So the decision to join this race was right after completing
my first Vibram HK100. It was the variation of terrain and view that motivated
me to sign up for another race. With
fresh pain still lingering in my battered quads from the uphill and downhill plus endless stairs,
I decided to choose the shorter version of the Lantau race as I was curious to
find out how I would fare in a 50km race. However, the registration for the
race was already closed, so I went on
the waitlist and luckily I got in!
Planning for races is one of the few things I take joy in. Lantau50
was nicely placed 2 weeks right after Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon (SMMM)
in Queenstown, NZ. I completed the SMMM in approx. 7:10hours; it was a pristine
mountain trail with total elevation gain of 2200m. So coming to Lantau50, which
had a total elevation gain of 2700m and 51km distance, I reckoned that I should
be able to complete it in about 8:20 to 8:30 hours thereabouts.
I
took an evening flight in, arriving late night and checked into the hotel in
Sheung Wan, woke up early morning and caught the 655am slow ferry from Central Pier
6. It was cold and breezy once I reached Mui Wo with temperature around teens.
Met up with many friends there; namely Adrian, Thomas, Alvin, Farhan and a few
others. Camwhoring session ensued, and I saw a few of the HK trail elites too.
The Lantau50 and Lantau100 shared the same start time, and at
the start point it was pretty much a Singaporean/Malaysian affair, as I saw
many familiar faces (though I do not know all of them). Right before the race
started, there was a lion dance performance. When the timer went off, we were
still pretty much chatting away with each other. We started off pretty far back on Mui Wo
Beach, and ran about 200m to a cone, then made a U-turn to head back to where
we came from. After about less than 1km,
we started the climb upwards on Lo Fu Tau (465m). It was a bottle neck when we
started the climb as everyone scrambled to be ahead of each other. Myself and Adrian Wong(AW) started together
and we paced each other step by step. Somewhere around here, AW reminded me
that the actual action starts after CP3, where the flat ground starts… hmm…I
was thinking to myself:Was that a warning from him that he would smoke me after
CP3? The climb towards Lo Fu Tau (465m) was not as tough as I thought it would
be, so I was hoping for the next climb to Sunset Peak (854m) to be a bit
tougher. I cameto regret this in the later part of the race.
An experienced ultra runner once told me to expect uphill
after every downhill. Sunset Peak was all about climbing 854m and it was 9km to
CP3.
Just a few hundred metres into the climb, KH appeared from
nowhere and went past us almost effortlessly. We were trudging our feet
together, again step by step.. The downhill towards CP3 was rather steep and
tricky. I was sure that sliding down might be easier than running down, but
still, I didn’t want to dirty my new compression tights, so I chose to try to
run the downslope instead .. haha…
When we reached CP3, we stopped for a breather for the first
time in the race. I gulped down some Coke, and KH who was ahead of us earlier
joined us for a chat. CP3 was where the Lantau50/100 participants split up. KH decided
to join us to do only the 50km as his intention was just to clock mileage with
this run. So after a couple of minutes of chatting, KH asked AW and I , which
of us would like to lead the pace since there were 3 of us. I literally gulped when I heard that.
So anyway we took off, with KH setting the pace, AW in the middle and me the
last. We ran for about less than 1km, and I found myself struggling to keep up.
It was technical trails with some climb over rocks on a few dried waterfalls, which
to me was not runnable. They were dropping me fast with their pace, and I was
struggling to just keep them in sight. CP3 to CP4 was 11km apart. I told
myself, AW is darn right, the race actually starts after CP3. Smell no smoke at
all!! I had breathing difficulty and was seeing stars, but I trudged on by just
walking. It was not wise to try running when feeling giddy on a rocky section.
I was trying to figure out what was happening to my body, was it low blood
sugar or low electrolytes? My inner thigh cramped up with each steps. So I took
in gel for energy, and decided to suck a quarter of Nuun effervescence
tablet. The tablet seems to work, cramp
went away, but the feeling of seeing stars and giddiness lingered on until CP4.
This was a very demoralizing section, I seriously thought of quitting and DNF.
It was purely a mental tussle here, one part of me said it was tough, it was a hot day, you have got nothing to prove,
everyone is overtaking you because u are slow and walking and another part of
me said you have completed TNF SG100, FAR114, HK100, so what is a Lantau50,
just keep the forward momentum.
As I approached CP4, I saw this familiar faced Master Scout
from HK100, a very friendly chap and he was all talkative. Another runner was
complaining about the poorly marked section between CP3 to CP4, and I overheard
him saying that there was already a Lantau100 participant that lost his way and
passed through his CP. It did not strike
me whom that lost runner was, until a few more steps up Lo Yan Shan (303m) and
my thoughts gathered back; the lost 100km runner was Kim
Hong! I decided to put on my ear phone, and blasted it away. As the music
blasted away, I found strength in my legs again and started running like someone
being possessed. I overtook a handful of runners, and then more, running every
minor ups and downs.
As I passed CP5, the marshal shouted 5km more! So I ran
harder, thinking that this last part was to be “flatter”, but no, it still had
the small ups to climb and mini downhills. Only when I hit the Mui Wo jetty
then I knew that I was slightly over a km away from finishing. I crossed the finish
line in 8:18:18(huat ahh!), with gun time showing 8:20. AW completed in 7:58,
gun time 8:00. Looking back, I would have DNFed earlier if not for God’s grace
and strength, and I could not have asked for a better finishing time given the
amount of walking I did from CP3 to CP4. J
*Pics credit to Fred Tai and Adrian Wong.
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