Hike in Hong Kong!

King of the Hills – Lantau (2013)

To go or not to go
The usual KOTH runners assembled at about 9.15am in Nam Shaan. Michael showed up a little late and told us that he had forgotten to take a dump in the morning. That began an interesting conversation. I offered my “expert” advice and told him that trail running would automatically get rid of the “dump” in his body as he could easily fart it away. Jogger Joel, who stood there looking all engrossed in the conversation, just said one thing: “Can I be please in front?”

The full marathon was supposed to start at 10.10am and at 10.07 Michael wondered again if he had time for the loo. To go or not to go was the million dollar question. I told him that he was out of time and with that we decided to change the topic of conversation.

Nam Shaan to Tung Chung
At 10.10am, we got climbing to the top of Sunset Peak. I decided to take it a little easy at the start and wasn’t bothered by the runners who were overtaking me. Soon, I saw Martijn and Hannes taking photos in the corner. They were sweeping the trail. “Hurry up, Michael and Jonathan are in front of you!” Martijn yelled out as I was slowly climbing up Sunset Peak. In about 45 minutes, I reached the turning to Lin Fa Shan and turned on my gentle running mode. I began overtaking a few people on the technical bits, starting with Jogger Joel. Eventually, I overtook AJ and Alger. Then we climbed up Pok Toi Shaan and some other Shaan (I can never remember this Shaan’s name) and then came one heck of a bushwhack back down to Tung Chung.

That was one hardcore, steep and long downhill bushwhacking section. I was going at my optimal “no injury” speed while turning back every now and then to see who was behind me. Not because I didn’t want to be overtaken, but more because I didn’t want to be run over by someone on such a narrow trail! I badly missed by Anti Knee Protection (TM) invention. Should have worn them. My knees could have done without the scratches from those overgrown shrubs. Well, shoulda woulda coulda. Anyway, I was thinking up another clever invention while running down that narrow trail. Picture this: a headband with two rear-view mirrors attached to either side of it so you can actually see who is behind you without turning back. Perfect for observing “traffic” on such narrow trails. Don’t be surprised to see me wearing this marvelous invention on the next KOTH.

On the last downhill stretch, Aya ran past me like a rocket looking all fresh and energetic. “Well done Aya”, I shouted out as she passed me and, within a blink of an eye, she was gone.

Eventually, I reached the flat concrete bit, relieved to be out of that steep downhill stretch, and started running at a consistent pace. I saw Michael there who said he was having trouble on the downhill bits and contemplated quitting. I advised him against it and told him the worst was already over. Then we overtook the fast Pig Chan who was wearing a tee shirt that read “I am very, very slow”. Hmm.. Imagine a Ferrari with a number plate that reads “slow”. Just not possible. I overtook Pig but knew that he’d overtake me again at some point. Then I saw the superfast Denvy who seemed to be pacing herself quite well. She said “Go Vince” as I overtook her.

Tung Chung to Pak Kung Au
The climb to Ngong Ping from Tung Chung was very steep! The bushwhacking was getting to me. Each time I tried to whack the shrubs back by increasing pace and stomping on them, the shrubs would get back at me by coiling around my leg, attempting to trip me and delivering more scratches. I was right behind Michael who shoelaces were undone. As he stopped to tie them, I overtook him. I also overtook Aya during the climb — she was beginning to look tired. Denvy somehow gathered an immense amount of energy and stormed her way up and overtook me with ease. I didn’t even bother trying to keep up with her.

I finally reached Ngong Ping where Dabera was the checkpoint volunteer giving out water. I asked her to refill my water bottle as I was gulping down some Pokari.

Then came the touristy jog to Wisdom Sticks — it’s amazing how these tourists take pictures of anything and everything. Many of them took photos of me running — not exactly what you would want in your family vacation album! I saw this one Chinese guy running ahead of me and overtook him on this stretch.

I started climbing up to Lantau Peak, one steep stair at a time. As expected, the “slow” Pig Chan overtook me on the climb. I tried to keep focus and didn’t even bother to look up to see how many stairs were remaining! I overtook someone on the climb who asked me if we were at the top. “Not yet”, I told him as we were at the first “false” top. About 10 minutes and several stairs later, we were at the real summit of Lantau Peak.

