MSIG HK50

I wasn't expecting too much from this one. 

Since getting back from Malaysia on Monday night I'd been hobbling around with a very tight left calf and a tweak to my right ankle. I went out for a wee leg stretch on Saturday, the day before the race, to test the water and things were not pretty. My ankle was sore but manageable but my calf was not happy at all after only an easy 50 minutes trot. Not ideal. The rest of the day was spent grumbling and alternating between ice and liberal application of diclofenac gel.

On Sunday morning things didn't feel as if they had improved much. I decided in the taxi going up to the peak that there was a pretty high chance that I wouldn't make it to the finish so I might as well go for it and just run until my leg told me to stop.

Anyway, as we lined up it was clear that we were looking at quite a competitive field. RD Michael Madess of Action Asia Events was obviously trying to up his game a bit and had flown in a few people including Salomon international team runner Yan Longfei from China and Caine Warburton from Austrailia, along with a few top local guys including Wong Ho Chung from Champion System Adventure/ The North Face. There were also a couple of really fast guys (Linus Holmaster and Vlad Ixel) running the 24km event which goes off at the same time and covers the first half of the course before peeling off. 

Soon the gun went off and we were soon haring around Victoria Peak. I managed to behave myself for all of 3 minutes before deciding that I might as well wind it up a bit more on the tarmac and go after the leaders, at least until the trail proper started, that way avoiding the need for any passing manoeuvres later on when it got narrow. So off I went after them, not really pushing hard, just going at a quicker than sensible pace for the start of a 50k race.

I got to the start of the trail just behind Vlad which was a bit of a surprise, and eased off a bit going down the first steps letting him go at the bottom of them as my calf started to complain. After easing off a bit to try and shut it up over the next couple of kilometres with no effect I decided instead just to press on. But now all concept of a sensible race plan was out the window. I ran on at a fast but sustainable pace up to the first check point at around 1okm. I arrived here in a slightly stupid 46 minutes and after refilling with the usual standard of AAE check point efficiency off I went. By now I guessed I was leading the 50k race but I wasn't 100% sure and I had no idea where the 24km guys ahead of me were. After the first few hundred metres of climb up Peel Rise it became a little clearer as one of them into view. We exchanged a few words about me doing the 50 as I passed and off I went.

I bashed out the next section of lovely rolling trail to near Wanchai Gap without any drama, then down and around Mt Nicholson. I intentionally took an quick breather and hiked up the steep steps up onto Middle Gap, the one major climb in the first half. I ran this without issue, easing off the throttle for a moment or two on the contour around Mt Cameron to get a gel down me. Around half way around this I heard a cow bell ringing ahead of me, and about a minute later I passed Andre ringing his bell and shouting 'only two k to go' which made me laugh. I wished. Onto Blacks Link and down to Wong Nai Chung Gap passed in a blink and I was at CP2, half way in 1.58. 

After chugging down far too little water for the section ahead and refilling my bottle,  I took off, now realising I was definitely well off the front of the 5ok race.  Ohoh, this was new. At least now I wasn't even thinking about stopping due to my leg though. Actually, by this point I think my leg had long since got the message and had decided just to play along with the rest of my body the best that it could. I didn't for a minute think I'd be able to stay ahead of the field for another 25km but I thought I might as well try my best to make it difficult for them.

The next 8km or so is also super quick and it passed in an instant. I started to get a few twinges of cramp in my hamstrings climbing up the road section here but I just gave it a poke as I ran and kept on moving. Fortunately it didn't come to anything and I was able to carry on at a decent clip. By the end of Sir Cecils Ride I was starting to feel the fast running though, and stopped for a soaking of cool water from the spring there before hitting the CP at 33km in 2.45, still miraculously in first place.

