Asia Trail Sep / Nov 2015

Asia’s first trail running magazine September / October 2015

UTMB Finisher Sam Tam

Get Stronger

with Periodisation

How to Successfully Finish an Ultra with 10h Training a Week The Future of Trail Running in Asia?

10 HONG KONG HKD 48

Predictions of Race Directors 9 772409 503000 >

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SINGAPORE SGD 9.90

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MALAYSIA MYR 12

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THAILAND THB 250

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INDONESIA USD 5

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philippines PHP 235

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Celebrate life in the great outdoors with Outdoor Channel and our fresh and exclusive first-run selection of fishing, off-road, adventure, extreme, motor and water sports.

This year, we feature #WhatsYourStory - a collection of life-changing experiences, impossible challenges, survival against all odds, endurance of incredible pain and amazing sacrifices.

So What’s Your Story? Share your stories with us on www.facebook.com/OutdoorChannelAsia

September / October 2015

asiatrAilmag.com COVER

06 Sam Tam finished the UTMB on his first attempt.

Photo: Alexis Berg

10 Photo: Rolff Claus

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58

48 05 Editor’s Note 10 Race News

Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc – France

Mont-Blanc 80km – France

The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail – Italy

Western States 100-Mile Endurance

Run – USA

Sugadaira Skyline Trail Run Race and

Utsukushigahara Trail Run & Walk – Japan

Grand Wutai Pilgrimage – China

Grassland Marathon – Inner Mongolia

First Mt. Marami 21K FKT Trail Run

Challenge – Philippines

Midsummer Night Series – Hong Kong

MSIG Singapore 50 – Singapore

The Great Relay – Singapore

Royal International Kayak n Run

Series – Hong Kong

38 TRIVIA

Asia Trail Race Calendar Key Numbers

FEATURES on cover 40 Runner profile

The Future of Trail Running in Asia?

Ten Predictions of Race Directors

48 Training

Get Stronger with Periodisation Plan Now to Run Fast Later

52 RACE

Volunteer’s Race Day

REGULARS 58 Gear

Wide Assortment of Running Gear and Accessories to Choose From

62 FIRST STEPS

Fitness and Exercise Myths Debunked

How to Successfully Finish an Ultra with 10h Training a Week

70 body mechanics

Taking the ‘I’ out of R.I.C.E.?

72 geek runner

Listen to Your Heart

76 NUTRITION

Ultra Running — How to Avoid Gastric Problems

78 Race Directory 82 marketplace

Digital Edition

To read Asia Trail online, visit www.asiatrailmag.com

64 ASK THE COACH

Recovery Between Races

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Editor’s Note

Editor: Clement Dumont

MANAGING EDITOR: Claudia Sing COPY EDITOR: Dominik Sklarzyk

CONTRIBUTORS: Andy DuBois Azlan Ithnin Clint Cherepa Doug Tahirali John Cheal John Ellis Joshua Steimle Katia Kucher Koichi Iwasa Kris Van de Velde Rachel Jacqueline Rene L. Villarta Robbie Britton Tim Bardwell Wyan Chow

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Alexis Berg Claus Rolff

Illustration Artist: Kirk Wescom Graphic Designer: Miho Yawata

Publisher: Asia Sport Connection Limited 39, Tung Wan Tau, Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong

For advertising, please contact: Sabrina Dumont +852 5193 8707 sabrina@asiasportconnection.com GENERAL inquiries: info@asiasportconnection.com SUBSCRIPTION: visit www.asiatrailmag.com Issue #12 Bimonthly ISSN 2409-5036

© 2015 Asia Trail. All rights reserved.

The publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are correct.

However, we accept no responsibility for any error or omissions. All material published in Asia Trail is protected by copyright and unauthorized reproduction in part or full is prohibited.

Japanese Kazufumi Oose made it to the UTMB finish despite the difficulties. Photo: Alexis Berg

C

I Am a Finisher

rossing the finish line of an ultra is emotional. Likewise, cheering the last runners at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc is a deeply moving experience, seeing their faces coming undone as they are reaching the finish after conquering 40h-plus of ups and downs around the majestic Mont Blanc. For the elites, however, their race strategy for the UTMB is quite different, the event arguably being the most competitive ultra in the world. While at this year’s UTMB, 35% of the 2,500 participants did not finish, notably, of the elites, a staggering 70% of them actually dropped out. According to the International Trail Running Association, over 100 athletes at the start have the potential to finish within the top 10 — a fact which likely stimulates the extremely fast and competitive pace at the start. Though in the end, what really counts for the vast majority of the ultra participants is to get the finishers’ medal! And with this in mind, utmost congratulations to the very inspirational 73-year-old finisher Christoph Geiger for completing the 170km and 10,000m of elevation gain in 46h 24min.

Do you want to be an ultra finisher? Have a look at some indispensable tips offered by Robbie Britton (p. 66). Many trail runners now attempt 2-3 ultras a year, and at these levels of exertion one must ensure proper recovery between two races — our coach Andy DuBois illuminates the importance of taking it easy, at least for a time (p. 65). Evidently, there’s ambiguity on the subject of the effectiveness of using ice in aiding recovery — our physio expert Doug Tahirali examines the subject (p. 71).

Perhaps you too are noticing that trail running is becoming so popular across Asia that in some regions the race calendar seems rather overwhelmed — our journalist Rachel Jacqueline insightfully investigates the trail scene by interviewing race directors about their speculations on the future of this unstoppably growing sport.

asiatrailmag.com @asiatrailmag asiatrailmag

#asiatrailmag

Editor: Clement Dumont

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UTMB Gear tips

www.columbia.com www.montrail.com www.mountainhardwear.com

“It is a light waterproof jacket, and I am confident that I will be able to stay dry in extreme weather. Some waterproof jackets are heavy and don’t transmit air through the material, but the Over the Fall jacket is a good and breathable waterproof jacket for trail running.”

Sam Tam, a Columbia/Montrail/ Mountain Hardwear Ambassador

Columbia Over The Fall Jacket HKD 1,399

An extremely light and breathable Omni-Tech rain jacket that does not restrict your movement, letting you concentrate on the trails more freely.

The jacket comes with a hood that features peripheral adjustability, and a hem with a draw-cord that can be adjusted for good fit. Comes with zip-close pockets.

Columbia Men’s Trail Summit Running Gloves HKD 399

The Omni-Heat thermal reflective lining of these gloves does a thorough job of keeping your hands super warm, while their touch-screen-friendly feature allows you to easily send a text on your smartphone. Stretch in the wrist makes them easy to put on and take off, and a silicone pattern on the palm provides excellent grip.

Columbia Heat Beanie HKD 259

During the colder days, grab one of Columbia’s unique hats to keep warm — its Omni-Heat thermal reflective lining traps your body heat, letting your head stay warm and cosy-feeling, thus leaving you to concentrate on your run in the cold. The snug, tight-fitting beanie comes with a moisture-wicking ear band, which keeps you dry and comfortable throughout your run.

Montrail Bajada II HKD 1,199

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Columbia Men’s Baselayer Midweight II Long Sleeve Top HKD 479

The comfortable mid-weight top is partially layered with Omni-Heat reflective metallic lining that retains the warmth generated by your body during your runs. Also, its wicking properties help keep you cool and dry.

Photo: Alexis Berg

“I chose Montrail Bajada II to be my partner for the UTMB. Montrail Bajada II provides me with stability, works well on road and trails, and gives me enough protection for my ultra distance journey on the trails. I don’t need to care about how the routes are, I just have to go and run with confidence.” - Sam Tam

A good pair of shoes for long runs on rugged courses. The midsole is lined with Montrail’s FluidFoam, giving the ride a dynamic-feeling bounciness. The sticky carbon rubber of the outsole ensures a good grip, while a protective shield safeguards against debris. Its covering mesh is lightweight and breathable, seamless overlays ensure a supportive fit, and a screened rubber print helps prevent abrasions.

UTMB GEAR TIPS Columbia Men’s Racer Edge Half Zip HKD 999

A super-cooling, long-sleeve shirt that reacts with your sweat to lower the material’s temperature and keep your body’s heat down during periods of physical exertion in hot weather. This Omni-Freeze ZERO lightweight stretch shirt comes with UPF 50 protection, effectively shielding you against the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet rays.

Columbia Trail Flash Headband HKD 139

Keeping you cool and dry thanks to Columbia’s OmniWick technology, the headband is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts who indulge in dynamic activities. The headband comes with reflective details that enhance visibility in low-light conditions.

“I will use the baselayer top at the UTMB… it is going to be cold and windy at night, and I need to keep myself warm so that I can conserve energy for the run.” - Sam Tam

Mountain Hardwear Fluid Race Vest HKD 699

A well-fitted and light 3L race vest, equipped with just the right amount of storage for race essentials: A large back pocket for a hydration bladder, a routing tube that goes over the shoulder (or from the back), along with four pockets at the shoulder strap — that’s two small pockets for your running paraphernalia and two draw-cord pockets for your hydration bottles.

There is also a small, zipped security pocket at the back.

And should it rain, the wicking mesh of the vest will keep you cool and dry throughout your race.

Mountain Hardwear Men’s Refueler Shorts HKD 399

The straightforward design of these lightweight pants makes them the go-to shorts for runs and cross-training sessions. The brief-style interior liner adds comfort and reduces chafing. They dry up quickly, keeping you both cool and waterless, and come with a sun-protection feature (UPF 25).

Notable also is their inner security pocket, which is big enough for storing keys and some cash.

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UTMB GEAR TIPS “It can be folded away easily into a small package. It can be used as a super great mid-layer when I am taking a rest during the race. The Q.Shield waterrepellent down keeps the jacket waterproof — I can wear just this jacket to keep warm even under wet conditions.” - Sam Tam

Mountain Hardwear Reversible Dome Beanie HKD 299

A comfortable, close-fitting beanie that can uniquely be worn on both of its sides. Excellent for helping you stay warm when venturing the great — and sometimes very cold — outdoors.

Mountain Hardwear Men’s Ghost Whisperer Hooded Down Jacket HKD 3,199

An extremely light, downfilled jacket that provides you the warmth you need when temperatures drop low. The down fibre is enhanced with a water-repelling feature that keeps you warm even under the wettest conditions.

The jacket comes with an insulated hood, two front hand-warming zip pockets, and also a pull cinch hem to provide a good fit. Storage is easy, jacket can be packed into a self-stowing pocket.

Montrail FluidFlex ST HKD 1,099

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Mountain Hardwear Men’s Wicked Lite Long Sleeve Tee HKD 399

A light and comfortable long-sleeve shirt that dries up quickly, Wick.Q technology keeping you cool and untouched by water during your runs, while its ultraviolet protection shields you against harmful sunlight rays (UPF 15).

The good fit and breathability of the shirt makes it versatile for various outdoor activities. Includes reflective trim for better visibility in low-light conditions.

Shop address: Columbia Concept Store, Shop 726, Times Square, Causeway Bay, HK Hotline: 2310 6523

Photo: Alexis Berg

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A lightweight trail-running shoe that offers you a fast ride, without compromising stability and support. Deep grooves on the midsoles enable elasticity, allowing your foot to move naturally over various terrains. Reinforcement at the toe box gives you the additional protection for traversing extrarugged terrain.

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Race News

French, American, and Spanish Runners Dominate

UTMB Podiums Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc – France www.ultratrailmb.com

By John Ellis, GoneRunning.com.hk

W

ith yet another world-class field and mostly dry conditions, this year’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc festival promised a veritable feast of mountain-running action, and it certainly did not disappoint, with French, American, and Spanish runners dominating the podiums.

For the record, this year saw circa 9,000 runners across the five semi-self-sufficient ultra mountain marathons around the Mont Blanc ranges. These included the headline UTMB race at 170km, 10,000m D+, the shorter CCC (101km; 6,100m D+) and TDS (119km; 7,250m D+) events, plus the team PTL (300km; 28,000m D+), and the ‘baby’ OCC (53km; 3,300m D+). In terms of the competitors, 87% were men, 56% were new entrants, 45% were French, and the average age was 42.

Kicking off in hot but dry conditions at 6 p.m. on Friday, the flagship UTMB race offered arguably the toughest challenge since the event started back in 2003. A star-studded field included the 2013 UTMB and 2014 TDS winner Xavier Thévenard plus fellow French gun Julien Chorier, Sage Canaday (this being his first 100-miler, though notably with a 15th place at the Comrades Marathon and a Speedgoat Mountain race win earlier this year under his belt), and two-time Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run runner-up Seth Swanson from the USA, plus last year’s second finisher, Spain’s Tòfol Castanyer, and Ryan Sandes from South Africa.

In addition, a course change now included the very technical Col des Pyramides climb and descent,

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

increasing the total elevation to over 10,000m.

The men’s race started at a frenetic pace, with the leaders pushing hard right from the get-go. Given the warmer temperatures, it was unsurprising to see a few casualties, including Sandes with stomach issues at Les Contamines, Canaday following a nasty tumble heading into Lac Combal (but who soldiered on until Refuge Bertone), and Chorier at La Fouly. Reports put the elite finisher rate as low as 30%.

As the race unfolded, it was Thévenard who dealt best with the heat and speed, pushing into the lead on the climb up Col de la Seigne, never looking back, and taking his second UTMB crown in a very creditable 21h 9min 15s. Behind him, Luis Hernandez ran a super solid race, virtually never outside the top three, to claim 2nd in 21h 57min 17s, and holding off a fast-finishing David Laney from the USA, who only moved up into the top 10 on the climb up to La Giete.

From Asia, Japan’s Takashi Doi consistently pushed through the field to arrive in Chamonix in 12th, in 24h 21min 11s, while Hong Kong’s Mr. Consistent, Stone Tsang, crossed the finish line in 24h 56min 25s for 18th place for the third consecutive year, despite hitting the halfway point at Courmayeur outside the top 50. As Tsang reflected after the race: “My race strategy was simple, start easier then push a bit harder to really fight in the second half. This race is getting more and more competitive, which made the leading group run faster at the start, so you saw more strong runners drop.”

Race News

Australia’s Majell Backhausen also attributed a strong performance to sensible early pacing, ultimately crossing the finish line in 23rd at 25h 43min 26s. Looking back on his race, Backhausen commented: “My strategy was to go out easy, but I wish I went out a bit easier. The thing that saved me was not pushing on any downhills until the final two.

That course owned a lot of the runners!”

The women’s UTMB was also tough to call.