I ran pretty fast from the peak down to Pak Kung Au but was overtaken by two even faster runners on the downhill bit.

Eventually, I reached Pak Kung Au where Hannes and Martijn were waiting and providing me with some intelligence. “You got chicked”, Hannes said and encouraged me to go catch Denvy. “No can do”, was my response. She was just way too fast for me. After refilling my water, I set off for the last bit back to Nam Shan.

Pak Kung Au to Nam Shan
A long and mostly boring 8km run is what we had to go through to get back to the finish. I found my rhythm and was running this trail at about 8-10kmh. There were many small creeks to cross and one such creek almost had me falling into a mini gully. The trail turned left all of a sudden while I was still running straight. I saw the death trap and applied my emergency brakes just in time as curious half marathoners were watching. Then I picked up my rhythm again and saw one full marathoner in front of me. He was getting his second wind and accelerating really fast. I wanted to try to keep up with him but decided against attempting that. Finally, my Garmin read close to 30km and I could smell the finish but not before hitting the last round of stairs which I tried running up but eventually ended up walking up.

And finally, there it was — the finish! I finished in 4 hours and 14 minutes. 13th overall and 8th in my category. Last year, I finished in 4 hours 29 minutes and came 19th overall.

Michael came in about 5 minutes after me and Denvy finished 6 minutes ahead of me — in 4 hours 8 minutes. Very impressive. The winner (some new Chinese guy) beat trail running legend Jeremy Ritcey by just 11 seconds. The competition in these races is reaching new levels!

Oh, I forgot to ask Michael about his “not going” experience. I suppose one can after all run and fart his way out of a full bowel!

Garmin.

King of the Hills, Hong Kong – improvised (minus Twins plus pizza)

KOTH Hong Kong is supposed to be the easiest course in the series. It is just 30km long and features only one real mammoth climb (General Rock). Actually, make that two. General Rock and The Twins. And the fact that it starts and ends on Hong Kong island (Repulse Bay) makes it a pretty popular course.

Today’s recci of the course, however, attracted only 5 people. Well, one of them (Romain’s friend) didn’t actually count. (When you read an intro like ” Hi there, My name is xyz I love working out,cool calm and a good company. anyone there for friendship first” – well, you don’t have to be Sherlock to guess that she won’t be joining a 30km trail run).

Ray, joining us for the first time was all ready with his Garmin which had the course downloaded. Maggie, who overslept, started the run an hour after us. Romain and I were in the front and going strong all the way until General’s Rock, which felt like a vertical climb and under boiling hot weather, it had its toll on the legs and stomach. i.e. made us quite hungry. By the time we reached a little stream before getting back on Wilson trail, the hunger intensified.

After 25kms of running, we came to a junction where we had to make a crucial decision. Did we want to take a shortcut and head to Stanley for pizza or did we want to climb 2 more 400m hills and run 5kms on concrete before heading back to Repulse Bay? The choice was easy. We chose to climb 2 more hills and run the 5km concrete … yeah sure, like you’ll believe us.

We concluded the day over some sumptuous pizza in Stanley. Ray and Maggie also shared our enthusiasm for food. A hungry Ray ended up at Pizza Hut while a thirsty (and in all probability, hungry) Maggie took an early food exit.

And that concluded a recci from Repulse Bay to Pizza Express (Stanley). We’ll call this the improvised version of King of the Hills, Hong Kong. This one is King of the Hills, Hong Kong – improvised (minus Twins plus pizza).

Garmin.

GPX.

King of the Hills (Sham Tseng) is not only the longest race in the series but also, arguably, the hardest one to navigate. The starting point is itself a bit of a hassle to get to. I remember almost missing the race two years back because we couldn’t find the starting point. However, I have come a long way since then. (Yes, I am giving myself a pat on the back). Today, I made history by parking my motorbike right at the starting point of the course and didn’t even make a single mistake anywhere during the ride. (The world needs to prepare for a new navigating genius). And through this truly remarkable achievement, like a true leader, I also gave myself no option but to finish the whole 38km course as I had to ride the motorbike back! How’s that for motivation to finish?