I gulped down as much fluid as I could without throwing up before disappearing off around the contour trail towards General Rock. I started dawdling around here, exactly the same as last year and suffering from the heat, which was now close to 30 degrees. I bumbled towards the turn for the biggest climb of the day, a rough and bushy scramble up the side of Mt Parker. Shortly after starting this climb I knew that my legs were toast and that it was only a matter of time before I got caught. By now things were painful enough that I barely noticed my calf anymore and I was more concerned with nursing my twingey hamstrings up the stupidly steep climb. Its quite enjoyable if you have the legs for it, but unfortunately mine were rapidly deserting me. Sure enough, around half way up the climb I heard someone behind me, and I looked round to see Longfei just behind me. We stuck together for much of the climb. At one point I stepped aside to let him through thinking he would disappear ahead of me but the gap didn't really get beyond 10 m or so. The top section of this is quite technical, requiring use of the ropes and trees to clamber up. Popping out onto the road I was just behind Longfei who walked a while to the next steep section of climb to the summit radar section. This surprised me a little and gave me a little hope....it also meant I felt I could walk it too and take a breather. On the climb I passed him as he paused to stretch out a bit and kept going down the rough and technical descent down to the Boa Vista trail with him just behind me. This is quite a long descent and by the time I got the bottom I was starting to feel it. We stuck together for the first rocky few km of the trail back uphill to Quarry Gap before he put in a roadie style kick to drop me. This should have been my first clue as to his background.

I pulled into the last check point just as Longfei left and went through the same routine. With hindsight I should probably have drunk a bit more here as over the long final section I knew I was becoming properly dehydrated. I left the CP and could still see him ahead of me up the steep steps leading to the top of Mt Butler but I now was just maintaining rather than feeling I had any chance of closing the gap. It was the same up Jardines Lookout, I could see him but I was toiling and having to nurse my hamstrings to fend off a few twinges of cramp. A quick skip across the road at Parkview and the final climb up Violet Hill. half way up here I saw Andre with his bell again who informed me I was still only 1.30 down. Frustratingly I couldn't do much to pick up the pace by now but I still managed to keep running on everything other than the stairs to the top. The descent was slower than it should have been but by now I needed to take it easy on my hamstrings in case they locked up. I stumbled my way around the super rocky first half of the contour trail grumpily battling my way past the hordes of Sunday hikers, who as usual were treating their outing like an assault on Everest. The trail becomes a concrete catch water path for the last few km and here I was able to pick up the pace a bit and stretch out my legs without fear of cramping. I knocked this out at a solid pace and soon popped out onto the road at Wong Nai Chung gap and down the steps to finish in 5.03, 3 minutes and eight seconds back from Longfei, the sore leg and plans to stop early long forgotten about. The next runner home was Justin Andrews, a strong American runner living in Chengdu, China who finished in 5.15. I am not sure what happened to some of the other pre-race favourites but there were certainly a fair few DNFs.

I was happy with the result but not as positive about it as everyone else seemed to be. Initially I was slightly vexed that I had been dropped but not exactly blown away. Surely I could have found such a slight difference in there somewhere? As it turned out it wasn't entirely surprising that Longfei proved a bit stronger than me on the day. I was soon told that he was a graduate of one of the Chinese state athletics academies, and a 2.15 marathon runner. He had also placed highly at the Sky Running World Championships in Chamonix earlier in the year. I suppose this should be some sort of consolation but in the end the chance of an elusive first win against a strong field had escaped my grasp despite having run a good 1o minutes faster than last years winning time.

Now its time for a few weeks off racing to sort the legs out and get some solid miles in before the next one at the end of November and the scarily hard TNF 100 in December.

Photo Credits: Action Asia Events, Andre Blumberg/Paper.

MT KINABALU CLIMBATHON

The Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon in Malaysian Borneo is a legendary mountain race, now in its 28th year. The course has varied a bit over recent years but it now once more retains the simple premise of running up to the summit of Mt Kinabalu and back down albeit with an added road section to finish in Kundasang town. Sounds easy. It's not.

In its current incarnation the event is split into two races. The Summit race is intended as the application-only elite event,  a 33km route which climbs straight to the summit at 4095m before descending back down to 1200m. The 23 km Adventure race is the open event which climbs to the half way point at around 2700m before descending along the same route.

I managed to get one of the places in the elite event, and even though I'm quite a long way away from even being close to elite. Arriving at the start it was clear that the 'elite' part of the entry requirement was being rather loosely enforced, it seeming to be more of an insurance policy to avoid to many ill prepared or in experienced runners trying to race to the summit. There are is quite a tight 3 hour cut off imposed at the summit, which means that the majority of runners get turned back early.