Double runners-up, Spain’s Núria Picas and Caroline Chaverot from France (with wins at The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail and the Eiger Ultra Trail in 2015), were both expected to feature alongside twotime world trail-running champion Nathalie Mauclair

(including Annecy earlier this year), and American Stephanie Howe, after a recent bronze at Western States.

Just like the men, the contest started quickly and soon became a race of survival, with a number of high-profile DNFs. However, unlike the men, the women’s competition was largely a one-horse race, with Mauclair dominating from the start and running out an easy victory in 25h 15min 33s, especially after Chaverot pulled out with cramps at Vallorcine.

Second place went to Spain’s Uxue Fraile Azpeitia in 26h 29min 35s, with Denise Zimmermann from Switzerland a further hour back in 27h 33min 51s.

Close to 9,000 runners took part in the ultra mountain marathons around the Mont Blanc ranges.

Photo: Alexis Berg

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Race News

From Asia, Australians Bernadette Benson (7th in 29h 40min 11s) and Jennifer Boocock (11th in 30h 45min 22s) put in strong performances, as did New Zealand’s Sophie Grant (12th in 31h 1min 29s).

Americans dominated the men’s CCC race, taking out the top two positions, with Zach Miller home first in 11h 53min 32s, ahead of compatriot Tim Tollefson in 12h 6min 56s. France’s Nicholas Martin fought back late cramps to hold onto 3rd in 12h 16min 47s.

In the women’s CCC, pre-race favourite Magdalena Boulet from France — with a win in her

first 100-miler at Western States and a 2h 26min marathon personal best — had to be content with 2nd in 14h 2min 47s after a magnificent run by Taiwan-based New Zealander Ruth Croft. Croft crushed the second half to finish in 7th place overall, in 12h 54min 53s — “I broke the race into sections and ran my own race. I felt really good and I think the heat worked to my advantage, coming from Asia.

Acclimatising here for a few weeks and knowing the back half of the course, as well as using poles, all definitely helped.” Rounding out the podium was Spain’s Laia Canes in 14h 43min 7s.

Hong Kong’s Stone Tsang finished 18th place for the third consecutive year, despite hitting the halfway point at Courmayeur outside the top 50. Photo: Alexis Berg

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Race News

The magnificent view of the Mont Blanc ranges have helped lifted the spirits of many exhausted runners. Photo: Alexis Berg

Results UTMB - Women

UTMB (100mi) - Men Xavier ThĂŠvenard (France)

21:09:15

Nathalie Mauclair (France)

25:15:33

David Laney (USA)

21:59:42

Denise Zimmermann (Switzerland)

27:33:51

Luis Alberto Herando Alzaga (Spain)

21:57:17

TDS (119km) - Men

Uxue Fraile Azpeitia (Spain)

26:29:35

TDS - Women

Pau Bartola (Spain)

14:26:40

Andrea Huser (Switzerland)

16:35:29

Antoine Guillon (France) & Lionel Trivel (France)

15:00:03

Juliette Blanchet (France)

17:52:20

Cyril Cointre (France)

14:43:02

CCC (101km) - Men

Cristina Bes Ginesta (Spain)

17:04:52

CCC - Women

Zach Miller (USA)

11:53:32

Ruth Charlotte Croft (New Zealand)

12:54:53

Nicolas Martin (France)

12:16:47

Laia Canes (Spain)

14:43:07

Tim Tollefson (USA)

12:06:56

OCC (53km) - Men

Magdalena Boulet (USA)

14:02:47

OCC - Women

Marc Pinsach Rubirola (Spain)

05:21:38

Celia Chiron (France)

06:41:53

Germain Grangier (France)

05:38:27

Caroline Benoit (France)

06:42:43

Sylvain Court (France)

05:23:25

CĂŠcile Lefebvre (France)

06:42:19

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UTMB PROFILE

Interview with

Tam Chun Fung Sam (谭圳烽)

By Claudia Sing

Essential Stats Name: DOB: Born: Occupation Weight: Height:

Tam Chun Fung Sam

February 15, 1981 (34 years old) Hong Kong Banking 64kg

169cm

Do not be deceived by the slender appearance of this young, bespectacled man who works in the banking sector of Hong Kong.

The gentle looks of Tam Chun Fung Sam belie the prowess of his speed on the mountain trails.

A devoted lover of the great outdoors, since his early years, Sam has always indulged himself in hiking and camping, having taken advantage of the 75% of Hong Kong’s landscape that is left untouched by the metropolis transformation. In 2011, Sam volunteered to be part of the support crew for his friends who were preparing for Hong Kong’s Oxfam Trailwalker. Not to be left out of the fun of training for the race, Sam also joined them

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in their numerous trainings.

Fate took a hand in steering Sam to the path of competitive trail running when one of Sam’s friends was injured and Sam was asked to replace him in the race.

Ever since his first trail race in 2011, Sam has become a regular face at local races. His credentials include several ultra trail races, such as three of the four 100km trail races in Hong Kong (Oxfam Trailwalker, The North Face 100, and Vibram Hong Kong 100) — events which he completed with very creditable personal records: 14h 54min for the 2012 Oxfam Trailwalker, and 13h 47min for the 2013 Vibram HK100.

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Sam Tam finished top 10% of the UTMB participants, in a creditable time of 33h 17min. Photo: Alexis Berg

UTMB PROFILE

It was thus not a surprising turn of events when Sam was spotted by the sportswear company Columbia and selected to be part of an elite team representing the brand at the 2014 Oxfam Trailwalker in Hong Kong. Sam has since been representing Columbia at several races, including overseas events such as Japan’s 2014 Oxfam Trailwalker as well as the 2015 Oxfam Trailwalker in Australia, and taking the overall champion and mixed-team champion titles respectively.

Always aiming to improve himself and to seek out new challenges, the Columbia-sponsored runner decided to venture into the yet unchartered territory of 100-milers, and set his next goal on the 2015 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in the Alps. For Sam, the UTMB was his dream race: It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in a race that would take him across three countries and let him experience the thrill of running with, and learn from, participants across the four corners of the world, all the while immersing himself within the sublime scenery of the Alps.

On his first attempt of the UTMB (170km; 10,000m D+), Sam finished in a creditable time of 33h 17min, ranking 218th out of more than 2,500 participants, an excellent performance for a race infamously known as the most competitive ultra in the world.

There were several times during the race when doubts of completing it surfaced in Sam’s mind, for instance when he was so sleepy that he could no longer keep his eyes open, and while tackling the long downhills that Sam has never encountered in Hong Kong, which were exhausting his quads. During moments like these, Sam would keep asking himself why he signed up for the race. However, he would then quickly remember his promise to his wife that he would finish the race, and, also, he kept reminding himself that that UTMB was a new experience for him — first attempt of a 100-miler, and racing in Europe, an unfamiliar territory. With these reassurances in mind, Sam banished all thoughts of giving up and soldiered on to the finish line.

Asia Trail asks Sam about his preparation for the UTMB:

UTMB Goals and Strategies

Sam admits that maintaining a consistent pacing helped guide him through the race.

“Many runners went very fast from the start of the race, but this was not suitable for me — I need to have a slow warm up at the beginning — so I tried to pace myself on the first 100km, then maintained my pace to the finish line. But the successive uphills were much longer and at higher altitudes than I am used to, so it was extremely challenging.”

UTMB Training Sam usually trained four days a week, and both days during the weekend. On the weekdays, he would run on the roads, and during these sessions preferred running on slopes.

“I can change my running pose when I run up and down the slopes. I don’t like flat roads as I need to keep the same pose all the time. My favourite road routes are Tai Mo Shan Road and Castle Peak Road.”

Sam enjoyed his weekend trainings most by spending his time within the hills. You can often find him on the trails of Lantau Island, where he is able to escape the routines of the hectic working life and totally immerse himself in the rolling hills while enjoying the views of the coastal vistas. During these escapes, he covers 30km-40km of trails. During preparation, his weekly mileage totalled 100-120km.

UTMB Racing Kit Includes: • • • • • • • •

Columbia racing t-shirt Columbia Omni-Heat base layer Columbia Omni-Shield Over the Fall jacket (waterproof) Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer jacket (windproof)* Columbia visors Columbia arm warmer Columbia calf guards Montrail Bajada II*

By combining his two passions — travelling to the Alps and racing at the UTMB — Sam acknowledges already * Montrail and Mountain Hardwear are brands under having achieved some of his UTMB goals. For the rest of the Columbia Sportswear. journey, Tam just wishes to enjoy himself during the race, and of course hopes to reach the finish line.

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Race News

Mira Rai Scores at Skyrunner World Series Mont-Blanc 80km – France www.montblancmarathon.net

M

ira Rai came in 1st at the second edition of the Mont-Blanc 80km race in Chamonix, France, an event which is also part of the 2015 Skyrunner World Series. Her first big race in Europe, Rai crossed the finish line in 12h 32min 12s, that’s 6min faster than the 2014 finish time set by Emelie Forsberg, even though the course this year was slightly more technical than the one in 2014. Notably, rising Chinese star Dong Li came in 4th.

Results

Skyrunner World Series Men

Women

Alex Nichols (USA)

10:31:00

Mira Rai (Nepal)

Andrew Symonds (UK)

12:32:12

11:04:52

Hillary Allen (USA)

13:11:40

Franco Collé (Italy)

Swierc Marcin (Poland) Mikael Pasero (France)

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11:03:11 11:23:57 11:32:03

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Anna Comet Pascua (Spain) Dong Li (China)

Elisabet Bertran Masanes (Spain)

12:54:55 14:09:24 15:21:05

Nepalese Mira Rai and Chinese Dong Li are the dominating forces in the Asian trailrunning scene, and possibly the international one too. Photo: Kirsten Kortebein

Race News

Sixth Stage of Ultra-Trail World Tour

Kicks off at the Dolomites The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail – Italy www.ultratrail.it

Only 67% of the runners managed to complete the beautiful, but daunting trail in the Dolomites. Photo: LUT2015

O

n its ninth edition, 750 runners completed the 119km (5,850m D+) of The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail in the Dolomites, a spectacular mountain range located in northeastern Italy. Norwegian Didrik Hermansen accelerated from Rifugio Auronzo (at the 50km point) and never looked back to win with a comfortable lead, while in the women’s field, French Caroline Chaverot broke the course record previously held by Rory Bosio within an impressive time of 49min. Hong Kong-based Marie McNaughton took an honourable 8th place, confessing that she had a hard time as she did not expect such a technical course.

Our photographer Alexis Berg, who covered most of the races of the Ultra-Trail World Tour, admitted that this course was one of the most scenic, which was confirmed by the Asian participants crossing the finish line. Notably, the ‘Dolomites’ are named after the French mineralogist and geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750-1801), the first known person who observed that the rock — dolomite — contains a mineral that gives the mountains of the region their characteristic shape and colour.

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Results

Ultra-Trail World Tour - Stage 6 Men Didrik Hermansen (Norway)

12:34:29

Yeray Duran Lopez (Spain)

13:04:16

Erik Clavery (France)

Scott Hawker (New Zealand) René Rovera (France)

13:01:07 13:16:56 13:25:00

Women Caroline Chaverot (France)

13:40:34

Fernanda Maciel (Brazil)

15:18:34

Nathalie Mauclair (France) Gill Fowler (Australia)

Manuela Vilaseca (Brazil)

14:25:02 15:39:43 15:55:59

Race News

French based Nepalese Sange Sherpa passing the spectacular Dolomites for a 19km descent. Photo: LUT2015

First major win of Norwegian Didrik Hermansen. Photo: LUT2015

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Race News

Left: Rob Krar on his way to defend his title. Photo: Let’s Wander Photography Right: Law Chor Kin proudly holding the Hong Kong flag at the finish line.

Photo: Ida Lee

Rob Krar Wins Western States, Again

Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run – USA www.wser.org

By Claudia Sing

A

n ultimate endurance race, the 42nd edition of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run took place on June 27, at Squaw Valley in California, USA. The Western States course follows the middle portion of the famous Western States Trail, which stretches from Utah to California. Runners have to tackle more than 5,500m of climbs, several stretches of long descents (close to 7,000m), and brave an average race-day temperature of mid 30°C. Rob Krar defended his 2014 title and won this year’s Western States, while Magdalena Boulet, a 2008 US Olympic marathoner, debuted her 100-miler with a win among the ladies.

Hong Kong ultra runner Law Chor Kin finished the race in 27h 48min 14s, his first race of the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. The Grand Slam recognises those who complete four of the oldest 100mi trail runs in the USA within a span of three months.

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Results

Ultra-Trail World Tour - Stage 7 Men Rob Krar (USA)

14:48:59

Jared Hazen (USA)

15:37:55

Seth Swanson (USA) Gediminas Grinius (Lithuania) Thomas Lorblanchet (France) Women

15:17:28 15:40:55 15:56:32

Magdalena Boulet (USA)

19:05:21

Stephanie Howe (USA)

19:32:58

Kaci Lickteig (USA)

Aliza Lapierre (USA) Emma Roca (Spain)

19:20:31 19:43:22 20:12:00

Race News

Race News

Nagano, Japan — The Place to Be for Skyrunning Sugadaira Skyline Trail Run Race and Utsukushigahara Trail Run & Walk – Japan www.sugadaira-trail.jp

By Koichi Iwasa, DogsorCaravan.com

S

ugadaira 42km and Utsukushi 80km followed the Ueda Vertical Race as part of the Skyrunning Japan Championship in Nagano, famous for its rich mountainscapes and nature in the centre of Japan.

Ruy Ueda, senior college student of Waseda University, won the inaugural 42km Skyrunning Japan Championship in Sugadaira. The Sugadaira Skyline Trail Run Race was held in the Sugadaira Highlands in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, on June 14. The race starts in the centre of Sugadaira, a famous ski resort in the winter and training campsite for running and rugby in the summer. Runners hike up steep ski slopes, run easy downhills, and hike 2,100m up Mount Konekodake. The final 6km include some technical descending parts. The weather was sunny and perfect for a 42km skyrunning race.

In Japan, skyrunning is getting more attention, attracting an increasing amount of elite athletes from the track and field, marathon, and ekiden (long-distance relay) scenes, among others. In Sugadaira, Sho Matsumoto, a 2:13 marathoner, debuted in his first mountain-running event, and lead for the first 20km. As the course got technical in the later half, Ueda started to pace up and gain a lead against Matsumoto. Ueda, with his experience in high school ekiden, has emerged as a top trail runner in the 2013 season. At the 2014 Hasetsune Cup 71km, he won with a new course record. Being only 20, his outstanding performance surprised the running community in Japan. In Sugadaira, he said: “I ran in the leaders group to see how they are, and then took lead. But I reserved my legs for a sprint, even if I were to duel in the last stretch.”