The start of the trail – near Mac 9

Anyway, there are plenty of great things about me, but going back to the Sham Tseng Mountain Marathon recce, 7 trail runners showed up at 8.20am in the morning for the run.

Continue reading about the supernatural forces on the Sham Tseng recce

3rd consecutive weekend, 3rd consecutive race. Today was the last of the King of the Hills (KOTH) races. This one took place on Hong Kong island, Repulse Bay to be precise.

The assembly point reminded me of Mong Kok on a Sunday. Except, you’ll have to replace eager handbag shoppers with eager racers. Also, these racers walk a little faster than the 0.00000000005kmh speed of a Mong Kok shopper. I met fellow Plover Cove contester Hannes at the start who took our battle for Plover Cove to a whole new level. He warned me that he would toss my motorbike into a ditch near Wu Kau Tang if I violated his Plover Cove ownership rights. I could have said the same thing to him but his BMW motorbike weighs a hell of a lot more than my Kawasaki Ninja. I’ll have to hit the gym and develop stronger biceps before I can make a bold threat like that.

Then I saw my arch rival Claus, a 60-year-old man who beat me on this very same KOTH Hong Kong course last year. His words to me at the end of the race last year echoed in my brain as I saw him today: “Tell your mom you got beaten by a 60-year-old”. So, today, my mission was simple: under no circumstance was I going to let Claus finish before me! That mission seemed like a sure success when I learnt at the start of the race that Claus was recovering from Dengue fever. No real man would compete with a recuperating racer, so I decided to modify my mission to “just have fun”. (You might argue, no real man should compete with someone twice his age but let’s just say that Claus’ fitness hasn’t quite caught up with his age).

The costume boys were there. Nick “007″ showed up in his usual “Branson, Nick Branson” style and another group came dressed up as pirates. They had daggers that looked pretty real. After I did some pirate talking with them, they told me that the daggers were being carried “to chop up fast runners”. My mind made an immediate note: avoid this bunch at all cost!

The half marathon started slightly after 9am and the full marathon started at 9.20am. I ran as per the 2012 edition of my Rules of Running but found a major flaw in it. The rules state that I am supposed to start slow and easy. However, in this particular race where hundreds of people had started before me, I found that I was stuck in a massive running jam. It was a narrow trail and several hundred people were trying to find some sort of footing to climb this trail. I felt a bit of frustration and half decided to just bare the frustration and go with the flow. But then, suddenly, it hit me. Life often presents these kind of scenarios and most of us simply sulk and blame something else or someone else. BUT, the real doers take some sort of action and turn these frustrating moments into something they really enjoy doing. (Don’t ask me how I came up with that. I got no idea!) So, I decided to take action. I was going to breathe down everyone’s necks. Literally. I turned on my heavy breathing mode and made my voice sound remarkably husky in order to scare the person in front of me. (Ok, maybe the husky thing didn’t work but the heavy breathing sure did). I then aptly yelled “dude, PASSING LEFT” or “lady, PASSING RIGHT!” as the situation warranted. (“Chick, passing right” didn’t quite sound right).

Janet was right behind me and leveraged my new found bravery to her advantage. When I did one of my “dude, passing left” yells, she simply added “me too!” and overtook the guy after me! And, when we occasionally encountered one of those rather stationary runners who looked like John Rambo, I let Janet to do the “passing left” scream out of concern for my own safety. (Hey, they say you should only pick battles you think you can win!)

After climbing Violet Hill and her cousins and doing some flat running for quite a bit, we met THE GENERAL. This General was like a US Navy Seal kind of General. I am, of course, referring to General Rock and the super steep and slippery climb up to the top. It was, well, super steep and slippery! On some parts, it felt like a vertical climb and on others it felt almost like a vertical climb! I took a leaf out of Charles Darwin’s evolution book and brought out the ape inside me (it wasn’t difficult. Maybe I am more ape than human). I told my brain that I had four legs instead of two hands and two legs. Then, I started climbing up General Rock ape-style. I met Romain on the way up, he was still making human movements. Once I reached the top, I went back to human mode (this change was tough) and ran straight down to some place where we had to cross a little stream. I was slowed down at this junction by a Chinese hiking group who were taken aback by my heavy breathing and simply froze instead of moving to one corner of the trail. I had to roar to un-stun them and got moving once they got out of my way. Then there was a long, undulating stretch all the way to the junction where the full marathoners had to climb The Twins and the smarter half marathoners could skip that and proceed to the finish.