After picking up my bib and waiting about for the slightly comical race briefing it was off for dinner, the traditional gear shuffling and an early night at our nearby cabin.

After a somewhat alternative pre-race breakfast I trotted the 2km along the road to the start line ready for the 7am kick off. 82 people lined up in total including a handful of other runners from Hong Kong including Clement Dumont, Claire Price and Nora Senn and a couple of the top people from Taiwan who I vaguely recognised from HK races last year. There were also a handful of favourites including Dai Matusmoto from Japan, a few Nepalese, Daved and Safrey both Champion System/ The North Face runners who had raced well in HK a few weeks earlier at the 2 Peaks along with a number of African runners there presumably to try their luck for the substantial prize money. From the off they certainly didn't look like they knew what they were letting themselves in for, as they were clearly road or cross country guys and so it was to prove.

For once the start has a really nice relaxed vibe about it, a lovely contrast to Hong Kong. I guess people knew the extent of what lay a head and saw no sense in jostling for position. The horn sounded and we were off for a fast and hilly 4km on the road before we hit the trail. It wasn't long before the road kicked up with some ridiculously steep sections, and indication of what was to come. I ran most of this section more or less with Clement, Ruth (a North Face sponsored Kiwi living in Taiwan) and Safrey Sumping. Upon hitting the trails proper I decided to calm things down a little and soon they had disappeared ahead of me.

I settled into a sustainable hike up the increasingly steep trail, breaking into a trot occasionally where the ground allowed. We were already at about 2000m altitude at this point but so far I was feeling perfectly fine. I had decided beforehand to take a conservative approach all day. I had never run, let alone raced, at this kind of altitude before (I think my previous max in a race was around 3000m at the Bettelmatt Skyrace) so I decided not to push it too much on the climb/decent and open it up a little on the final road section if I had anything left. 

The trail itself is really technical and quite eroded in places with a lot of exposed rocks and steep steps all the way up, interspersed with occasional sections of wooden steps and ladders. The lower sections are through dense forest which open up into pine forest, then rocky bouldery terrain with bushes then finally a massive granite expanse with fixed ropes. Awesome terrain but relentlessly steep. Rarely have I found myself smiling while grinding up a hill this long steep, but today was one of those days, possibly helped by the fact that while I was pushing on I wasn't exactly killing myself either. In any case, I was able to stay comfortably within myself the whole way up and never had any problems despite a few amateurish stumbles on the fixed ropes. Around 3000m it started to drizzle, just as we hit the granite section. It was not much but just enough to make the rock slightly slippery and make me immediately question my choice of footwear (Inov8 F-lite 252). It soon cleared up and nearing the top the front runners started to pass me at break neck speed on the way back down. I couldn't believe the speed the were descending at. I trudged on, by now keeping pace with a Filipino runner who having to push it a bit with the climbs judging by his laboured breathing, which made me realise I was coasting a bit. It was only I crept above 4000m I really started to feel the effects of the altitude and those last 100 vertical metres of light scrambling were painful. I touched the summit cairn in a decent but far from spectacular 2 hrs 45 mins and took a couple of seconds to look around and reflect on the biggest continuous section of climbing I have done since I started running in the mountains, and the fact that it was perversely enjoyable. Before I knew it was plummeting back down the rock face.

To be honest plummeting sounds fast when in fact I had one of the worst descents ever going down here. I'm normally pretty solid going downhill but I was all over the place on the super technical descent, tiptoeing around with zero confidence in my footing and fumbling around while descending the fixed ropes. I felt like the city kid out of his element that I am in reality, the urban mountain runner rather than just the mountain runner. I laughed at myself more than once on the way down here. I immediately lost sight of the Filipino runner. Once off the rock and back on the dirt trail/stairs I was moving a bit better but the damage had been done both to my time and my confidence. A bit further on a tiny runner from Malaysia skipped past me on a super steep section as I was again fumbling around. I passed a couple of the African runners on my way down here, by now not looking like they knew what had hit them. I was soon passing other runners along the way who had been turned back after not making the cut-off including a Scots ultra runner (from Dumbarton no less) who I had bumped into the previous day.

