This is the second edition of the 18km/10km trail race. The start/finish line for this year race was changed to Cheringin Resort in Janda Baik.
Last year race report here.
The route is a bit different from last year but majority of the route remained the same. The first 1km and final 1km is different and located at Cheringin Resort, it’s a steep down hill at the start and steep uphill climb in the end.
I arrived early the night before and shared the same room with Puzi. I never seen someone so anxious and nervous about a race, the couldn’t sleep all night and keep on having stomach ache and vomitting all night long. “Dah macam kucing nak beranak hehe”.
I slept soudly all night, having completed the 80km bad ass race at CM50 a week prior does not give any incentive to run fast. I was planning to treat it as recovery run, maybe just walk most of run the next morning.
It was raining hard at 6 am and the race had to be delayed around 7:15 am due the weather conditions. It’s still drizzling when we started the race. I was elated and looking forward for this another edition of mudfest.
Photo credit: Action Pix
It was definately a slippery trail, we started running down the steep hill few meters after startline. Joe Gray, Puzi and the front group was gone in an instant. I was struggling to cope with race when few runners started to overtook me, one by one.
I managed and recovered soon after that. Ran and kept consistant pace, somehow i felt stronger this year. After starting using CarboPro since TNF Australia earlier this year, i felt an improvement in running performace. Now i couldn’t race without Carbo Pro, my mandatory fueling nutrient.
I reached the first CP at 5km after 37mins, man i was surprised to see the river was getting higher due to the rain this morning. The water was around my chest when i crossed the river, i saw Puzi on the other side of the river stayed and helping runners to get accross. He asked me to continue my run and said he will catch up later.
After the race, i found out he stayed much longer at the river to help majority of the runners to safely cross the river. Truly our hero for the day !
I feel there’s more road section this year compared to last year, my Salomon Sense Speed was truly put to the test in the muddy tail. Especially at the sttep hill climb in the end of the race. While other runners was having problems and struggling on all four climbing that steep hill, i was having a blast. The shoes stick like a glue on the slippery trail, pretty impressive. Altough it took me some time to break in the shoes, but it all worth the wait.
Definately better trail route this year, hopefully we going go have another rainy & muddy trail next year. I finished slower than last year, 2:17 hours compared to 2:11 hours. I guess age is catching up.
Surprisingly, i finished at overall position #14 and #4 in my age category, just missed top three finish. No bad after a week finishing 80km trail race in the Philipines.
See you runners next year at Janda Baik, if you like muddy trail and mudfest this is the best trail race for you.
Gears Used:
- Salomon S-Lab Speed shoes
- Hydration bag – Salomon Skin Pro 3 Set (White)
- Salomon Twinskin Short (Black)
- Salomon Slab Exo Motion T.Shirt (Red)
- Salomon Exo Calf (Black)
- S-Lab Exo Twinskin Short (Black/Red)
- Salomon Bandanna
Much better & improved medal quality this year