I saw super fast runner Pig Chan climbing the Twins, not like a pig, but more like a wild boar. Zoooooooooom. I decided to let him be (remember what I said about picking battles that you think you can win?) By the way, The Twins might sound like that slim, gentle and feminine Cantopop band but that definitely ain’t The Twins I am talking about. These Twins are two sister mountains that require any potential suitor to climb roughly 400 steep steps to flirt with them. (Talk about playing hard-to-get).

Anyway, after flirting with The Twins, I had to run along a concrete pavement for eternity before I took a downhill stretch that took me back to Repulse Bay. Some mini running along the beach took me to the finish where I saw Rowena. My first question to her was “Has Claus finished?” I know, mission changed, but just making sure nonetheless. Having learnt that he hadn’t, I high-fived her (talk about having a little fun at the expense of someone twice my age who is recovering from Dengue fever).

The score? 3 hours 46 minutes and 19th position overall. Now to go and repaint my motorbike just in case Hannes delivers on his threat…

Garmin.

GPX.

This was my final training run before next week’s big event – the Vibram HK100. Actually, it was a race but I gave myself strict orders : at no point during the race was I supposed to feel like crap. Meaning, I was to avoid being influenced by runners around me and play my own game. At the end of the race, I had to feel like I could do another 20km. So, speed was to be controlled accordingly.

I reached Nam Shan at about 9.30am and was amazed at the turnout. When I first did KOTH two years back, there were probably half the number of participants as there were today. Looks like Hong Kongers are increasingly keen to get fit!

Jogger Joel showed up in his usual trademark style: two cameras were mounted on his head, one focused on the view from the front and the other served as his 3rd eye at the back of his head. (It probably captured me expressing certain obscenities when he was busy running). He was also missing his luggage tag (one tag is issued for all races and a replacement costs HKD 20). Nobody likes paying fines and he was no exception. However, he came up with what he thought to be a bulletproof plan. He handed them a large 500 dollar note, banking on the fact that they wouldn’t have 480 bucks in change. Unfortunately, they seemed to have a lot more than just 480 bucks, which let both of us to conclude that they would be the perfect targets for a planned robbery.

The race started at 10am. I was busy focusing on keeping cool and ran a little slowly in the beginning. Several runners overtook me during the Sunset peak climb. However, keeping cool and a slow start paid off once I reached the turnoff to Pok Tai Shan. I turned on my noisy mode (heavy and loud breathing) and that frustrated the runners in front of me enough to get out of my way (Nora wasn’t pleased). On the way down from Pok Tai Shan to Tung Chung, Olya came dashing down the mountain like a speeding bullet. Not willing to be taken out by this bullet, I did the wise thing and got the heck out of her way. She disappeared even before I could blink my eye.

That horrible descent from Pok Toi Shan to Tung Chung featured several thorny overgrown shrubs and scratched my sexy legs on several occasions. Note to self: next time, attach a machete to the side of each leg. (TAKE THAT SHRUBS – revenge is going to be sweet). Anyway, after that descent, there was some flat running all the way to the beginning of a 650m climb to Ngong Ping. Abiding by the strict orders I received, I kept my pace fairly easy (9kmh) and didn’t even bother looking at other racers (females excluded). The climb to Ngong Ping was powered by a gel and sufficient water, resulting in me feeling like Rambo for a few moments. I managed to re-overtake the speeding bullet (Olya), albeit only temporarily.

