First up is next weekends final 2013-2014 King of the Hills (KOTH) series race at Tai Po. Its a slightly schizophrenic 36k course with the first half steep and technical going straight up Cloudy Hill and then up and along Pat Sing Leng on some great sections of trail. The second half of it is a bit of a drag in comparison with fast running on a seemingly never ending tour of the Lai Chi Wo penninsula.
The following weekend I'll be at the TransLantau 50k. Last year I DNFed the Lantau 100 at Tai O (around 61km) after having a decent first 50 then royally screwing up my fluid intake and practically cooking myself in the sun. After that the idea of trudging up Lantau peak in the dark definitely lost what little appeal it originally had so I threw in the towel and jumped on a bus back to Miu Wo. This year I signed up for the 50k race thinking that after OTW, TNF 100, HK100 and SK50 doing another 100k race might be pushing my luck. Naturally, I was toying with the idea of changing to the 100k but was eventually put off when I discovered that it starts at midnight this year. While running at night can be fun, making use of that wonderful thing called daylight seems eminently preferable to me, even if its understandable why it makes sense from the organisers to do start a night. Anyway, its not an easy 50k and given its the 4th race in as many weekends I'm not expecting great things from what is left of my legs.
After March the focus changes from racing to just running for a while. My first objective is a trip back to Taiwan to climb Yushan Peak (3950m), Taiwan's highest mountain. Last year I ran up to 3300m or so on the main trail nearly to Paiyun from Takaka in terrible weather as a bit of a test run. This time the plan is to do it the hard way from Dongpu hotspring either going up and over or up and back. Much planning is still required and we'll have to see what nonsense the permit people throw up. I thought the rumours were a joke but I actually did have to supply a photo of myself on top of 'a high mountain' when I applied for the permit last year. Unreal.
The next, and arguably the most exciting plan for the summer is an attempt at the legendary Ramsay Round in Scotland. It is the lesser known Scottish equivalent to the Bob Graham Round, though arguably harder. 56 Miles and 8600m+ of unbelievably rough and exposed mountain terrain over the highest peaks in the UK. It was conceived as an extension to the all together more logical Tranter Round with the aim of linking 24 Munros (now 23) to be completed in a loop within 24 hours. Yes, its technically hill running of the Scottish variety, no, there aren't many paths and yes, I am a bit soft for it but heck, it has got to be done a some point.
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| Ramsay Round, Glen Nevis, Scotland- 23 Munros in 56 Miles/ 8700m+ |
This said, I still maintain that the Tranter Round makes much more sense as it avoids the somewhat forced extension around Loch Treig but its definitely the soft(er) option. Much debate in the Boyd family about this one. More thoughts to come.
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| Tranter Round |
So far the only concrete thing on the cards this summer racing wise is the CCC (Courmayer-Champex-Chamonix) around Mt Blanc at the end of August. At 100k it makes more sense for me this year than its big sister the UTMB. The plan is to make a bit of an effort to prepare for it and get round it with a decent time. In this respect I can take last years disastrous Lavaredo Ultra Trail as the perfect lesson of how not to do it. If all goes well I'll maybe look to do the main event next year. I say 'maybe' as I'm a bit skeptical about the whole circus surrounding the UTMB/CCC not to mention the 168km distance combined with crazy elevation.
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| CCC Route |
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