Trans Nuang 2.0 (The Five Crazies Edition)

“Life is a grand adventure or nothing at all”

Trans Nuang 2.0  a.k.a Trans Selangor-Pahang Mountain Marathon.

5 runners. 42km. 16 hours.

Elevation gains 2,878 meters / 9,442 feet.

Route: Pangsun-Nuang Summit-Janda Baik-Nuang Summit- Pangsun.

 

Pre Run

It started when i plan for Jamie Pang’s mountain training in preparation for his race in December. Jeff Ooi soon joined after hearing our plan. Then Zas started inquire about Trans Nuang adventure, he’s the next to join. Meanwhile, Puzi was the last member to join in the eleventh hour, when he heard that i’m going to Janda Baik through Nuang Summit; he dropped everything turn up earlier than me that Sunday morning.

So there we were – the five of us crazy runners assembled in the drizzling rain at 6:30 am at Pangsun carpark. And i’m the only one that have completed Trans Nuang route before this, so it was up to me to lead the adventure that day. That honour was a huge responsibility on my shoulder.

 

The run/hike/walk/crawl

5 Crazies.

Jeff "Iron Butt" Ooi

Jeff has over 13 years of years running experience. He’s also the Race Director for Mt. Nuang Endurance Run and Back to Endurance run. Although, Jeff have scaled Nuang Summit many times; he never done Trans Nuang yet. He eagerly join us for his UTMF 2014 training commencement.

Jamie “Carboman” Pang

Jamie Pang is an established marathon runner and one of the first sport blogger in Malaysia, recently bitten by trail running bug. He has never scaled Nuang Summit before and he’s going all the way in one attempt for Trans Nuang. He broke many personal records at the end our journey. Well done Jamie, you are in good shape for your first Trail Ultra.

Mohd Puzi Dolah

Puzi has over 20 years experiences in endurance races. He only attempted running Ultramarathon at TMBT 2011, his first 100km. He told me that he attempted this route (Trans Nuang) in 2000 (13 years ago), he got lost and somehow made it to Janda Baik nearing night fall. He then hailed taxi to get back to Pangsun carkpark. So it's kinda an unfinished business for him. When i told him about this adventure, he jumped at the chance and he's the most cheerful guy during entire journey. Never stop talking, our entertainment for the whoel journey. Thanks Puzi for sharing your experiences with us.

Zas Ibrahim

Zas has been around for years in local running scene, his marathon timing is about 3:30 but he prefer Mountain Running than road races. This mountain goat is very fast on technical tail, you can learn a lot from him on running mountain trail.

Yours truly – RaY

I just started entering race late 2009, did my first Marathon (42km) in 2010. I completed my first 100km Ultra Marathon race in 2011 and never looked back since. I guess i’m the guy with the least running experiences in this group – roughly 3 years of running experiences (races).

Pangsun-Nuang Summit-Janda Baik

We started the Trans Nuang expedition about 7:00 am, the drizzling rain finally stopped. We realised the trail would be in worst conditions due to the rain and corrosion; not to mention the 300 odd hikers hitting the trail a day before.

Trans Nuang - 14 river crossings

We quickly decided that we only gonna run on some part of the trail, especially from trail head to Camp Lolo (5km). The rest we would do a fast hike and even walk, it’s not worth putting up with risk of injuries. Plus our main agenda for the day was “time of feet” training, we estimated about 12 hours of training time from Pangsun-Nuang Summit-Janda Baik and return (7am to 7pm).

I knew it’s going to be a very long day when we took more than 4 hours to scale the Nuang summit. We really took our time, took plenty of photos & videos and too many breaks.

Going down to other side (Janda Baik) was totally a new experience for the rest of the group. The trail here was very slick and slippery, we had plenty of butt falling sessions – especially Jamie. You need a really good trail shoes here, the one with good lugs – for example Salomon Fellraiser.

1st summit for the day. 1,493 meters

As we arrived at Janda Baik, the sceneray was unrecognisable. I was here few months ago and now could recognise the trail.

I brought along my new trekking poles for product testing at Trans Nuang, it helps to relieve the pressure from my right knee. I’m still having pain on that right knee, so i was very slow and cautious not fall during the expedition.

Descending to Janda Baik

It was comfortably easy doing the first Trans Nuang last July with Zinov, now it felt hard especially with my injured knee.

After the 7th river crossings, we arrived at Janda Baik. But the usual eating stall was closed. We decided to walk further few more kilometers to find a place to have our lunch. It was a late lunch at 3 pm.

Janda Baik-Nuang Summit-Pangsun

It was getting darker in the trail on returning leg. Around 5:30 pm, it started to rain, it was a very heavy downpour. We came prepared, we put on our rain jacket and headlamp and keep moving. On route the summit, the trail was treacherously slippery. We took our time and continue moving cautiously. There’s a dangerous section nearing the summit (from Janda Baik), you need a bit of wall climbing skill and strong upper body to pull yourself on the big rock before final ascend to the the summit.

Lunch at Janda Baik (Photo: Jamie Pang)

It was abouot 7:15 pm when we scaled Nuang Summit for the second time that day. It was foggy, windy, cold and raining heavily. We’re hungry – stopped a bit to refuel before going down towards Pangsun. It’s a very different view now in the night time, my 365 lumen headlamp brighten the trail path like day time.

In my experience this is the worst and toughest Nuang trail yet for me. We got rain, cold wind, slippery track and precarious river crossings. I guess it’s some sort of evil initiation for Jamie entrance into Ultra Marathon Trail.

All of us got few scratches from the fall on the slippery trail, Jamie got is worst. I lost count on how many times he slipped and fell, now both of his hands are bloodied due to the falls. But he took it all like a man on a mission, no whiner in this group of 5.

At one time, Jamie fell right in front of me – strange though, no wind and no nothing, he just fell out of sudden. He said later that he was reaching out for a tree that doesn’t exist.

Now he’s seeing thing! Hallucination kicks in! A normal occurrence during a very long Ultra Marathon, due to tiredness or dehydration.

Although it was a very long day in the mountain, we know what we’re doing. Except for few in the group, majority of us have experiences running Ultra Trail in the mountain during night time. So it’s nothing new or something to be scared of. We are quite confident of completing Trans Nuang on our own terms.

We finally reached Pangsun at 12:24 am Monday, and in few hours i’ll be clocking for work.

Congrats to all, especially Jamie Pang for his maiden Nuang Summit and Trans Nuang adventure. He looked strong even after the reached the safety of Pangsun. Puzi and Zas looked like coming from 10km run, fresh and ready for more. While the rest of us was almost in the brink of losing consciousness.

This will be a great tale for our grandchildren and there will be more Trans Nuang adventure, this time we gonna takes it to the next level.

Pangsun-Nuang Summit-Janda Baik-Genting Sempah and return. 6okm ++. 20 hours of more training time.

I know Puzi is rubbing his hands in anticipation…….

Gears used:

• Salomon XR Crossmax Shoes
• Salomon Skin Pro 10+3 Hydration Bag
• Salomon Bonatti Rain Jacket
• Salomon Exo- S Lab Tee
• Salomon Exo S Lab Twinskin Short
• Wright socks
• Black Diamond Z Distance Trekking Poles