The tourists in Ngong Ping were all puzzled by my rather un-touristy look. I got weird stares as I was making a beeline for The Wisdom Sticks – the start to the infamous climb to the summit of Lantau Peak. I regulated speed again as I was climbing those super steep stairs up to Lantau Peak. Then, I had a dejavu. It was Olya overtaking me again with some serious power. Once again, I did the wise thing and got out of her way. My orders were to maintain an easy pace and I wasn’t going to disobey them (ok, fine, I had little energy to overtake her!) Anyway, I reached the peak slowly but steadily and then it was time for one of my favorite downhill stretches in Hong Kong: the run from Lantau Peak to Pak Kung Au. I did the usual – I envisioned I was flying a Cessna (yes, I’ve got issues) and “flew” downhill to Pak Kung Au.

The last 7km stretch from Pak Kung Au back to Nam Shan seemed never ending. I kept my pace fairly constant and overtook 3 runners during this stretch. This last stretch made me hungry but I had already used up all my ammunition. (Note to self: next time, carry more food man!)

And, finally, I finished the race in 4 hours 29 minutes (12th in my category, 19th overall). Olya finished 8 minutes quicker and another runner I thought I would see but never saw was Chang, he finished in true “Express” fashion – in 4 hours 8 minutes. The winner, who in all probability is some kind of bionic man, finished in an incredible 3 hours 28 minutes.

Great race. Now, to rest the body for the big (and scary) race next week.

Garmin.

GPX.

What a grueling day! Either a sign of getting old or a sign of lack of training. Or maybe both! Anyway, the weather was perfect for the second race of the 4-part King of the Hills (KOTH) series. It was about 15 degrees centigrade and partially overcast today. The race was held in Sai Kung and the full course is about 38kms long.

As usual, I was riding my motorbike to the starting point (Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung) and when I made a familiar sharp turn from Clear Water Bay road to Hiram’s highway, I was reminded of the time I bravely saved a rabbit’s life with complete disregard for my own safety. It was undoubtedly very heroic and selfless of me to do so but since that day, I have been very careful to avoid rabbits of all shapes and sizes. So, when I made that turn today, I was extra slow and on 2nd gear, that too without acceleration. An impatient car driver kept flashing his headlights at me from behind which was very counterproductive for him as I slowed down even further to annoy him. I was thinking how neat it would be to have a big balloon pop up from behind my motorbike with this message for the car driver: “Hey [expletive], my safety takes priority over your speed!”

I reached Pak Tam Chung at 8.30am and walked over to the registration desk. The whole area had a super fit aura to it. It looked like all the lean and mean trail runners of Hong Kong wanted to be the kings and queens of the hills! There was enough combined energy there to move mountains, not just climb them! The full and half marathons started at the same time (9am).

As with every race I participate in, I was stuck in a racer traffic jam from the very beginning. There were all sorts of “vehicles” present; ranging from those ultra-light, super-fast acceleration vehicles (some dude weighing about 50 kilos who can comfortably pull off a high-speed overtaking act in the narrowest part of an already narrow trail) to a heavy-duty truck with plenty of raw horsepower (some 6’5″ tall dude with long legs made of iron. This dude might be slow to accelerate but has the distinct height advantage of being able to hop from one boulder to another distant boulder with the ease that can only be matched by a humungous frog). I was stuck somewhere in the middle and took a more cautious approach at overtaking as I am neither that talented when compared to these other runners, nor am I such a big risk taker. Besides, I had a vehicle of my own (or so I thought). I was going to be more like a mere bicycle. Slower to accelerate and slower to ride BUT it would never run out of fuel! Ok, perhaps not the best example but my point is that I was going to rely on my endurance and overtake much later when the trails widen. Hopefully at a time when most of these other “vehicles” would have run out of fuel.

Murphy’s law certainly held true for me, just as the trails did widen – “If something can go wrong, it will”. The bottom of my left foot (below the ankle) went numb for no apparent reason. I tried slowing down but when you are in a freeway and you see vehicles speeding on all lanes, it’s hard to do so. My right foot also started misbehaving shortly after that, so I resorted to running on the slowest lane (extreme right on a concrete path). I was focusing only on the destination and desperately trying not to be bothered by those “vehicles” that were overtaking me from neighboring lanes and sending a waft of breeze my way each time they zoomed past me.