The descent was never ending. At the Layan Layang hut the course forked and took us onto the Mesilau trail which was a lot more challenging and undulating than it appears on the curse profile. Along here I ran with Petr, a Czech guy living in Taiwan for a couple of km before leaving him behind on one of the nasty short sharp climbs. After what seemed like and eternity I popped out onto the notorious road section. At 9km its a peculiar addition to a mountain race of this caliber, long enough to inflict some serious pain. The biggest issue is that its generally steeply downhill with some nasty climbs thrown in, in short it is hideous and especially bad considering your legs are already wasted from climbing and descending the highest peak in South East Asia. To make matters worse the sun came out in full force here and I could feel myself stewing in the heat. None the less, for a hill runner I cope with tarmac better than most and soon I was buzzing along the road at a decent pace. After a few km I saw a runner ahead of me who turned out to be the Malaysian who passed me on the descent previously. He was toiling and I soon caught and past him with a wave of encouragement. The climbs on this section were hideous but the worst aspect was that the descents which were so steep that the bottom of my feet were burning at times as I slapped my way down the tarmac.

The last horrific km steeply uphill to the finish was all about survival and I crossed the line in 5hrs 16 mins, pretty much bang on what I had in my head time wise before the start. This was good enough for 9th place overall. As I crossed the line and stopped I stumbled a half pace, the heat finally getting to me,  and someone caught my arm and lead me to the shade of the medical tent at the finish. A bottle of cold water and a sit down for a moment and I was fine and ready to laugh at the crazyness of it all.

The race was won by Dai Matsumoto in a record time, followed by Daved Simpat and a Nepalese army runner Homlal Shrestha. Clement ran super strongly to finish 5th overall, however the standout performance for me was Ruth Croft winning the ladies race by a country mile in an incredible 5hrs 01 mins. Ruth already has a serious running background having won here last year and easily winning the Fuji mountain race in Japan earlier in the year but this was a next level, world class performance on a crazy hard course that was good enough for 6th overall. I'm pretty convinced that a similar performance would have her at the front of some of the major European skyraces. It will be interesting to follow how her racing develops as she clearly has serious talent. Claire Price also had a great race to place second overall in the womens elite event.

A final thought on two things. Firstly, it was only the next day when I realised how important this race is to the people of Malaysian Borneo/ Sabah as it was covered on both front and back pages of The Borneo Post newspaper. I don't think that even happens in Chamonix during UTMB. Second observation- the Sabah Flag has to be a contender for one of the best flags ever.

I'll be back next year to wave it high.

CASUAL EXPERIMENTS

The latest Urban Mountain Running experiments- test prints for some basic tees. Three shades- white with silver-grey print, grey with white, black with silver-grey. The later is feeling a bit disco at the moment but it has made me think that some reflective ones might not be a bad idea either. Perfect for after those night time finishes.

Any takers?

  

LANTAU 2 PEAKS

The Lantau 2 Peaks is the traditional season opener in Hong Kong and despite the season creeping earlier and earlier as more events come onto the scene it is still viewed as the first test of fitness. At 21km it is a short one, but the +/-1700m of climbing and descent, the afore-mentioned two peaks and endless stairs squeezed into that distance make for a tough few hours out. This is not helped by the weather which can still be ridiculously hot and humid in early October.

And so it was when we set off at 8am for the slog over Lantau and Sunset peaks. The forecast had looked favourable but the reality of 27-30 degrees with high humidity made for a challenging day out for everyone from the start. Terrain-wise the course is variable, with sections ranging from some of the best trails in Hong Kong to absolutely the worst. At least this year we got the worst out of the way early as the course is run in alternate directions each year. We took off on the along the cycle path at a decent but manageable pace out to the first lot of steps up the climb up to the cable car tower. After reaching the cable car tower the course takes the 360 rescue trail under the cable car. This is definitely the worst section of trail in Hong Kong-a heinous mix of steps, concrete and steep slippery boardwalk. I have no idea why people still bring races up this trail since there are several better options on the ridge that runs parallel to it. After a comfortable start I was feeling it a bit going over this section, a sensation which was probably partly physiological and partly psychological. Possibly being a bit over cautious, I started to let a few runners drift off ahead of me approaching the turn under the next cable car station onto the Nei Lek Shan contour trail and by the time I crested the top of the climb and skirted around the station down onto the trail itself they had disappeared from view. I always struggle with the change in cadence required from a hard hike to running again, but I'm still not sure how I managed to loose them here. I eventually got myself together and by the end of the contour trail I caught sight of 3 or 4 guys ahead of me again. I filled my bottle at the CP amid the usual chaos that has come to characterise Action Asia Events (a bunch of kids standing around doing nothing) glugging some water down while I was there and left passing one guy in the process. The guys ahead hadn't stopped, which turned out to be a fine tactic given the confusion. 