Ueda finished in 3h 59min, and got his ticket punched to represent Japan in the 2016 Skyrunning World Championships in Spain. Kenichi Kawano, elite marathoner from Fukuoka, took 2nd to Ueda by 8min, and Katsuya Ishii followed in 3rd. In the women’s race, Kanako Hasegawa, who came third at the Skyrunning Asian Championship in February (MSIG Sai Kung 28km), ran her own race and won in 5h 26min. Shiho Iwadate finished 2nd, and Sayuri Orito rounded out top three for the women.

22

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Agility and a good sense of balance are essential qualities to have at the Sugadaira 42km. Photo: Shimpei Koseki

Race News

The rain and the fog on the race day of Utsukushi 80km has definitely not spoiled the fun of this runner. Photo: Shimpei Koseki

Three weeks after Sugadaira 42km, skyrunning revisits Nagano. Utsukushigahara Trail Run & Walk (Utsukushi 80km) took place on a unique course within the small town of Nagawa, Japan. It kicked off from the ski resort, then went up the trail’s central divide, and ran through the Utsukushigahara Highlands, among lovely ranches up at 2,000m of altitude. The race day, however, was not the best for enjoying the landscape’s scenic trails and views due to the rain and dense fog — despite this, more than 1,300 runners challenged the 80km, 45km, 14km, and 8km distances.

Utsukushi 80km attracted both male and female runners with distinguished track records in trailrunning races across Japan. The female champion spot was taken by Yukari Fukuda in 10h 2min. She is the winner of the Izu Trail Journey and came fifth at this year’s HURT 100 Mile Trail Race in Hawaii. Kaori Niwa, who came ninth at the Transvulcania in May, finished in 2nd and 26min behind Fukuda. Yukari Nishida came 3rd, the sole female finisher of the Trans Japan Alps Race in 2014, a 415km adventure run.

Progress in the men’s race was dramatic. Three leaders ran together until the halfway point, then Toru

Higashi held a significant 5min lead, up until the 10km point away from the finish. However, Sota Ogawa kept up with Higashi in this final 10km and closed the gap to just 1min. At the finish line, Higashi barely kept his lead and won the championship in 8h 3min. He is known as a speed runner, with a marathon personal record of 2h 19min, and being an ex-course record holder of the Hasetsune Cup as well. He said, “Utsukushi 80km and the Japan Skyrunning Championship was my target for this year, so happy to get it done.” Ogawa followed close and finished 2nd, and Kenichi Hirasawa took 3rd place in 8h 24min.

Ueda Vertical Race, back in May, along with the Sugadaira 42km and Utsukushi 80km were successfully closed as inaugural Skyrunning Japan Championship events. Since these three races are labeled as ‘skyrunning’ events, they are featured more in media and on Facebook, with more runners enjoying the challenge of running high up in the mountains, and elite runners willingly pushing their limits by competing against each other. With all these successes, more skyrunning races are scheduled to take place in Japan later this year.

23

Race News

Ground-Zero Edition of Grand Wutai Pilgrimage Grand Wutai Pilgrimage – China www.grandwutai.ihuipao.cn

A

n early 4:30 a.m. start on July 25, 2015. Teams of two, four, and eight gathered at the start line of this ground-zero edition of Grand Wutai Pilgrimage, in the province of Shanxi. The participants were ready to meet the challenge head-on: To finish the high-altitude 75km race — averaging 2,400m, a total climb of 4,000m, with the highest point reaching 3,058m — in the unpredictable autumn weather and within the stringent 15h cut-off time.

Results Team Zhu Feng Yun / Bi Duan Yang (朱风云/毕端阳)

10:45:25

Team Gu Cheng Liang / Gu Hai Chun (顾程亮/顾海春)

11:51:25

Team Wang Jun / Meng Qiu Yu (王军/孟秋渝)

24

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

11:27:16

Mount Wutai — literally known as the ‘Five Plateau Mountain’ — is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks, and is regarded as one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism.

Photo: Huipao/Baqian Tianya Geleshan

Race News

Eighth Grassland Marathon in Xiwuqi, Inner Mongolia, Again Breaks All Records Grassland Marathon - Inner Mongolia www.grasslandextrememarathon.com

By Kris Van de Velde

Limitless views of the vast grasslands of inner Mongolia.

Photo: Nordic Ways Beijing

W

hat started as a very small race back in 2008 has over the past few years become a cult hit on Mainland China’s running calendar: The Grassland Marathon in a remote but beautiful area of Inner Mongolia has grown to over 1,350 registrants, greeting the runners with splendid conditions for the race, and a ‘crazy’ outdoor party afterwards.

Poland’s Andrezj Lachowski dominated another sunny and warm edition of the marathon with a solo run to finish in 2h 39min 16s, beating the course record set by last year’s victor Linus Holmsäter (2h 43min 47s). Lachowski is one of his country’s fastest distance runners and relied strictly on his own speed. Paul Young from the USA tried to keep up with Lachowski in the initial stages, but wisely let go as soon as they approached Nadamu Hill after 5km, the steepest slope of the race and the entry door to the vast grassland of Xiwuqi (short for West Ujimqin Banner), roughly 150km northeast of Xilinhot. Other successful and experienced trail runners such as Pavel Toropov, Ding Zhijian, and Wang Wei wisely decided not to burn themselves following Lachowski, and focused instead on the topsix podium places. Singapore-based American Charlie Epperson would join them a while later, on his own run to become the new ‘King of the Grasslands.’ That’s the competition combining the marathon with three days of mountain-bike racing that comprises the Genghis Khan Festival.

Temperatures rose to over 26°C during the marathon and drinking was a must, despite the low humidity

on the Mongolian plateau. Every year runners get the famous knock of the hammer, as the middle section of the race contains quite a number of rolling hills.

Lachowski did not have any moment of weakness though, and ran comfortably to the finish. He follows Yun Yanqiao and Holmsäter on the list of Grassland Marathon champions. Wang was 2nd in 2h 51min, and Epperson 3rd in 2h 55min.

The women’s marathon, on the other hand, concluded in a sprint finish and saw China’s Chen Lin Ming beat her compatriot Ma Yan Xing in 3h 16min 40s. Behind Chen and Ma, pre-race favourite Veronique Messina — originally from France but living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia — managed to outpace last year’s champion Olya Korzh in 3h 31min 12s. Korzh, one of Hong Kong’s most successful trail runners, had actually run 2min faster than 12 months ago, indicating a rise in the women field’s competitive level.

The event also has a half-marathon distance on offer every year, for the slightly less ambitious runners.

Victory this year went to a local runner, Wuyun Bate, who completed the race in 1h 36min, and Li Hui Qing, who finished in 1h 48min. The local community — mainly ethnic Mongolians — cherishes the event by taking part in big numbers (and scoring podium places from time to time!), and also by inviting all visiting participants to an outdoor bonfire party within the grasslands on Saturday night.

25

Race News

Runners Blazing Through Mud Galore

First Mt. Marami 21K FKT Trail Run Challenge – Philippines aktib.ph/1575-1st-mt-marami-silyang-bato-21km-fkt-trail-run-challenge

By Rene L. Villarta

S

Sunday, August 9, Barangay Talipusngo in Maragondon — The municipality in the Philippines’ province of Cavite was bustling with activity for the first Mt. Marami 21K FKT Trail Run Challenge! Over 700 runners gathered at the event, which offered 8km, 14km and 21km.

Due to the very large number of participants, the race was sent off via groups divided into three waves, to help decongest the trails.

Results Men - 21km Pepito Deapera

02:46:45

Jelson Bestoir

03:04:20

Joseph Gentoleo

03:01:02

Women - 21km Silamie Apolistar

03:32:54

Arlene Agulto

04:02:45

Penny Nepomuceno

03:56:26

Men - 14km Russel Nadal

Anselmo Cruz Marvin Lacsa

Women - 14km

01:25:18

01:57:28 01:58:49

Florence Velez

02:15:05

Mia Naval

02:55:32

Janice Bunda

02:50:49

Mt. Marami Silyang Bato offers a variety of terrains to the runners — muddy trails, river crossings, and grassy two- and single-track trails. Photo: Vanessa Tagarro

26

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Race News

You could forget setting up a fast race on this course: It was mud galore all throughout! Days before, the rain was relentless, and when the first wave of runners was flagged off, all the trails were like wet sponges covered with grease!

Some runners tried to stay upright, but their bodies just started to slide to where their weight leaned, as if their shoes had rollers attached to their bottoms.

The climb to the peak of Mount Marami had runners needing to wait a few meters below to reach a fixed rope that was anchored on a boulder above to hoist them up. So the buildup of traffic was tremendous

— at times, race marshals had to temporarily stop those that were still below from climbing as the number of those already on top was steadily increasing (reaching about a hundred at a time). Marshals even had to encourage those who were already at the peak to come down immediately to accommodate those that were waiting for their turn to climb up!

The event was generally well organised — everyone was properly cared for, and the aid station, at the grotto, was well stocked with bananas, Gatorade, fresh coconut juice (this you had to pay for PHP 20 [HKD 3.35]), and other amenities.

It was no surprise that many trail runners try to venture outside the usual trail venues of Tanay, Montalban, and Laguna for new untapped off-road running, and all 700-plus runners were in for a surprise! This breathtaking venue gave them a true sense of what trail running is about — the real draw being the immense extent and variety of trails and terrains!

Rain or shine, this course will always be a challenge due to the mud. It’s a must trail race that should be in the bucket list of every local trail runner!

Race News

Racing in the Heat Midsummer Night Series – Hong Kong www.xterace.com

X

TE’s Midsummer Night Series finished on August 8, with the last leg at Needle Hill. The short but fast race course series was set up in this year’s exceptionally hot summer in Hong Kong, with the last leg taking place on the hottest day on record in the city’s history (which has been being documented for the past 130 years). The sweltering summer did not deter the trail-running enthusiasts from the races, with close to 600 of them turning up at the last event.

Race 2 – Ma On Shan

Race 1 – Sunset Peak Men Yuen Wan Ho

01:37:01

Ng Wai Hei

01:37:45

Chan Wai Yiu Women

01:37:45

Tsang Woon Ming

01:45:36

Cheung Pui Yu

02:01:20

Olya Korzh

Race 3 – Needle Hill

Men

01:50:17

Men

Wong Ho Chung

01:27:06

Wong Ka Wai

00:58:04

Clement Dumont

01:29:58

Angus Chan

01:02:07

Vlad Ixel Women

01:29:10

Ng Wai Hei Women

01:00:45

Sabrina Dumont

02:04:07

Frances Lai

01:15:58

Frances Lai

02:12:20

Megumi Matsui

01:20:12

Wong Ping Yee

28

Results

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

02:08:13

Wong Mei Yan

01:18:30

The sweltering summer does not deter the trail runners from joining the races. Photo: Rolff Claus

Race News

Racing in the Heat

of Lion City MSIG Singapore 50 – Singapore www.actionasiaevents.com

By Azlan Ithnin

O

n the 50 th anniversary of its independence, Singapore welcomed a new race to its shores with Action Asia’s inaugural MSIG Singapore 50. Despite the lack of mountains, the island nation offered plenty of trail-running options, such as the single-track paths along Green Corridor, the rolling slopes of Rifle Range Road, as well as the technical terrains of the MacRitchie Nature Trail. These prominent features and landmarks formed the basis of this challenging race route, with available distances of 10km, 21km, and 50km.

Participation for this maiden race drew 1,200 runners from across the region, including specialist desert runner and former Marathon des Sables winner, Salameh Al-Aqra from Jordan, who ran the 50km race alongside established names such as Vlad Ixel (The North Face), as well as Singapore’s own Paviter Singh (LiveFit Asia/Redbull).

Local running team ‘F1 Runners,’ were also in attendance.

In the men’s 50km field, Jackson Chirchir of Kenya won in a speedy time of 3h 55min 44s.

His fellow countrymen, Muteti Lukas, joined him on the podium in 3 rd place, while Stuart Haynes (F1 Runners) secured a 2 nd place finish. Al-Aqra won his age group in a respectable 4h 41min 20s, this being his first race in Singapore. Vlad Ixel, despite getting lost in the searing heat and humidity of the race, put on a valiant display to secure 7 th place.

The women’s 50km field saw a stronger showing from Singapore, with two podium finishes.

Rebecca Nakuwa of Kenya won in a time of 4h 50min 39s, followed closely by Vanja Cnops (F1 Runners) in 2 nd, and Singapore’s own Jasmine Goh in 3 rd.

Despite the challenges that tested even the most seasoned of trail runners, the Action Asia 50 series was a welcomed addition to the ever-growing trail-running scene here in Singapore.

Despite the lack of mountains, the island nation offers plenty of trail-running options. Photo: Action Asia Events

30

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Results Men - 50km Jackson Chirchir (Kenya) Stuart Haynes (UK)

Muteti Lukas (Kenya) Women - 50km

03:55:44 04:05:52 04:10:50

Rebecca Nakuwa (Kenya)

04:50:39

Jasmine Goh (Singapore)

05:24:12

Vanja Cnops (Belgium)

05:09:09

Men - 21km Stephen Mung’athen Nkubitu (Kenya)

01:15:34

Collins Kipkorir Kimosop (Kenya)

01:16:32

Bernard Muthoni (Kenya) Women - 21km

01:16:15

Esther Wambui Karimi (Kenya)

01:30:40

Viola Jepchirchir Kimeli (Kenya)

01:38:30

Jackline Nzivo (Kenya)

01:31:28

Men - 10km Jit Bahadur Gaha (Nepal)

00:42:16

Gunung Sajam (Nepal)

00:43:10

Lexxus Tan (Singapore) Women - 10km

00:42:30

Gladys Koech (Kenya)

00:50:10

Stella Lee (Singapore)

00:55:23

Simone Steinecker (Austria)

00:54:20

Race News

New Trail Race

to Satisfy the Appetite of City Dwellers The Great Relay – Singapore www.tgrsg.com

By John Cheal, about.me/Road2Trail

F

ollowing on from the inaugural event in Hong Kong and a series of running clinics from Vlad Ixel and Etienne Rodriguez earlier this year, the Singapore trail-running community was eagerly awaiting The Great Relay. Anticipating a long hot day in the balmy Singapore heat, tents were erected and coolers full of cold drinks arrived en masse for the early start at the Dairy Farm Nature Park, a popular trail-running venue in the central catchment area.