There was an occasion where the course seemed to be wrongly marked. There were two conflicting markers at a junction, one indicating that we were supposed to go up some hill and the other suggesting that we were supposed to carry on running on a concrete path. I went up the hill along with several other runners until one of them shouted “wrong way”. Those are awesome words to hear if you are at the back because suddenly, and without much additional effort, you are suddenly at the front! As we retreated to the junction, it appeared as though I gained a few spots over fellow runners who also needless went up that hill but in the grand scheme of things, I lost time. But, time was the last thing on my mind. I was more concerned about finishing the whole course at that point.

Just before the end of the half marathon, we had to run on a trail full of stones and boulders that seemed to hug the Sai Kung coastline (I was focused more on not tripping and falling over the boulders, so didn’t quite get much of a chance to admire the beauty of the Sai Kung coast). This is when most of us had the pleasure of being introduced to a very beautiful Queen of the Hills. She is not just beautiful but is very fast. She is also single. Yes, she does sound like the ideal girlfriend but that’s only if you are a male bee. This queen bee and her friends declared war on us as we were trying to cross her territory. I knew something was wrong when the superfast runner in front of me suddenly hit reverse gear. I continued running my engines and OUCH! The queen stung me with a serious vengeance. I stepped on the gas and escaped with only one sting and a bruised ego.

I saw Hannes at the finish of the half-marathon who yelled “you took a shortcut” or something like that. I was still recovering from that passionate kiss from the queen bee so couldn’t really ask him when or where. I continued on the full marathon course and hit a trail that involved some serious and never-ending bushwhacking which was getting on my nerves. All my supposedly healed scars from saving that rabbit in Sai Kung were being tested for endurance by all the thorny branches of trees and shrubs. My leg also got worse. The heels of both legs were shooting off pain signals to the brain each time they hit the ground. Probably because my shoes were getting old and the insoles and treads were wearing out (Note to self: BUY NEW SHOES!)

I saw my Trailwalker teammate Steven at some point which was a surprise. I was expecting him to be a good 20 minutes ahead. He explained to me that he had lost over 20 minutes by actually going up that hill we weren’t supposed to climb. We ended up exchanging places frequently during most of the remainder of the course until Steven suggested that we finish as a team. I was initially a bit reluctant as I was very slow by then and didn’t want to slow him down even further. That didn’t seem to bother my teammate so we started to run/walk together the last few kms. We had two huge hills to climb towards the end and then had to descend straight into Pak Tam Chung road on a steep and slippery trail. By that time, I felt like a 60-year-old man in pain and was very slow in my descent. Then, Steven and I turned back and looked up the hill we had just come down and found a real 60-year-old man running down that steep slope in trailblazing fashion. This veteran was none other than Claus! I only wish I can be as fast as him when I turn 60! He overtook us and later on admonished me at the finish “tell your mom that you got beaten by a 60-year-old. If you keep getting beaten by a 60-year-old, you will lose confidence!”

Steven and I finished as a team at 1pm! Time: 5 hours 33 seconds and 18th in my category, 35th overall. KOTH is getting more and more competitive with each passing year!

They say that “there is opportunity in crisis” and, at the finish line, I was told by Alice about a gentleman who practices that to perfection. He had a rather innovative and entrepreneurial way of dealing with that bee sting which most of us experienced. He wanted the ladies at the finish line to “pee” on him because, apparently, the way to heal a sting by a bee is through lady pee. Alice corrected him and explained that this peeing method only applies to stings by jellyfish. But, something tells me he doesn’t quite care.

Great day out. Two lessons learnt (a) buy new shoes! (b) wear pants for KOTH Sai Kung! [Now, this old man has to recover quickly.]

Garmin.

GPX.

It was the first race of the 4-part series today. Last year, we did the Sham Tseng course in New Territories, so this year we had to do the Tai Po course (it alternates every year) which actually is my most favorite King of the hills course.

A self check revealed a couple of problems (a) the Achilles tendon on my right leg was a little painful each time I put my shoes on (thanks to wearing an old pair of shoes when I did the Overland Track in Tasmania) (b) right knee was complaining of something (possibly a “high” jump on a rock in Tasmania didn’t go too well with the knee (c) an irritating cold that loves me to death (literally).