I had a solid climb up Lantau Peak but was aware that we still had Sunset ahead of us so didn't want to be killing myself. I caught Matt Moroz and another guy half way up and nearing the ridge I saw Safrey Sumping, one of the two Malaysian Champion System/North Face runners ahead of me. I was gaining on him on the climb and was not far away from him at the top but I then had the same problem again when I reached the summit in that I took me a while to get my composure on the decent by which time he was gone. I had a bit of a bumbling decent and was expecting to get caught by the bottom but it never quite happened. Another chaotic stop at the check point ( more confusion and apparent surprise that you might actually want to fill your bottle!?) lost me a few seconds more than it should have and them off up the gargantuan steps up Sunset Peak. 

Again I was struggling with changing my pace back to hiking and never quite got in my groove up here. I could feel that I was taking it a bit too easy when, if I had actually been in full race mode, I should have been burying myself on this last climb. I picked things up a bit as the gradient decreased towards the top and again I caught a glimpse of Safrey ahead of me but for some reason I never quite engaged chase mode. On the decent I was going well enough when I could see where I was going but there were quite a few sections of rocky single track which are still so over grown that you can't see the trail and I gingerly picked my way through these so as not to risk twisting an ankle.  Towards the end of this monster descent  (which going from 817m to sea level is one of the longest in Hong Kong) I caught sight of a runner ahead of me who turned out to be William Davies, not Safrey. I laughed at this as it was very much resuming where we left off last season. I took it easy on the last section of the descent as its down huge steps, many of which are eroded leaving large concrete slabs jutting up vertically waiting to catch a tiring foot. Hitting the road in the valley at the bottom I was a few hundred meters behind but again had trouble picking up the pace. I eventually caught William coming back into Tung Chung going up the overpass where he put in a bit of a kick but I was able to easily keep with him and then ease past him as we both laughed. I then put the foot down a little opening up a gap over the last kilometre or so, belatedly making an effort worthy of being called racing while trying not to trip on my now flapping shoe lace. I kept the pace up to the line finishing in 2.40.00 in 4th place.

I finished 5 minutes behind the eventual winner, Daved Simpat, the other Malaysian Champion System/ The North Face runner who just pipped Steve Cale to the win with Safrey in third. It was a decent result for me, especially given my comparative lack of engagement on certain sections, as give me a bit of hope that I am not as unfit as I though after the whole rib debacle. True, the winning times were a bit slower than usual, though I think that probably reflects the scorching conditions more than anything. I was happy to win a handful of pesetas into the bargain which, as tradition dictates, went on lunch afterwards.

Now if I could just speed up a bit we might have a few drinks next time too.

THE DAY BEFORE TOMORROW

It always feels a bit it like this.

The first race of the new season and, as usual, I really don't feel like running it, let alone racing it. I don't know why this is. I've spent the last 6 months averaging 10-12 hours running a week, ostensibly with the idea of training for racing in mind. Yet now, on the day before the race,  I have lost all enthusiasm.

I'm not sure quite why this is, but for some reason every race here feels a bit like this. Most of the time I start and the feeling goes away and after a few kilometers I find that I am enjoying myself. But will it always be like this? Is it not so much the racing but these races? I'm starting to suspect that it is, or part of it at least. There is a definite wiff starting to develop around some of these events, and it smells a lot like profiteering. I guess we are in Hong Kong so maybe I shouldn't be surprised but the Scottish hill racing scene this is not.

Then there is the terrain, the geography. Sure, you have to make the best of what you have but this summer really has got me thinking seriously about the point of this. My passion for running and the mountains is growing stronger and stronger, but I am just not sure I have much interest in anything with steps and concrete anymore.

Let's see how it goes.