Around 450 runners participated, giving the event a ‘running carnival’ feel, according to many, with most of the trail and ultra community represented among the 98 teams and 20 nationalities present. The same formula from the Hong Kong event was applied: 50km and 100km events, teams of two, four, or six, running successive legs of a 4km course.

A testing circuit mixing road and trail, whilst not hilly by conventional standards, was certainly undulating enough to push all participants to their limits in the later stages of the day.

Runners were treated to the full array of equatorial weather, with high humidity, searing heat, a blazing sun, and a tropical rainstorm all making their appearance at different times throughout the day.

At the sharp end of the field, two teams duked out the 100km event, with F1 Runners Elite (mixed team of four) bettering their first category place, and second overall, from their race back in Hong Kong, and taking an overall 1st here, in a rapid 6h 32min 46s, just 1min 44s ahead of local talents NUS Aquathlon (men’s team of six). In the 50km event, men’s pair from Altitude Training — consisting of Brian Angwin and Philip Ramachandran — held off Singapore Shufflers, men’s team of four, by 4min to win in 3h 41min 20s.

Organisers Ixel and Rodriguez worked tirelessly to make the event a success, adding new elements with carefully selected food and drink choices — and the two are now moving on to a followup event in Hong Kong (early September, to kick off the upcoming trail-racing season) before following with new events in Taiwan and Malaysia.

A mix of road and trail, whilst not hilly by conventional standards, was certainly undulating enough to push participants to their limits in the later stages of the day. Photo: Cara Valerie

33

Race News

Photo: Asia Action Events

Team Uglow —

Podium Finishes for the Series

Royal International Kayak n Run Series – Hong Kong www.actionasia.com

T

Race 2 - Discovery Bay

he Royal International Kayak n Run series ended on July 11, 2015, at Tai Tam Bay, with Team Uglow paddling to victory in 1h 42min 39s. Team Uglow has been on the podium for the entire duration of the series.

Race 1 - Deep Water Bay 2XU - Patagonia (Olya Korzh, Wong Wai Kin) Al’s Diners (Robbie Broomhead, Ruaraidh Smeaton)

34

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

1:24:42

Uglow (Adrien Choux, Antoine Epinette)

1:30:58

Gatorade Sports World (Thorsten Bruce, Kurt Lynn)

Results

Uglow (Adrien Choux, Jerome Laboulais)

2XU - Salomon (Thomas Lam, Tsang Chun Kit)

1:29:57

Race 3 - Tai Tam Bay 1:34:48

Uglow (Adrien Choux, Jerome Laboulais)

1:42:39

1:41:12

Invader (Jeremy Bourne, Tristan Fairbairn)

1:47:12

1:37:56

2XU (Olya Korzh, Tsang Chun Kit)

1:44:55

Race News

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TRIVIA

Asia Trail Race Calendar

Key Numbers L

ooking for ideas on what races to sign up to spice up your racing schedule?

Search no further than our extensive race calendar on our new website. There are more than 400 events from more than 20 territories in Asia for you to choose. Refer to www.asiatrailmag.com for our comprehensive list of Asian trail races.

Mongolia

2

Japan

96

N. Korea

1

China

73

Taiwan

15

14

Hong Kong

United Arab Emirates

66

1

Oman

24

Jordan

2

Thailand

6

3

Sri Lanka

1

Macau

1

Myanmar

Nepal

2

India

Vietnam

2

Bhutan

26

Cambodia

Malaysia

16

2

29

8

Indonesia

11

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

1

Philippines

Singapore

38

S. Korea

Asia Trail Race Calendar Key Numbers

TRIVIA

Distribution of Asian Events Across 2015 60

52

No. of Asian Events

50

51

45

44

40

33

30 20

34

30

32

29

20

15

8

10 0 ary

u Jan

ary

ru Feb

rch Ma

ril

Ap

y Ma

e

Jun

ust

y

Jul

g Au

S

402

2015 & 2016

Events held at high altitude (>2,000m)

r

be

to Oc

er er mb cemb e v No De

Japan

Territory with the greatest number of events

Unique events in the 2015 & 2016 race calendar

52

er

mb

te ep

15

Events that include adventure races

Fuji Mountain Marathon 68th edition in 2015

Is the Oldest race

May

With 52 events

23

Month with the largest number of events

23

100km

Events that include races of more than 100km

Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong

With more than 5,000 participants in 2014

Is the Biggest race

Number of territories

33

Events that include multi-stage races 39

PROFILE

The Future of Trail Running in Asia? Ten Predictions of Race Directors

The Future of Trail Running in Asia?

Ten Predictions of Race Directors

By Rachel Jacqueline

A in Asia.

lot can change in five years, particularly when you’re talking about trail running

In 2010, Janet Ng and Steve Brammar plucked up the courage to create Hong Kong’s first solo 100km trail race. The response was underwhelming. After announcing the race, Ng patiently waited for registrations to flow. Instead, they trickled. Eventually, 226 runners took part in the inaugural race held in January 2011.

Today, the Vibram Hong Kong 100 is among the most recognised trail races in Asia — if not the world, given its place in the Ultra-Trail World Tour.

It has sold out consistently in the past three years, with numbers more than doubling every year since it started.

The response to this one race is a mere snapshot of the explosion of trail running in Hong Kong: Every race in

40

the city, no matter the size, sells out before race day, and most do so in a matter of minutes.

The fever has been contagious, with the rest of Asia rapidly embracing the trails and a flurry of races following around the region. Though trail running may have its roots in Europe and North America, its rapid growth is being felt across Asia, particularly in China.

To learn more about the sport’s future, we picked the minds of esteemed, local race directors and collated their top 10 predictions.

1. The Trail-Running ‘Trend’ Is Here to Stay As trail running has boomed recently, many have wondered whether the sport is a mere fad or a permanent fixture? The response from our panel was a resounding fixture. “I don’t think we have reached a saturation point, I

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

think we are only just seeing the start of the growth,” says Malaysian race director Aman Avtar Singh.

Unlike in Europe or North America, Asia does not have any overarching organisation from which to pull reliable statistics, but if the participation numbers from the USA’s Outdoor Foundation are anything to go by, the sport is definitely on an upward trajectory: More than 7.5 million took part in trail running in 2014, an increase of more than 3 million runners since 2006. Ultra running races in the USA grew more than four fold from 293 races in 2004 to 1,296 in 2014 (as reported by Ultrarunning Magazine).

One hindrance to growth is regulation. In Hong Kong, local governing authority — the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department — appears determined to reduce both the number and scope of races, directing many to put their courses

PROFILE

onto marked trails. “The biggest question is at what point saturation is reached? The participant growth trend looks likely to continue for some time, but there are practical limits to the number of events and the number of participants AFCD will allow in the country parks,” says Hong Kong race director Keith Noyes.

Another, closely linked limiting factor to growth are concerns regarding conservation (which are also not unique to Asia). In Japan, the Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji event already places a number of limitations on runners — such as no use of poles and mandatory walking in certain sections — so as to preserve the wilderness. Then, of course, there are natural disasters that stop races in their tracks. Datuk Balwant Singh Kler, race director for the Mt. Kinabalu International Climbathon in Malaysia, had to cancel this year’s race after the earthquake in June. Meanwhile, in Nepal, “the earthquake has stopped pretty much everything,” says Richard Bull, race director based in Kathmandu.

2. The Hottest Destination Is… Hong Kong Hong Kong was unanimously agreed upon as Asia’s trail-running “hot spot.”

Convenience, affordability, accessibility, weather, ease of logistics and, of course, some incredible trails were chief among reasons in favour of the fragrant harbour. But many believe its domination will not last much longer.

“Hong Kong is small, there is a limit on its ability to grow,” says Brammar, race director for the Vibram HK100.

Noyes suggests Taiwan is the next ‘go-to’ destination for trail running: “Taiwan has tremendous potential to stage epic trail races.” (Indeed, Taiwan’s 100km ultra, the Ultra Taiwan, will be held over Oct. 24-25 of this year, and Hong Kong-based Action Asia Events has already been staging races in Taiwan for several years.) Meanwhile, Singh, Hong Kong race director Clement Dumont, and Jon Lacanlale from the Philippines, all believe growth will come from Southeast Asia and China.

“I think you will see more races pop up in places like Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines especially,” says Singh. Lacanlale points out that while Hong Kong is popular, “for purists out there, like me, there are other trail races that adhere closely to the meaning and essence of trail running — less road or concrete, rugged, remote, and beautiful.”

3. Races Will Get Shorter Though there was some divergence among the panel on this prediction, overall many believed that races will likely get shorter, for various reasons.

“Races like the Vertical Kilometer have entertainment value and are good for the crowd,” says Dai Matsumoto, a regular competitor in European skyrunning races. “I think shorterdistance races will become more popular since the ultra race had been already saturated in Europe.”

Besides, the logistics of big races is hard work. “Organising long races needs a lot more time, effort, and financial support. So my guess is that there will be a lot more shorter events cropping up as the demand will keep growing,” add Brammar and Ng.

While Dumont and Noyes acknowledge the interest in shorter races, “the trend will continue that people want to push their boundaries further,” says Noyes. “The 100km distance was exceptional a few years ago — now it is becoming a standard for experienced runners. Onehundred mile races, however, remain a big challenge for even the most experienced runners, and require a tremendous commitment to finish such a distance,” adds Dumont.

Richard Bull points out that although there is now a 400km race in China (the Ultra Trail Gobi), “there is still a need for the shorter, 5km or so, races to bring new people into the sport.”

4. The Sport Will Get Younger “The first editions of the most popular ultra in the world, the UltraTrail du Mont-Blanc, were won by

runners over 40 years old — Marco Olmo won it at the age of 58! — then this young kid Kílian Jornet won it at the mere age of 20, and since, the winners have often been under 30,” explains Dumont. He believes that the overall trend in the sport is towards youth — particularly in skyrunning, where the distances are shorter and the races more technical.

Lacanlale points out that many road runners, “who tend to be younger,” are switching over to the sport. Brammar and Ng also hint at the host of young talent already dominating the scene, including Xavier Thévenard (27), Yan Long Fei (26), Dong Li (25), and Mira Rai (24). “One does not necessarily need to be older to be good at [trail running] although just being physically at one’s peak does not guarantee success. You need to learn all the different aspects — the physical side, the mental preparation, the pacing, the preparation of the kit, and learning about the route beforehand, and so on,” Brammar says. Dumont adds maturity is also important: “The average age of ultras will remain relatively old as you need some maturity to complete such tremendous distances.”

On the other hand, Noyes is a firm believer that oldies still got it. “Trail running is one area of racing where there is less of a premium on young, fast-twitch muscles. It is also easier on the joints than road running. For these reasons, it will remain popular with older athletes. It also places more premium on experience and mental fortitude.”

5. Courses Will Get More Technical With the International Skyrunning Federation expanding its global reach, Asia receiving its own “Continental Skyrunning Championships,” and Hong Kong hosting an ISF Skyrunner World Series race in October, most believe we’re heading for more technical courses. “We will definitely see more hilly and technical courses like the skyrunning races,” says Matsumoto.

But it doesn’t mean everyone likes it: “Personally, I would really like to

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PROFILE

The Future of Trail Running in Asia? Ten Predictions of Race Directors

see more races going the opposite direction, with more flatter, runnable courses,” says Singh. “There is, at the moment, too much emphasis on hills, hills, hills and too much climbing and descending.” He cites New Zealand’s Tarawera as an example of a great ‘flatter,’ more runnable race (interestingly, the mentioned event is a part of the rival global network of the UTWT).

Indeed, most believe that no matter the trend, there will still be an appetite for all types of races. “You need a bit of everything as expectations differ among runners,” says Dumont. Noyes, meanwhile, is still an advocate of ‘long and hard’ based on recent feedback about The North Face 100 Hong Kong. “I have been blown away by how popular TNF100 HK is. It is long and really hilly and technical,” he says.

6. We’re All Ripe for Burnout With so many races on the calendar, and all just a short plane ride away, some are concerned about the ‘ultra’ levels of ultra racing. “We like seeing different types of new events coming up and enjoy variety, but we do worry that the calendar is becoming crowded, straining resources and tempting some runners to risk over-committing,” says Ng. “A few years back, elite runners would do an ultra per year; now the norm is a couple per year,” adds Dumont. “However, we see a lot of those elites disappearing from the ultra scenes after a few wins because they reach the overtraining point and their bodies break down.” He believes more education is needed for athletes and amateurs alike.

Singh worries people will get bored with repetition. “I think what you may see is people getting a little tired of doing the same routes over and over again. The challenge is always to come up with something new and different, so that it remains challenging yet adventurous.”

Most race directors were not up for changing their routes, but some, like

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Lacanlale, Singh, Dumont, and Bull were open to it. Dumont is even considering changing the direction of his popular TransLantau race.

7. Running Tourism — Forget Having an Actual Holiday The next big trend, most believe, is running tourism. Noyes calls it ‘tourism racing,’ “where people choose holiday destinations around their desire to participate in certain races.” Brammar and Ng are already feeling it: “Our participants are from all four corners of the world (including 500 this year from Mainland China), and we get very excited about meeting them all. For example, we had a group of participants from New Caledonia this year — we had to look up where that was!” Matsumoto also adds that races can help to promote the hospitality industry in the host countries.

Combining racing and travel is also becoming a way to spice up one’s training routine and log long miles before competition.

8. Multi-Stages More Popular As people look to travel and race more, multi-stage race formats are on the rise. Bull — who organises the multi-stage Mustang Mountain Trail Race in Nepal — points out that the stage events have a role in training for “super long, single-stage races.”

Singh adds: “The world is becoming smaller, thanks to cheaper air fares and individuals wanting to go beyond the norm, so I think multi-stage races are here to stay and can only grow.”

Brammar points out there is a difference between multi-stage racing and multi-stage touring, the difference being where people have a racing mindset (and hence paying less attention to the scenery) versus a more relaxed pace and longer days (better for training). He believes the growth of multi-stage racing is limited. “Multistage events need a lot more time to take part in, and it will always be a problem for people who need to juggle work, family, and their hobby.”