So, the mission was to fix all three problems by doing this race at a comfortable pace. (I strongly believe that hiking is the best way to fix hiking-related injuries. I know, sounds stupid, but ain’t snake venom the best way to fix snake poisoning?)

Woke up at 0615 to a cold morning (14 degrees) and got on my motorbike at 0710. Romain and I had planned to ride up to Bridespool (the end of the race) so that we would have comfy transportation back after a hard race. After we parked at Bridespool, we went to the bus stop only to read that the first bus to Tai Po (near the start of the hike) wasn’t until 0845. There were no taxis either. So, I came up with an ingenious idea (yes, I am full of them). We took one bike to Tai Mei Tuk and left one bike at Bridespool. From Tai Mei Tuk, we took bus 75K to Tai Po and Romain somehow navigated to the start of the hike from a nearby bus stop. We were at the starting point by 0830.

The “kings” of the hills were all there: Jan, Vivien, Steve, Jinhwa (actually “queen”), etc, etc. Steven and I were looking in awe at all the big names who were present.

“Stone is here, Darren is here, William too. Michael Maddess is also present. Look at him, that’s Raymond and he’s super fast too”, and so the conversation went until Roger Graham (let’s just say he is not exactly known for speed) interrupted with “I am here too!”

At 0900, the race began and the weather got hotter. All was cool but there is never a race where I don’t end up going the wrong way. Today was no exception but today, I did one better. I lead 3 people the wrong way too as we are trying to get up Pat Sin Leng. The guy behind me was saying that he hadn’t seen any markers.

“Do you know the way?” I asked. “No, I thought you knew” came the scary response from this guy who obviously doesn’t know me. I was considering returning to the previous marker but continuing to jog seemed to be my body’s preferred choice. And suddenly, all the racers appeared in front of me from the opposite direction and were taking a sharp left. I took a sharp right and got reunited with the racers. I had to re-overtake a bunch of guys but it looked like I didn’t lose that much time in the grand scheme of things.

From there, I made sure that I was following my rules of running. 10-11.5 kmh on flats, comfortable pace, nice rock n roll music and enjoying the run. I saw a bunch of tourists on the trail and wanted to impress them with my dazzling technical jumps as I was navigating a section with a few circular stones that were laid on the ground to help cross a small stream. Unfortunately, my macho attempt didn’t have the desire effect as I slipped and fell, instantly causing some bleeding scratches on my right leg. I got up immediately and tried to “save face” by recovering and running immediately. I responded with “completely fine” to all their “are you okay?”s and ran quickly. As soon as I was out of their sight, I stopped to inspect my bleeding leg and confirmed that it was okay. I then continued with the run and BANG. It was deja-vu as I kissed the ground yet again as I misstepped and fell. Status: some more minor bleeding on the right knee but all systems were go. In fact, it helped take my mind off the original problem with the knee. (Roger later suggested after the race that he would gladly slap me in the face to help take my mind off any future problems).

The run from there to the finish was very well managed. Only trouble was that I ran out of water at one point and asked a photographer for water and he helped me. (Thank you). But, overall the entire run was well managed and I didn’t feel like quitting or cussing at any point. Actually, maybe cussing though – especially at the end when there was a lot more uphill to reach Wu Kau Tang than I anticipated. And also near the end when I lost about 1-2 mins trying to find the right track to get to Bridespool from Wu Kau Tang.

From our racing club, Steven came first (4h22m) and we had many others after him. I finished in 4h40m and came 29th overall. I realized that there are MANY, MANY super fit guys and girls in Hong Kong. The winner (goes without saying) was a super human called Stone Tsang. He wins pretty much every time. All mere mortals finished much later. I think I finished a whole 1hr3m after him!

Overall, very happy with the way the run was managed despite issues with the leg. In fact, apart from the last 10 mins or so, I don’t think I even felt any real pain in the right knee.

Garmin.

GPX.

Joined the gang for a KOTH Hong Kong Recci. Supposed to be the easiest in the series but the proximity to HK Island usually means plenty of competition.

