was the final 3km run in to the finish line he left me for dead and was able to reestablish his lead and finally finished almost 5 minutes ahead of me.
As a consolation the 84 minutes I spent to complete this final section was marginally quicker than Tang's and, whilst being embarrassingly slow for a 6km distance, it was a relatively strong one, with only 4 of the other 10 participants ahead of me going faster than me over this section. Given that I pride myself in whatever I do, to finish it strong, I'm more than pleased with this fact. In fact, whilst I'm far from being the King of this mountain I feel tremendously blessed at my resilience and ability to endure it and keep fighting for my place until the very end.
Rather disappointingly Tang wasn't to be seen though and even on the podium at the awards ceremony later that evening, he seemed reluctant to even shake my hand for reasons best known only to himself.
Irrespective of his lack of social skills in this department I have the upmost respect for his endurance and would like to thank him as his efforts/ability definitely added to the stiff test this course allowed me to give myself.
The remainder of my day was spent wondering at the amazing achievements of the 2 front runners who completed the course in well under 11 hours (4 hours ahead of me), waiting with and waving/welcoming home all the other participants as best as I could.
In this regard, I confess that I may have missed a few of these, as I definitely nodded off on more than a few occassions. Apologies for that and thanks to you all for chatting with me and cheering with me both the participants as they finished and the organisers for their amazing efforts as well.
The 6 most useful things for me & hopefully for others are...
"Less is always more" - packing the least amount of gear as possible proves this point.
It actually takes considerably more time and effort to use this approach (as planning and preparing consume time) versus a "lets throw in the kitchen sink just in case we need it" approach. The return on this investment is invaluable though as when you travel a long distance the less baggage you have the better you will do. I see this as a wonderful metaphor for life too. As it reinforces perfectly the fact that we should only ever take what we need to get by on and make do/improvise along the way.
"Being competitive isn't being disrespectful"
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| Competitors but friends first |
"Eat little and often" - avoid processed packaged stuff whenever possible.
"Be prepared" - not being at the briefing potentially puts you at risk and a disadvantage PLUS it is very disrespectful.
"Inclusivity and Equal Rights" - VIP's are only as important as all the other participants
If you are late we don't wait for you. I have used the approach myself but first saw it used by a UCI Commissaire called Geoff Krohneburg. He used it on none other than Tun Mathathir in Langkawi. The approach is quiet simple and works. The rule applies to all participants and must apply to VIPs too. To "The Tun's" credit his timing was impeccable as was his level of engagement with the athletes before the start. Please give participants the respect they deserve and don't let politicians use an event purely for their own PR!
"The Harder the better" - Being brave and taking on tough tasks is definitely the best way to get better and being better than we've been is what makes us both human and better than being the same.
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