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

9. Things Are Getting Better: More Investment, Better Organisation, and Knowledge Sharing Ng — a member of the executive committee of the International Trail Running Association — believes we can expect more “cooperation and collaboration among organisers to share information and knowledge” in the future. This will not only make events run more smoothly but also make for safer races. “For example, ITRA has already issued security guidelines on event organisation as a reference.” We are already seeing this among the UTWT collaborations with skyrunning organisations.

Dumont believes we should expect more investment by brands into trail running. “It is still a niche market in comparison to road running and fitness, but we now have several professional trail runners and an Ultra-Trail World Tour. Professionalism is a minority and can actually help promote the sport and encourage people to go outside.”

10. Asian Runners Are the Future Every director on the panel believes more runners from this neck of the woods will reach the world stage in the coming years, particularly from China, Nepal, Malaysia, and Thailand. “Maybe not in the next five years, but in the next 10 years the younger generations will have grown up and reached the world level,” says Matsumoto. Adds Lacanlale: “In the next five years, we will see some really good Asian runners who will reach international elite level and, thus, will race competitively.”

Dumont, however, believes the future has already arrived: “You won’t need to wait five years, just have a look this year at Yan Long Fei, Dong Li, Mira Rai, and Samir Tamang. They will be among the really top within the next two years,” he says. “Europeans were dominating the world scene until now because trail running is more mature there, but Asia will rapidly become competitive.”

Rachel is a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist from Australia who only discovered her love for trail and ultra running four years ago. Twitter: @raejacqueline / instagram: @raejacquelinehk / blog: a-little-rae-of-sunshine.com

Nov 8 – HK Island – 24 / 50km Dec 5 – Lantau – Vertical KM – 5km Dec 6 – Lantau – 16 / 25 / 50km Feb 20 2016 – Sai Kung – 13 / 28 / 50km

PROFILE

Meet the Race Directors Aman Avtar Singh, 44 Country: Malaysia

Races: The Most Beautiful Thing, Borneo

“I started trail running as a 9-year-old on Victoria Island in North Borneo, during Hash House Harriers runs (non-competitive running social clubs), and then later in boarding school as I had a housemaster named Hubert May who insisted on taking me to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park (Singapore) early Saturday mornings to run. I did not have a clue about races or what it was like to be in a race or to win.

I just ran because I loved running and as fast as I could for as long as I could, until I could not run anymore. So I just kept running loops around the reservoir whilst everyone else waited for me on the bus — until I just felt like stopping. At that point in time as a child, I was in my own little world I think.”

Dai Matsumoto, 31 Country: Japan Races: Ueda Vertical Race, Spatrail Shima to Kusatsu, Biwako Valley Skyrace, Zao Onsen Skytrail, Asama 2000 Skyrace, Nishimara Skyrunning Quest

“During my childhood I started to climb mountains and ski. I began running at these peaks as a type of climbing style.”

Janet Ng, 45 & Steve Brammar, 46 Country: Hong Kong

Races: Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ng: “I got into trail running after being accepted

by Steve to join his Trailwalker team after persistent nagging — and that was back in 1999.”

Brammar: “I’ve always run as part of my fitness regime as a rugby player, but in Hong Kong I use trail running as a way to escape the frantic life and explore the city.”

Clement Dumont, 38 Country: Hong Kong

Races: TransLantau, Lantau Vertical, Ultra Taiwan

“My first trail experience was the Marathon des Sables, after seeing it on TV and not having particular experience in trail running. I was only 20 years old and at that time my longest distance was a half-marathon. I then continued competing in a challenging race every 1-2 years while mainly doing water sport activities — that’s until I moved to Hong Kong seven years ago, which is when I started to run seriously.”

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Meet the Race Directors

PROFILE

Jon Lacanlale, 45 Country: Philippines

Races: Clark-Miyamit Falls Trail Ultra

“Trail running seems to be the organic progression from road races because of its inherent natural attraction to humans. I have been running since high school and competitively for more than 10 years now.”

Datuk Balwant Singh Kler, 78 Country: Malaysia

Races: The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon

“In 1987 I attended a meeting at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, in Sabah, Malaysia. The climbathon race idea was brought up. It all started as the warden of Kinabalu Park, Mr. Eric Wong, wanted to test his rangers and see how long it will take them to get from Timpohon Gate to the peak, and back.

There were five or seven rangers and one athlete, a pole vaulter, Mr. Alidudin Jumaat, who joined them in the pursuit — they went up and down and it took them more than 5h. The ministry came to know about it and called the meeting. As the State Sports Director I was asked to take care of the technical aspects of the race. That’s how it started in 1987. Back then, the race was only for local runners, and mostly guides and porters took part in it. Mr. Francis Liew was the race director from 1987 until 1995, and I took over in 1996 until now, after I retired from the sports ministry and joined the Sabah Tourism Board.”

Keith Noyes, 50 Country: Hong Kong

Races: King of the Hills, The North Face 100 Hong Kong

“I started running regularly as a foreign student in Beijing in 1986, to stave off boredom, and first got into trail running with the Hash House Harriers in Taiwan in 1987. I became a bit more serious about it after moving to Hong Kong and discovering in 1993 that I was pretty good at the Trailwalker. I quickly became a regular at the Trailwalker and the Three Mountain Marathon Series.”

Richard Bull, 42 Country: Nepal Races: Mustang Mountain Trail Race, Manaslu Mountain Trail Race, The North Face Kathmandu Ultra, West Kathmandu Valley Rim “I’m in charge of a small web-software business out of Nepal. I heard about trail running here (previously did orienteering and fell running). I’ve been trail running since 2008.”

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TRAINING

Get Stronger with Periodisation

Plan Now to Run Fast Later

By Clint Cherepa

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, let it grow, be like water.”

— Bruce Lee

S

ucceeding as an endurance athlete requires putting into practice Lee’s advice, and adapting. Periodisation is a simple way to adapt and train smart now for a big payoff later. Basically, it means organising your training to peak for a race. It is a way of dividing your athletic season into a series of phases that will help you conquer plateaus, eat up boredom, and avoid overuse-related injuries. Many trail runners incorporate periodisation into their training without even knowing it.

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What Is Periodisation?

The late Arthur Lydiard was one of the first to really promote the concept of periodised training and explain it in understandable terms.

In his book “Running to the Top,” Lydiard sums up the purpose of periodised training: “When I settled down to analyse my defeats, I realised I was hitting my peaks of performance at all the wrong times. I had to find a method not only of building stamina to stand a lot of racing but also of timing my preparation so that I could be reasonably certain of being in top form on the day I most wanted to run best.”

Ruth Hunt, who coached Lee Chi Wo to second place at the 2006 Asian

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Games Triathlon, as well as second at the Olympic Games, and who now coaches a wide age group of runners (including ultra runners such as Olya Korzh) says: “There are many forms of periodisation. Forty years ago when I was training to be a physical education teacher, periodisation practices were based on the work of the Russian Leo Matveyev. He considered periodisation to be a logical method of planning and developing a training program, using cycles and stages specific to the needs of the athlete, in order to reach the best possible performance.”

Etienne Rodriguez, who won The North Face Endurance Challenge 50km in 2014, explains it as separating your training cycle into blocks that are then

Get Stronger with Periodisation

Etienne Rodriguez notes that periodisation benefits trail/ultra runners through focusing on a specific facet of one’s trail-running game.

used to “improve a specific facet of one’s running through stimulating particular adaptations in the body (e.g., speed, endurance, VO2 max, etc.).”

The four basic phases, or blocks, are: Transition, Base, Building, and Peak. Your training cycle, whether it is four months or one year, divides this cycle into phases with specific goals, workouts, and performances. This adds variety into your training and helps you reach peak conditioning at just the right time.

Why Use Periodisation?

It can be easy to get into running ruts or routines that feel good, but ones which are not ultimately getting you into the optimal running condition.

And depending on only a handful of workouts throughout the whole year is not enough for reaching peak condition.

Rodriguez notes that periodisation “benefits trail/ultra runners through focusing on a specific facet of one’s trail-running game. In most cases, this means that the area trained is enhanced at a faster rate than what it would be without periodisation.

Periodisation can be particularly useful if the athlete is strong in one area but slightly weaker in another.”

Likewise, Hunt feels that an ultra runner definitely benefits more from planned sessions, and that dividing the training year into periods, and switching between high- and lowintensity training gives the body a better chance to recover between target races. She does lactate testing to confirm which energy system is being trained.

How to Use Periodisation?

As with every training plan, a periodisation plan should be tweaked and adapted to fit each runner’s needs.

This is especially important for ultra runners.

TRAINING

“Ultra runs are so variable in terms of terrain and distance and elevation gain/loss that it’s hard to put into place a blanket prescription on periodisation for it,” says Rodriguez.

Focus Workouts Long Run: Depending on your abilities, include a weekly long run at a very easy pace.

Phases As mentioned, every runner and coach needs to experiment and find what works best. It will hinge on your training experience, injury history, planned races, as well as other goals. Still, it is good to have somewhere to start. Here is an idea of how you could breakdown your season into four phases. This is a rough template and should be adjusted to your individual needs.

Strength Training: Include 1-3 weight or body-weight strength sessions a week (see sidebar #1).

Hunt adds, “Periodisation plans should be specifically designed for each ultra runner and should include monitoring by both the athlete and the coach.”

Transition Phase (1-8 Weeks) This is a break after a significant race or the period following your racing season. There would be no serious training during this time.

It can be used to rest and recover, concentrate on your running form and technique, as well as to plan out your next race or entire season.

Base Phase (2-3 Months) During this phase the goal is to build a strong aerobic base, strength, muscle endurance, and technique while keeping the efforts easy and gradually building weekly miles. You should keep your volume moderate and your intensity low. This period should start about 24 weeks before your first significant race. This is a good time to add speed work and strength training to your routine (see sidebar #1).

Rodriguez suggests: “the initial focus is on volume, the goal being to increase endurance and get the muscular-skeletal system ready for higher intensity workouts. The long run is a key workout in increasing volume and promoting adaptions that will enhance endurance.”

Speed Work: Incorporate strides at the end of one or two of your runs. Try 10 sets of 20-30s bursts of speed, with 2min easy jogs in-between. The idea is to get your legs accustomed to some speed.

It is a way of dividing your athletic season into a series of phases that will help you

conquer plateaus,

eat up boredom, and avoid overuse-related injuries

Building Phase (~ 4-8 Weeks) Start peppering in hill work, speed work, back-to-back long runs, and slowly keep increasing mileage or hours on the trails. Add in tempo runs to train at race-specific intensity.

Focus Workouts Long Run: Keep building up your mileage or hours and possibly include back-to-back long runs.

Speed Work: Start with shorter tempo runs and keep building them up to 2h. Tempo runs will train your body to be able to sustain speed over distance.

Strength Training: Hill running is indispensable for strong running. Coach Andy DuBois starts his runners with six 2min repeats, and then builds to five

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TRAINING

Get Stronger with Periodisation

Strength Training “Strength training will strengthen a runner in ways and to a degree that running itself will not,” says Matt Fitzgerald, an endurance sports writer, coach, and nutritionist.

Ruth Hunt believes that by dividing the training year into periods, and switching between high- and low- intensity training will give the body a better chance to recover between target races. Photo: William J Walsh

5min repeats. DuBois states, “Hill reps are race specific, so if it’s something like the UTMB then we’ll do more hiking up, and running fast back down.” He suggests if the race is more runnable to do 60min of running up and down a hill at a hard effort.

Peak Phase (4-6 Weeks) This is where you start putting it all together with very strong speedy efforts. Your training should be testing you out — finding your limits and noticing possible weaknesses.

As always, not getting injured is paramount, and you should be ready to back off at any time that a possible injury begins to creep in.

Rodriguez suggests: “The final phase is the stage to increase finetuning for your specific race. You want to be training in such a way that you feel comfortable on race day. If you are planning on running a fast marathon, you’d want to focus on speed and reduce your weekly volume/mileage as you get closer to the race. If you’re running an ultra that has a significant amount of elevation gain or loss, you want to use this phase to ensure that you are comfortable running it.”

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Focus Workouts Long Run: Start picking up the pace on the long runs and decrease the volume to allow for the extra speed.

Taper down the long runs as race day nears.

Speed Work: Concentrate on longer tempo runs and long repeats of 1,200s or even 1,600s.

Strength Training: Keep up the weekly hill work to keep your climbing and declining strength. DuBois suggests, “If the race has stairs then they will have to fit into training as well, and may alternate with hill reps.” He suggests to possibly hike the stairs two at a time, do them with a weighted pack, and then, depending on the athlete, run them 1-3 at a time.

Periodisation undulates like the trails we run. It is a useful training tool that we can adapt to our needs and goals to become stronger and faster runners.

Clint is currently in Nicaragua engaged in volunteer work, writing, and ultra training. He plans on returning to the USA this summer to crew and pace his little sister in her first 50mi trail ultra.

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Every trail runner wants to be strong and run their best.

Supplementing your trailrunning program with strength training can get you on track to achieving running goals and staying injury-free.

Fitzgerald feels that good core strength helps improve running economy. He says that it makes the transfer of forces between upper body and the legs more efficient. He also notes, “there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence that core strengthening reduces the risk of some injuries.”

As we get older strength becomes more important.

Fitzgerald points out: “the big difference I’ve seen is in runners over 40. Those who maintain a commitment to strength training are able to extend their peak performance years, much longer than those who do not.”

A trail runner can start seeing strength gains with as little as 2-3 sessions of 20min a week.

Like trail running, start with shorter easy sessions and gradually increase.

With little time investment, strength training will make you a stronger trail runner.

RACE

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

RACE

Medical volunteer at checkpoint. Photo: Oxfam Trailwalker 2014

Volunteer’s Race Day

By Tim Bardwell

R

ace shoes? Check. Headlamp?

Check. Water bottle? Check.

Octopus and ID card? Check. Race number pinned visibly and on front?

Check. Ready to roll and do the best you can do on the day? Well, yes, but what about those things you have no control over, like the weather and those largely anonymous individuals who will be dotted along the course, from start to finish, who are there to help you achieve your goal (and for many of us this simply involves finishing)? Without numerous volunteers, even for the smallest of events, the experience of those taking part would be dramatically different.

A student volunteering at TransLantau – scanning the timing chip of runners at the checkpoints.

Photo: Assaf de Courcy Arbiser

As a participant you know when they are not there (you take a wrong turn, perhaps at a critical junction) and it is only then that you realise that they are quite an essential part of you succeeding at your goal.

Who are the volunteers and why are they sacrificing their time to assist in the event — are they getting something out of it?