I was supposed to be running in the front, so I was given the responsibility of marking the trail with a pink piece of chalk for the rest of the troupe. Reminded me of some proverb.. the blind leading the blind? Anyway, I was running with Dom initially who knew the way, so the trail marking went as per plan.

Later on, Steven and Romain came thundering down the trail to join Dom and I and by the time we were near General’s Rock, it was only Steven and I. Neither of us knew the turn to General Rock, so we ended up going straight on a trail full of spider webs. As my head kept slamming into one web after another, my mouth suddenly felt some gooey substance in it. It was gross! So, in taking my revenge on the spiders, I picked up a stick and charged along the trails swinging the stick from one end to another. Many spider homes were nuked.

Later, Steven and I reached some segment of the circuit which is supposed to lead to some stream. But, we couldn’t find that one either and ended up taking the road to Boa Vista. By the time we reached the Twins (no, we’re not talking about the Cantopop singers, we’re talking about the hills near Repulse Bay), I was out of water and Steven was in no mood to climb any further. So, we decided to give that a miss as well and headed back to Repulse Bay beach. The usual bus load of tourists kept coming and going and in fact, one tourist dude was wearing a business suit for his stroll around the beach. Wonder what his dry cleaning bill looks like!

One important lesson learnt – “Thou shall not putteth pink chalk in the pocket of your running shorts during rainy weather if thou does not want to end up wearing pink shorts”.

Stats:
Overall
Time: 03:22:30
Distance: 26.08 km
Elevation Gain: 1,306 m

Garmin.

GPX.

The idea was to do a KOTH recci (full course) in Sai Kung.

Started at 0940 and was at the half way point in 2 hours 20 mins or so but then a big, big blister on my leg caused us to quit at Pak Tam Au (at about the 26km mark). Huge blister! Not sure where it came from.

Blister

Blister closeup

Chris helping me with the blisters with a Compede (thanks!)

Garmin.

GPX.

The 3rd race of this year’s KOTH. This time on Hong Kong island. Weather was cold – about 10 degrees centigrade and it was drizzling. That combined with easy accessibility to Repulse Bay (start of the hike) meant many people! The full marathon started about 15 minutes late (0930).

I had a pretty bad start. Not sure what went wrong but the power in the body felt low and the legs weren’t moving faster than 10kmh. I had some trouble with coordination and ankle control as well. Got reminded of the HK100 start which was similar. It is highly demotivating to feel down and see everybody overtake you. But, I knew from past experience that I simply had to weather this at low speed and high speed would eventually return, which is more or less what happened. Up until Violet Hill, my times were terrible but after that I managed to catch up to quite a few people.

KOTH HK is the easiest of all KOTH races and there’s plenty of flat running involved. There are two huge climbs, one is called General Rock and that’s a real killer. Feels like climbing Sharp Peak and today’s weather meant climbing on 4 limbs and being soiled in mud! The second huge climb happens after 25km and that’s the Twins. It was great to see my friends from the Hong Kong Trampers cheering me on! (Thank you Alex, Karen, Vivian!) At that point, Rowena gave me some intel. She told me that fellow racers and friends Dominic and Claus were just a little ahead. I floored the gas and tried to catch up. Passed another friend (Chang) who overtook me a long time back. I then had a clear visual on Claus and was preparing to attack. Claus, a 59-year-old racing veteran seemed to sense that! He started flooring his own gas as well!! I still tried but could not produce enough thrust to get to him! In the end, he beat me by a minute! Had I known it was only a minute, I would have gone all out at the end! Shoulda woulda coulda. Claus went onto win the first prize in his category and created a new course record for his age group! Impressive.

Problems:
- Have to improve speed on flats. Running on flats just isn’t my thing. Climbs and trail running I love but just can’t seem to get speed on flats
- Actually, that’s it!

Funnily enough, came 9th my category and 16th overall YET AGAIN! That’s the 3rd race, 3rd time! Have to give myself an A+ for consistency. Really enjoyed the race (except for the starting part) and finished in good style and spirit. Winner (Stone Tsang) completed in 3 hrs 2 minutes. Extraordinary feat!

Total: 30.007 km in 3h 50m at an average of 7.81 km/h. Total elevation: about 1750m

Garmin.

GPX.