Some may be athletes or members of hiking groups, like scout troops (or similar meet-up and outdooractivities groups), who feel that offering their time and helping at an event is a good way of ‘giving back’ to the sport, particularly if they are

in the rest period of their training, between events, or injured and unable to compete. On occasion it may be locals or family members and friends of the participants that perhaps live close by the event course and are keen to get involved and support an event in their region. More often than not, the volunteers are students in their late teens who need to get involved as volunteers in worthy causes as part of their school curriculum. Indeed, some of these people may have never even set foot on a trail... ever. Many students for instance have never attended such events and arrive rather poorly attired and equipped — their only light being the one on their mobile phone!

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RACE

Volunteers provide runners with the much needed sustenance to finish the race. Photo: The North Face 100

What do they get out of it? Aside from as many bananas and oranges as they can eat (assuming they are at a checkpoint with food and drink), very little. A shirt or hat to identify them as ‘staff,’ a soft sweet bun or perhaps a french baguette sandwich, the occasional contribution to travel expenses, and, for certain events, an invite to participate free of charge at a future race.

What do they do? If they have a speciality, like first aid (i.e., St. Johns Ambulance groups), then their role is clear. Some volunteers may be very experienced at helping at events and know what to do, while others will rely on guidance from more experienced people to supervise and manage them throughout. Roles are wide-ranging, but most require a willingness to step up and help out in any number of areas. This ranges from the rather administrative to the more energetic and hands-on tasks: registering runners, managing bag drops, standing at points on the course to help direct runners, marking the course, sweeping the course, serving food and drinks, timing duties (manual recording as a backup as well as electronic time recording), driving vehicles around the course to move

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people along with bags and other required items, checking equipment, dispensing unlimited amounts of encouragement, giving information about the course to runners, liaising with race directors and checkpoint team leaders, handling enquiries from police and other authorities

Don’t underestimate the time these people put in.

monitoring the event, not to mention chatting with runners and being there to witness their accomplishments.

Whatever it is that is necessary is done with a view of facilitating the experience of the participants taking part in the event. The aim is to be supportive while being unobtrusive, and so to remain in the background unless there is a need to be more prominently visible. The intention is

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

to be polite, courteous, helpful, and always have a positive attitude.

Emergencies do occur, and when they do they require clear thinking and someone who can organise and orchestrate a quick response — during such moments, the race director may be several kilometres away and so the resolution of the issue will depend on a volunteer staff.

It is vital that injuries are dealt with in an intelligent and calm manner.

Injuries are never convenient, and most often do not occur at a checkpoint, so when they do arise runners have to be located, treated, and moved back. This is where other runners’ sense of responsibility to help those in need kicks in — which usually overrides their competitiveness for participating in the race, even if it means losing a few precious minutes and places.

Don’t underestimate the time volunteers put into the events they are at. They may arrive onto the course some time before the event starts and not clear their position until either a relief person arrives (which does not always happen) or until the sweep has passed and advised them that they can stand

Volunteer’s Race Day

RACE

generally generous and reflect what a slow walker could manage). No one wishes to dampen the enthusiasm of runners, but the enforcing of what might seem like early cut-off times is necessary to prevent those who are slow and tired from toiling on over a technical course in the dark (even if they have lights). Safety of participants is the first and utmost priority and those who are at the back of the field are often very weary and more susceptible to the misfortune of accidents. This aspect of managing checkpoints at a race is the toughest, and runners getting upset and storming off down the course in an effort to continue does not make the task any easier — which happens all the time.

A friendly smile is always part of the volunteer’s arsenal. Photo: Vibram Hong Kong 100 down. Their location may be remote and take quite some time to hike to — this means they may have no access to food, drink, or even a mobile phone signal. For example, during a 50km race with a 12h completion cut-off time, where there are multiple distances over the same course, volunteers may be in place for more than 10h. In the case of a 100km race, those who are managing and arranging the event may be up continuously for the entire duration of the competition, without sleep for a straight 30-36h.

Problems inevitably arise and have to be responded to and handled immediately. Volunteers end up in the wrong places (not always because of their own fault); delivery vans don’t show up and so checkpoints are not set up at the right time; course

markings are removed (it happens all the time), which requires someone to go out and re-mark the course (often in the dark); sometimes dogs chase and attack runners, which requires a route change as well as dealing with the police; checkpoint tents are blown away and need to be retrieved from a steep slope; determining if runners have actually completed the course, and if not, administrating their disqualification.

One of the more challenging and tricky issues is enforcing — strictly and diplomatically — cut-off times at checkpoints. Once started, few runners willingly wish to DNF or be pulled out of the race, but often it is necessary to bite the bullet and recognise that one has to do more training to complete the event in a shorter time (cut-off times are

Overall, the experience of the volunteers is enhanced with a few good words of gratitude expressed by the runners. Not often do the elite and top runners notice the volunteers (which in some sense is the way it should be) or acknowledge them as they are in their own world, completely focused on the race.

Nonetheless, at the end of the day the runners are no doubt grateful for those helping facilitate the course of the event.

To get an idea of the work going into volunteering, just consider the schedule of this last event: Alarm set to 3:45 a.m., for a car pickup (which required a 4km jog from home) to drive to the course’s start line at 5 a.m., arriving there at 6:15 a.m. for a 7 a.m. race launch. Start-line assistance, managing finishingrelated issues, course marking (on foot), checking of checkpoint set up (on foot), sweeping last section from 4-7 p.m. (after dark, and with all food packed and long gone). Travel home from finish at 7:30 p.m. and finally arrive home at 10 p.m. Total kilometres covered during the day, around 25. A long day, for sure. Next week, actually running a race, which paradoxically will be less tiring!

Tim lives on Lantau Island. Works in finance sector.

Regular volunteer for Hong Kong trail running events and a keen shorter distance trail runner.

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GEAR mobile apps measuring heartWide Assortment of From rate variability, to a repellent for those

Running Gear & Accessories to Choose From

pesky mosquitos, to multipurpose running backpacks — take a look at what the Asia Trail team has chosen for you.

Mammut MTR 201 Hydration Pack

Mammut.com.hk | HKD 1,100 (7L), HKD 1,320 (10+2L)

A light trail-running backpack, the 7L version weighs only 215g. The 10+2L version comes with many pockets, and is notably equipped with a zipped compartment for the water reservoir, which has a hood with a button that prevents a half-empty water reservoir from collapsing into a heap. The roomy backpack has a zipper that allows it to expand volume; the fit is decent, but bounces slightly when it’s half-full. Made of breathable materials, the backpack dries easily in heat and humidity. The reviewer found the straps harder to adjust while wearing the backpack.

Patagonia Fore Runner Vest 10L Patagonia.com | HKD 1,190

A lightweight 10L bag, roomy enough to store the essentials for a long run or hike. The bag is equipped with side and front straps to give it a closer fit, which also helps prevent the bag from bouncing around, especially when it is partially empty. The reviewer likes the four front pockets: two stretch pockets that are big enough to hold flasks, or even one of those extra-large-screened smartphones; one pocket with a zipper; and the last one with a Velcro closure, offering convenient storage for calories and other paraphernalia. Comes with a 2L bladder.

Lifeproof Frē and Nüüd for iPhone 6 Lifeproof.com | Frē HKD 628, Nüüd HKD 708

We were amazed at the level of protection offered by this slim case. This is what trail runners are looking for, a light case that effectively protects your phone against water and falls. The only thing is that you have to make sure it is well sealed, and with the Nüüd model, it is not all that easy to properly put on, so we’d recommend installing it and keeping it on all the time.

Waterproof tested in a stream on a hot day, it definitely offers great and reliable protection for your phone.

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Tune Belt Armband for iPhone 6 Plus TuneBelt.com | HKD 255

Tune Belt rapidly adapts their armband to new phone models. The belt always offers convenient features such as a key pocket and storage for the earphone cord.

The particularity of this armband is its neoprene material, which is durable, resistant, and washable. Perfect for those who want to stay connected while on the trails or at the gym.

Wide assortment of running gear & accessories to choose from

PARA’KITO Refillable Band & Clip

Inov-8 Race Ultra Vest

Natural mosquito repellent specifically designed for outdoor use.

The band is comfortable to wear on both the wrist and ankle, even when one is sweating. Although the band is effective, if you are sensitive to insects, we suggest wearing several of them for the protection to remain effective. The clip is convenient but bounces when running. The refillable pellets should last 15 days.

This is a really comfortable all-mesh vest, with adjustable straps allowing for a tight fit both on the sides and front. You may need a few runs to get used to the strap fastening, but once you get a hang of it, the system works well.

It comes with a 2L bladder in the back and two 500mL bottles situated in the front pockets — a total amount which is perfect for several hours of running on a hot day. The food-carrying pockets are located in the front, and although convenient they are not easily accessible.

Parakito.com | HKD 160 (with 2 pellets)

GEAR

Inov-8.com | HKD 1,050

2Toms SportShield for Her 2Toms.com | HKD 145

A female adaptation of the already-popular anti-chaffing roll-on. The roll-on makes it easy to apply without messing around. It promises 24h sweat- and waterproof protection against chafing — and it did just that. The reviewer went on a 7h hike with it on: There were no hot spots, chaffing, or blisters. However, the test was done in dry climate and with little sweat, so arguably the jury is still out.

Wigwam Mills F6037 Single Trax Pro Socks Wigwam.com | HKD 165

Very lightweight socks, made with patented moisture- and odour-control technology, also, their mesh panels on top really help keep the feet dry even in humid Hong Kong summers. Their fabric — which is a mix of nylon, Tencel, wool, and Spandex — is soft and comfortable. The socks have a very snug fit and won’t roll around during your run, and their soles are also padded with some lightweight cushioning for extra comfort. The reviewer found the socks slid around a bit on the first wear in a pair of shoes that were slightly loose.

Hoka One One Speedgoat HokaOneOne.com | HKD 1,400

Named after the ultra runner Karl Meltzer, who helped redesign the former Rapa Nui, this overcushioning model is entering the domain of technical short-distance shoes. You can now have a polyvalent shoe for your short- and long-distance runs with a good grip thanks to the Vibram sole and, as expected, excellent cushioning. The Speedgoat is lighter and more breathable than the previous Rapa Nui 2, though the upper appears slightly less durable.

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Elite HRV

ithlete

A mobile app for measuring heart-rate variability. The user can use the ‘Morning Readiness’ metric to assess his or her recovery every morning through a 2min measurement. This is useful to monitor longterm trends in recovery and fitness, and, notably, the colour of the recovery indicators gives an intuitive feeling of the state of fitness. The app allows quick readings of HRV, and conveniently plots HRV trends. Elite HRV’s team system is also available for group performance monitoring. However, Elite HRV can only be used if one is logged in to an online account, which naturally raises issues about the privacy of the recorded data.

The app is easy to use — daily HRV reading is colourcoded to advise the user when to work out or rest to get the most from training.

After a week, your baseline will be used to compare with future readings to determine whether there are any significant variations, and the historical data can be read off from a chart. Reviewer finds the heart-rate detection dropped off a few times during testing, but overall the app was easy to use and is a convenient training tool.

Ithlete Pro is also available for those who are looking for deeper insights into their readings.

EliteHRV.com | Free

Myithlete.com | USD 8.99

For both Elite HRV and ithlete, please refer to Geek Runner’s “Listen to Your Heart” article for more details on HRV.

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FIRST STEPS

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

FIRST STEPS

Fitness and Exercise Myths Debunked

By Joshua Steimle

S

ome ideas just won’t die, even if they’ve been invalidated for decades. Here are some of the more common exercise myths that affect the trail-running community, especially those who are just getting started.

electrolytes, you can easily and cheaply make your own natural sports drink by squeezing a lemon or lime into your water bottles along with a pinch of salt.

Or if you want the ultimate sports drink made by nature, carry coconut water. It contains everything your body needs, Drink a lot of water while without the harmful side effects of running: Far from necessary, this can be artificial sports drinks. downright dangerous. Hyponatremia, caused by drinking too much water, is a condition brought on by the dilution of important minerals and Or if you want the ultimate nutrients in the body. Symptoms include confusion, seizures, nausea, sports drink made by nature, muscle cramps, and even death. Call me crazy, but I don’t see any of these things helping you improve your race It contains everything your time. After researching this topic, I can’t find a single instance of a longbody needs, without the distance runner dying of dehydration, harmful side effects of but I can find plenty of examples of runners dying from consuming too artificial sports drinks. much water.

carry coconut water.

Instead of drinking too much, take small sips when you’re thirsty, and train enough that you get to know your body and what it needs.

Stretching reduces injury: Stretching helps your joints move more, but this isn’t good for runners — at least not if you want to stay injury-free.

What is needed by runners, especially trail runners, is stability. So ditch the stretching routine. Instead, do jointstrengthening exercises and always start a run with a good warm-up, which will definitely reduce injuries.

Sports drinks are the best way to rehydrate: Not if they’re full of sugar, chemicals, and dyes. Or even if they aren’t. For shorter runs, water is probably your best bet. On longer runs, where it’s important to replenish Illustration: Kirk Wescom

Eat lots of pasta the night before a big run or race: First of all, you need more time to digest all those carbohydrates, so if you’re going to eat a lot of carbs to fuel up for a race, you should do it about 24h ahead of time.

Second, a lot of pasta options include more fat than carbs anyway, and not any good sort of fat. Finally, your body can only store so much energy from carbs in the form of glycogen, so if you’re eating a huge meal of pasta you’re probably taking in more than you can use anyway. Inevitably, the excess will be turned into fat.

In addition, most pastas are highly processed.

Instead, get most of your carbs from natural sources like wholesome fruits and vegetables, which come with all sorts of other health-inducing benefits.

Listen to your body, give it what it needs, when it needs it, and don’t change what works for you on all your other days the night before a race.

To run faster just run more: Actually, the science is increasingly showing that what many runners need is more rest and recovery. If you’re running more than three days per week and can’t seem to improve, try scaling back to three or even just two days of running per week.

In addition, try attempting more exercises targeting your core and arms — the condition of these parts really does influence the performance of your running. Make sure your whole body is in shape, not just your legs. This balanced approach will help you run better, faster, and safer.

You need to eat meat: I recently read these lines in Fitness Magazine: “Vegetarians often try to get their iron fix through lentils, beans, fortified cereals and tofu. However, you’re still missing protein. Make sure to eat eggs, dairy products, or soy at every meal to get your animal-friendly dose.”

False. Think of the largest land animals, like cows, hippos, rhinos, and elephants.

What do they have in common? None of them eat meat. Yet they get plenty of protein. Granted, cow stomachs process plant material differently than do human stomachs, but there are plenty of plantbased sources of protein for endurance athletes, like seeds, legumes, nuts, nut butters, tofu, soy milk, sprouts, whole-grain sprouted breads, nutritional yeast, broccoli, spinach ... need I go on? For lots of details on this topic visit NoMeatAthlete.com.

Joshua is the CEO of MWI (mwi.hk), a digital marketing agency, and a writer for various business publications including Forbes and Entrepreneur. He lives and runs in Hong Kong. You can contact him @joshsteimle or josh@mwi.hk.

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ASK THE COACH

Recovery Between Races

By Andy DuBois

W

ith the number of great races available on the racing calendar today, a question I am often asked is “I have two big races six weeks apart, how can I speed up my recovery from the first race so I can run well at the second one?”

With six weeks between races there is indeed enough time to recover, train, and taper again. With only four weeks, it’s more about recovery and keeping the legs ticking over before the next race.

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Preparation for the second race starts the second you cross the finish line of the first event. At this point, your first priority is nutrition. Consuming a drink with both carbohydrates and protein in approximately a 3- or 4-1 ratio, within the first hour, will start the recovery process.

Next, put on some compression tights as there is plenty of research showing that they may have a positive effect on recovery, and none demonstrating that they have a negative impact.

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

In the first hour or so after finishing, try and keep moving around rather than collapsing on the bed. This will keep your blood flowing to the muscles to help remove waste products from the race you just finished. I wouldn’t recommend ice baths, or anything similar, as there’s research suggesting these practices block training gains. If your race was taking place the very next day, ice baths may help, but if you have 4-6 weeks, then you want to maximise the training benefit of the first race so you go into the second event even stronger and fitter.

ASK THE COACH Preparation for the second race starts the second you cross the finish line of the first event.

Sleep is when all recovery happens.

It’s when the body repairs all the damaged cells, so getting as much sleep as you possibly can in the week after the first race is extremely important.

Sleeping the night after a tough race can be fitful as your legs keep twitching and your are buzzing with post-race adrenaline, so grabbing naps in the first two days to optimise sleep can help.

Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep in recovery — it’s likely to have more of an effect than any of the other recovery modalities I discuss below.

During the first two days after the race, go for several walks, 15-20min is plenty, and you are better off doing 3-4 of 15-20min walks rather than one longer one or a short run.

In the initial days, light massages, helping to stimulate blood flow to the legs, will improve recovery. Alternating heat and ice on sore muscles will have a similar effect. Also, try a few minutes of heat followed by a few minutes of applying ice, repeating this 2-3 times once or twice a day.

I would avoid the foam roller until some of the soreness has resided. After a week the foam roller may help work out the last layers of soreness. Whilst the research on foam rollers isn’t conclusive, there is enough support to make their use worthwhile in the recovery process.

Good nutrition throughout the first week will ensure your body can create the right building blocks to repair your muscles. Though I don’t believe any particular foods have any special benefits, I do think making sure you consume a wide variety of vegetables and good sources of fat and protein with every meal is important.

Continue walking regularly each day until the legs have recovered enough to go for a short 20-30min run. This may take 1-3 days depending on the event and how well you trained for it.

If you are very sore, don’t worry about

Recovery tips from Hong Kong’s ultra distance specialist, Law Chor Kin. Law is currently undertaking the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning: Running four 100mi trail runs, with no more than 3-4 weeks between each race.

Law Chor Kin, looking strong at Vermont 100 Endurance Run, three weeks after he successfully completed Western States 100Mile Endurance Run. Photo: Ida Lee

forcing yourself to run. Brisk walks several times a day will give you a much better recovery effect than an easy run, and you aren’t going to gain any fitness benefits from a very short, slow recovery run.

Once you are up to running again, build slowly. Fatigue occurs on many levels and even though a 60min run feels great, you may find weariness setting in as soon as you go longer or push harder. In the first seven days, I would stick to 60min runs, or less.

In the second week, begin to increase distance but without much intensity at all. By week three, you should be able to resume more normal training, although I would avoid running hard downhills, and stay away from any long and hard tempo runs, as the load on the legs is much higher in these kinds of runs.

By week four, you should be able to do a normal hard week of training before you start tapering off during the two weeks prior to the next race. Even though the legs might be feeling good at this stage, and you may think a two week taper is too long, keep in mind that there will still be some fatigue at a deep level even after four weeks, one which you’ll probably only start feeling late into the next race — so it’s better to have a good taper to give yourself the best chance of racing well.

Law Chor Kin remarks:

“If you have back-to-back big races (e.g., less than three weeks between each big race), the recovery time between the races is very important.”

Some useful tips Law encourages considering: •

Immediately replenish your nutritional needs, especially proteins and carbohydrates.

Take care of your fluid and electrolyte intake too, as large quantities are lost during the race.

•

A massage after the race is recommended, as it aids in the relaxation and recovery of your muscles.

•

Do not jump right back into training. Remember: Rest is as equally important as training.

•

Do not immediately engage in intensive training. And, once more recovered, do add cross-training to your schedule.

Cycling and swimming are good options of cross-training as they can maintain your cardio and engage your nonrunning muscles, thus allowing running muscles to rest.”

Andy is an award-winning personal trainer and elite endurance athlete specializing in ultra running. You can find more useful info on his ultra running coach website (www. mile27.com.au).

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ASK THE COACH

How to Successfully Finish an Ultra with 10h Training a Week

By Robbie Britton

T

o be an ultra runner you have to run 160km a week, minimum. You need to run for at least 20h in those seven days, and sleep is for the weak. What a load of rubbish.

If you look at Strava, Instagram, or Facebook it seems everyone is out for 7-8h every day, in the mountains or on the track, doing 500 sprints. This may work for some, but they do seem to post more pictures and race less when they have stress fractures or overtraining syndrome...

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Having recently trained for a pretty successful IAU 24 Hour World and European Championships, on an average weekly training time of 8-12h, I know you don’t need to run so much that you lose all your friends to get yourself to that finish line. Maybe just find some running buddies so that you can socialise and train at the same time to avoid that too.

There is no set amount of mileage you need to have done before you get to that start line — you just need to be fit and healthy. Maybe a little bit strange too.

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Remember, this is supposed to be fun as well, if you stop enjoying it because you’re always tired, then something is wrong.

Quality not Quantity Focus on the quality, not quantity, of your training. Each session should have a purpose, be it a tempo session trying to raise lactate threshold, a hill session aimed at building strength, or a recovery session to get the blood flowing through those muscles and help them repair themselves.

ASK THE COACH

Just concentrate on how fit you can make yourself — not on how others are doing on social media — and get yourself as fit as possible on race day. Photo: Mont Blanc Marathon

If you are just going out, day in, day out, plodding round at one speed, then you are not making the most of your time. Instead, running at different speeds will keep the body adapting and growing stronger, even if it is just adding a fartlek session in each week.

As little as 10h of properly structured training, with quality sessions, is worth much more than 20h of plodding around — so instantly we have a way of becoming ultra runners in less time.

Concentrate on Recovery You don’t overtrain, you under recover. How much work your body can take is very dependent on how well you recover, which boils down to a few factors.

How hard you work, what sessions you do, how often you run, how well you manage your nutrition, and how often you really think about recovery.

A great book worth reading is “Training Food,” by Renee McGregor, which looks at what you should eat, when, and how much in order to make sure that you optimise your food to get the most out of your body.

Avoiding back-to-back hard sessions, such as hills or tempo sessions, allows your body to recuperate and grow after you have put it to work. If you feel like you can do a hill session two days in a row then I’d suggest maybe you didn’t work hard enough during the first one!

Specificity Make sure that you are doing sessions that are relevant to your race ahead and you will get twice the benefit (and thus only need to do half as much work). If your race has lots of hills, then add hills to your long run, if it has a fast flat finish, then add that in too. If you’re going to be hiking up and down stairs,

then do your hill work on those. Any way of adding value to your run will make race day easier.

Run Long — But Only Once a Week In an average week, I will rarely go over 3h of training on my long run, which is once a week, usually on a weekend. Long runs are tiring and will knacker out your muscles if you do them too often.

Doing 90min to 3h means you can get all the benefits of the longer efforts without tiring your muscles so much that you can’t hit your midweek sessions like a rocket.

If you want to feel what it is like “to run on tired legs,” like many admit they do when asked why they do huge backto-back weekends, then add a marathon pace effort in the last 30min of your long run. That’s how it feels at the end of a race.

Each session should have a purpose, be it a tempo session trying to raise lactate threshold, a hill session aimed at building strength, or a recovery session to get the blood flowing through those muscles and help them repair themselves.

Try practicing your hydration and nutrition, as well as get to know your new shoes, before race day, as these are ways to make sure you are getting the most out of the time on your feet. Then get your legs up afterwards and make rest an art form, with some good books or a walk with the kids.

Organisation Makes Time Time is a valuable commodity, so use it wisely. If you struggle to fit your running or recovery in then look to tweaking a few things in order to keep your other half happy. A healthy life outside of running means a healthy runner too!

Have recovery food ready for when you are back home, and you will recover quicker. Adding three 30min runs to your week, on an empty stomach in the morning, adds as much as 90min of a fasted run at the weekend without the big block of time and much less potential tiredness.

Many run to commute to work, and you may be a bit sweatier when you get there, but it is scientifically proven to increase productivity in the workplace.

I often used to cycle or run to work in London, had a quick wash and changed my clothes and smelled better than most of the people who took the Tube to work!

Run Less, Grow Stronger It’s when you rest that you grow stronger — training stresses the body to produce growth but is itself nothing without rest.

Add strength work into your week, either with professional advice or a wee circuit once or twice a week, as something is better than nothing and having a strong core will keep you be efficient in the second half of your ultra.

Ultimately, though one 300km week may seem like a good idea, if as a result you have to take five weeks to recover, then six 60km weeks are already a better idea. Consistency is key.

Just concentrate on how fit you can make yourself — not on how others are doing on social media — and get yourself as fit as possible on race day.

Fitness is only one aspect of running ultra marathons, with pacing, nutrition, kit, strategy, and mental toughness all mattering more and more as the race gets longer!

Train smart, rest hard, race easy.

Robbie is a British ultra runner who believes you don’t have to train long to run long. He has run 261km in 24h to prove this, but dreams of being an 800m runner. He is sponsored by Profeet.

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ASK THE COACH

A look at the average training time committed by elite runners We have looked at the training data, spanning 21 weeks between Feb. 23 to July 19, 2015, of five elite runners who have been actively using Strava to record their activities.

The information is extracted from the publicly available data from Strava, which includes training data logged on running and other forms of sports: Kílian Jornet and Max King ski and cycle, respectively, while the other three runners only run. Races participated during the 21 weeks have been excluded from the first table.

Dylan Bowman strava.com/pros/dylanbo

21-week average mileage Weekly mileage (excludes 2 weeks of no Strava record) Sage Canaday strava.com/pros/1595767 21-week average mileage Stephanie Howe strava.com/pros/howe_stephanie 21-week average mileage Max King strava.com/pros/maxking 21-week average mileage Weekly mileage (excludes 1 week of no Strava record) Kílian Jornet strava.com/pros/kilianjornet 21-week average mileage Weekly mileage (excludes 2 weeks of no Strava record)

Mileage (km)

Time (h:min)

Elevation Gain (m)

98

8:25

3,455

115

9:29

2,311

107

9:45

2,267

119

9:22

3,189

78

10:48

7,380

108

125

86

9:18

9:50

11:56

The races are: • Dylan Bowman: The North Face 100 Australia and Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run • Sage Canaday: LA Marathon, Boston Marathon, Comrades Marathon and Kendall Mountain Run • Stephanie Howe: Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run • Max King: Comrades Marathon and Lake Sonoma 50 • Kílian Jornet: Mont-Blanc Vertical KM and Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run

3,819

3,207

8,157

Race mileage in 21 weeks Dylan Bowman1

Sage Canaday Stephanie Howe2 Max King Kílian Jornet2

185 193 161 168 165

17:47 12:19 19:32 13:24 24:01

Notes: 1. Bowman did not complete Western States. The data for TNF 100 Australia were incorrect and we have used the course data from the organisers.

2. Howe’s and Jornet’s Strava data for Western States and Hardrock respectively were incorrect. We have used the course data from the organisers.

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

8,425

3,693 5,500 5,224 11,318

BODY MECHANICS

Taking the ‘I’ out of R.I.C.E.?

By Doug Tahirali

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Taking the ‘I’ out of R.I.C.E.?

“

When I wrote my best-selling ‘The Sports Medicine Book’ in 1978, I coined the term R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the treatment of athletic injuries… but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing instead of helping.” — Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Indeed, there is limited research in the area of cryotherapy (local or general use of low temperature in medical therapy), and most are divided over the use of ice. As many physiotherapists advocate ice and many trail runners use it, perhaps a better look at ice is warranted.

There are two main types of sports injuries — open and closed — and yet the body’s response is the same: inflammation. Capillaries widen to bring oxygen and appropriate immune cells — opening up and becoming permeable to give the immune system access to the injury. The affected area is painful due to the presence of the immune system cells, and red due to increased blood supply.

Like the monster-eating Pac-Man, white blood cells, neutrophils, along with other cells, fight damaged tissue and infection. The swelling must be re-absorbed into the body and pumped through the lymph and circulatory systems. Though uncomfortable, swelling reduces tissue oxygenation and regrowth.

Inflammation is the natural first step of healing. The next phase is repairing and then remodeling.

Although the research is sparse, conventional wisdom says ice can decrease pain, circulation, metabolic activity, and inflammation.

In the ‘no-ice’ camp, the belief is that anything that slows inflammation slows the entire healing process.

Inflammation must run its course and only then can repair begin. Since ice constricts blood flow, it hampers the cells necessary for healing. Modalities like compressions, massages, and light activities are as good as ice, with no bad effects. This group also points To ice or not to ice?

out that swelling is removed by the lymph system, which slows and then reverses with the application of ice.

Several studies support this stance, including a review of 22 articles that found “no evidence that ice and compression hastened healing over the use of compression alone, although ice plus exercise may marginally help to heal sprains.”1 Chin-Yao Tseng, along with others,2 found that ice actually increased negative metabolites in the area, thus delaying recovery.

Additionally, it has been shown that ice does not aid in collagen alignment during healing, where in fact eccentric movement is best in aligning the healing tissue.

Overall, there is not enough research in the area of cryotherapy. A few studies showed a decrease in pain when medication was combined with ice application... others found minimal response when ice or heat was given with oral ibuprofen.

One problem with this stance, something no one commented on in my reading, is Lewis’ Hunting Reaction: On application of ice, the vessels constrict, forcing blood and cells away. About 5-20min after exposure, the vessels suddenly vasodilate, flooding the area with new blood and repair cells.

Amazingly, the process then repeats with vasoconstriction and vasodilation at irregular intervals. One would perhaps think that this would allow the appropriate amount of cells to the area, and the pumping action would be a double bonus!

The ‘pro-ice’ camp sees inflammation differently. Most sports injuries are closed injuries, not letting access to foreign bodies — as a result, closed wounds are less in need of the immune response part of inflammation.

BODY MECHANICS

As it is the immune response cells that cause pain, normal inflammation — as demonstrated by a University of Calgary study — is actually the body’s over-reaction to a closed injury, hitting it with a full immune response. Ice is then used to help reduce pain and decrease early stages of inflammation in joint sprains, muscle strains, bruises, and tendinitis. Remember: Never ice on open skin, before or during activity, or on numb tissue.

Overall, there is not enough research in the area of cryotherapy. A few studies showed a decrease in pain when medication was combined with ice application, while, on the other hand, Gregory Garra, along with others,3 found minimal response when ice or heat was given with oral ibuprofen.

One rarely addressed issue is the ideal duration of application. Most of the studies seem to span 20-30min. Though a key study in this area came from the University of Brussels, which recommended 10min of icing as being optimal. They found 10min was when the lymph system seemed to begin to slow.

Clinically, I suggest a bag of frozen peas or an ice cup for a maximum of 10min, or until numb. Icing is to be done at the end of the day after doing the prescribed movements or exercises. The stress of the day and the exercises may increase the inflammatory response so the ice may help that while reducing pain. Contrast baths — where one moves from ice water to water which is as hot as tolerable, and back again — can cause a pumping action not unlike Lewis’ Hunting Reaction.

It seems ice is beneficial for pain and may aid with inflammation. So perhaps it’s most useful to replace R.I.C.E. with the more hip: M.C. T.I.M.E. (Movement, Compression, Ten minutes of Ice, Massage, Elevation).

Doug has been a physiotherapist for 26 years and currently practices at Jardine House Sports and Spinal Clinic (www. physiohk.com). This column aims to explain how body parts work and how you can care for and fix them.

References: 1. Chris Bleakley, et al. “The Use of Ice in the Treatment of Acute Soft-Tissue Injury.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine 32 (2004): 251-61.

2. Chin-Yao Tseng, et al. “Topical Cooling (Icing) Delays Recovery from Eccentric Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 27.5 (2013): 1354-61.

3. Gregory Garra, et al. “Heat or Cold Packs for Neck and Back Strain.” Academic Emergency Medicine 17 (2010): 484-9.

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GEEK RUNNER

Listen to Your Heart

By Wyan Chow

O

ur heart has to contract forcefully to supply enough oxygen and nutrients to the muscles. Heart rate monitoring can reveal the working states of our heart, as well as will reflect its cardiorespiratory state and function, and with proper background knowledge, we can also estimate the energy systems engaged during exercise. A heart-rate monitor is literally a biofeedback device which helps gauge training and thus prevent overtraining.

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| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Listen to Your Heart

As our exercise intensity builds, our heart rate, and effectively our oxygen consumption, increases as well — up to a certain intensity this relationship is basically linear. During high-intensity exercises, the oxygen uptake exceeds that of the heart rate — this point is termed as the ‘heart rate deflection point,’ which is closely correlated with one’s lactate threshold. By properly measuring the heart rate, it’s possible to estimate our lactate threshold and have a better and more objective measurement of how strenuous our activity actually is.

After proper training, the heart becomes stronger and able to pump more blood with each beat (known as stroke volume), resultantly, there are more capillaries in the trained muscles as well as mitochondria and oxidative enzymes (measured by the arteriovenous oxygen difference). Therefore, the heart can beat slower but still be able to deliver the same amount of oxygen as before training, and the maximal oxygen uptake will be increased as well. That’s why we can run at the same speed but with a lower heart rate after training, and is also one of the reasons why well-trained athletes possess a lower resting heart rate (the other reason is the increase in parasympathetic tone — referred to below).

Don’t forget that the heart is a muscular organ: If the heart rate can work at 7 bpm slower, it means that the heart can save 10,080 contractions in a day — not an insignificant number.

In addition to using the heart rate for measuring exercise intensity, we can also use heart rate variability to monitor recovery. HRV refers to the beat-to-beat alterations of the heart rate. In fact, heart rate increases during inhalation and decreases during exhalation, and is the result of the fluctuation in activities of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The discrepancy of these heart rates is the measured variability — the higher the HRV, the healthier the individual. In fact, some researches suggest that high HRV is related to longevity.

Heart-rate monitoring can be part of your training arsenal.

GEEK RUNNER

Our bodily functions are controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which is composed of two parts, the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic system is activated in stressful situations, such as during competitions, moments of anger, and overtraining states, resulting in the increase of one’s heart rate, blood pressure, and the secretion of cortisol (the stress hormone). The parasympathetic system, on the other hand, is responsible for relaxation, digestion, and recovery, helping to lower both the heart rate and one’s blood pressure.

All three of the above systems work together to provide energy during exercises at all intensities, but different energy systems predominate at different exertions. There is far more fat storage in our body than glycogen; if we can use fatty acid as a substrate for energy, we can sustain our activity for prolonged periods of time. The good news is that this is a trainable adaptation, but we have to build up the aerobic base first.

To measure HRV, just hook up the chest strap of a heart-rate monitor to a smartphone. These days, there are many smartphone apps available, for example ithlete, and Elite HRV — likely more apps will be coming, as I believe more athletes will use HRV in the future. Please refer to Gear Review for our review on ithlete and Elite HRV.

Well-trained endurance athletes have the ability to exercise at very high intensity aerobically, whereas, untrained individuals may reach their upper limit of aerobic zone at a very low intensity.

HRV can be used as a measurement of the relative activities between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, or simply put, the balance between stress and recovery. The use of HRV in monitoring training is a new realm in sports science and is valuable in the prevention of overtraining.

There are three metabolic energy systems supplying you with fuel during exercise: 1. Adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine system: Uses stored but limited amounts of phosphagen to support instant energy for momentary, very high-intensity activities, such as jumping.

2. Glycolytic system: Provides energy for moderate durations of highintensity exercises, the process doesn’t require oxygen (i.e., anaerobic) and the substrate is glycogen.

Before proceeding to high-intensity training, one has to develop the aerobic foundation. This means the ability to generate energy in the working muscles aerobically, which involves increased stroke volume of the heart, mitochondrial density, muscle capillary density, and oxidative enzymes. A well-developed aerobic base renders the individual to run faster for prolonged periods with less physiological stress, that is, a lower heart rate while staying less tired.

I have come across people who can only perform a brisk walk at 70% of their maximum heart rate — their heart rate soars once they start to run. This reflects their inferior cardiorespiratory fitness and poor running economy. I have also encountered runners who focused only on training above their lactate threshold — their rationale is that since they can’t run fast, they have to run even faster for training, which is a misconception.

Without an adequate aerobic basis, the working muscles don’t have enough capillary beds and oxidative enzymes.

As a result, it is impossible for our body to use fatty acid efficiently at a high intensity, which will thus prematurely exhaust the limited glycogen store.

Based on the latest researches, for the lactate threshold to play a major role in endurance sports, one must also possess an adequate aerobic foundation.

3. Oxidative system: Supports long duration and low- to moderate-intensity exercises, such as running a marathon.

The process needs oxygen (i.e., aerobic), To build up the aerobic base, just and relies on various substrates including slow down (below lactate threshold) fatty acid, glycogen, and protein. and avoid the temptation to run fast. To

73

GEEK RUNNER

Listen to Your Heart

determine a training heart rate for building an aerobic base, we can first perform an exercise test and use a heart-rate monitor to gauge our training.

As the target heart rates during training are usually based on a percentage of the maximum heart rate, you must first estimate this metric. Some people use the popular “220 minus your age” formula to predict the maximal heart rate, and then based on this estimated value calculate the target heart rate for training. However, due to the inherent inaccuracy of this formula, variations in the mode of activities, as well as differences in each individual’s maximum and resting heart rate, the calculated target heart rate resulting from this formula is next to useless in athletic training. Originally, this formula was

Oxygen uptake = Heart rate × Stroke volume × Arteriovenous oxygen difference

Stroke volume: The amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each beat.

Arteriovenous oxygen difference: The difference in the oxygen content of the blood between the arterial blood and the mixed venous blood. It reflects how efficient the working muscles are in the usage of oxygen and is related to the density of mitochondria, the capillary bed, and the amount of oxidative enzymes.

custom made technical sports apparel

SP

IALS EC

TEA M

Wyan, a sports woman and full-time fitness trainer, is the first female sponsored by The North Face in Hong Kong. She was a physical trainer with the Counter Terrorism Response Unit of the Hong Kong Police Force between 2009-2013.

The basic relationship between heart rate and exercise intensity can be depicted in the following equation:

E LK

WA L I

A

To get a more accurate maximal heart rate estimation, you can perform a short stress test by running on a treadmill in a sports science laboratory, having the speed of your run be gradually increased, until you cannot any longer keep up; your heart rate at this point is estimated to be your maximal heart rate.

Science+

R

AR WE

TR

intended to prescribe a safe and even conservative exercise level for patients receiving cardiac rehabilitation, and derived from those with cardiac diseases, people who were overweight, smokers, and sedentary persons. “The ‘220 – age’ formula was never supposed to be an absolute guide to rule people’s training,” says William Haskell, one of the creators of this famous heart rate equation back in 1971.

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Marathon, half marathon or 10k. www.bagan-temple-marathon.com

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The ancient site of Bagan sets the scene for this enchanting race. The course takes runners into this alluring and mystical land where sacred pagodas are scattered across the plains and the route winds its way through traditional settlements that show how life was like years ago. tel. +45 36989838 marathon@albatros-adventure.com

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NUTRITION

Ultra Running — How to Avoid Gastric Problems

By Katia Kucher

I

f you can run an ultra by taking a gel every 30min from start to finish with no stomach issues, then maybe you can skip this article. A study by Dr. Martin Hoffman on ultra marathoners, recently published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, showed that during a 100mi race, 23% of the non-finishers reported nausea and/or vomiting as the cause of dropping out, while 21.6% reported injury, blisters, muscle cramps, and exhaustion as the main cause. Also, 39.6% of both finishers and non-finishers reported gastric problems that affected their performance.

76

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

NUTRITION

Visibly, stomach and digestive problems during any long-distance race are the major issues affecting runners’ performance. As such, being able to prevent or minimise any gastrointestinal distress is very important, if not the most crucial factor in successfully running an ultra marathon.

2.

The reason some of us start feeling nauseous, or like our stomach is basically slowly shutting down as the mileage increases, is caused by two main factors: 1.

2.

The stomach is constantly competing with the working muscles and main organs for blood flow.

Dehydration: As the distance increases, and one is running in hot temperatures, the blood flow is getting pulled towards the surface of the skin for cooling off, therefore away from the digestive system.

3.

If we’re able to start the race rested, tapered, and our body fully fuelled and hydrated, then we can run the first few hours of the race requiring fewer calories. The ideal strategy being that if you start the race hydrated and well fuelled, your body will be able to rely on its own stored fat for energy. Since our digestive system starts slowing down as the distance increases, ideally we should try to rely on ‘real food’ for the first part of the race.

For the second part of an ultra, as fatigue and exhaustion start to set in, as the hours or even days go by, as your brain starts to be a bit less responsive and the blood flow is moving away from the stomach, it will get harder and harder to digest. It’s at this stage that you should start relying on products that require less energy to break down, such as gels, energy drinks (carb/electrolyte), soft drinks (fizz often helps to settle the stomach), and, after the sun goes down, you can then also consume some caffeinated products.

Meanwhile, never forget about hydration. Dehydration is one of the main causes for feeling nauseous and/or vomiting during an ultra. If you start the race not well hydrated, you will experience gastric problems early on — if you wait with hydrating yourself until you start feeling thirsty, then it’s already too late. Hydrating is crucial while running ultra distances. As we all know, if you wait too long, you’ll likely take in too much at one time, and effectively start feeling sick. The key is that you really focus on your nutrition and hydration during the days and weeks leading up to the race.

Some tips for avoiding gastric problems:

1. Practise, practise, practise: Use your long runs to try and test your nutrition. Log your nutrition, hydration, and distance metrics inside a journal, so that you can see at what stage you start experiencing gastrointestinal issues. Also, record

4.

5.

which food or gels worked and which didn’t, and at what mileage you required which food or drink. This is the only way to find out what works, and when.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate: During the days leading to the race, start paying close attention to your fluid intake. The key is to drink small amounts often rather than gulping down a bottle of water a few times a day. Try to limit your alcohol and caffeine intake, as these will affect overall hydration. During the race, same idea, take in a few sips every 10-15min. Cool off by splashing your face, neck, and head with some cold water to help keep your body temperature down.

Include healthy fats in your diet: By eating healthy fats — such as avocados, salmon, coconut oil, flax seeds, nuts and seeds — your body will have an extra supply of energy rather than simply relying on carbohydrates for endurance energy. When eating a wellbalanced diet, one composed of healthy fats, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and protein, carb-loading days before the race won’t be as important. Your body will be able to use stored fat for slow-releasing energy, which will take you much further than relying mostly on carbohydrates.

Slow down: If you start feeling nauseous, slow your pace. Decelerating will alleviate stomach issues by moving blood flow from the working muscles to the digestive system.

It’s always better to slow down for 30min and actually be able to complete the race.

Avoid anti-inflammatory drugs: Such medication can be very dangerous. The side effects of taking anti-inflammatory medication during an endurance race include dehydration, damage to the digestive mucous membrane, and risks of destruction of the muscular cells.

All of which could lead to nausea, vomiting, muscle fatigue, and injuries.

The best natural remedy for nausea while running an ultra is ginger, no matter whether it’s consumed as tea, crystallized, candied, pickled, or raw. Try which type of ginger works best for you during your training.

Taking care of your body through proper nutrition, rest, and knowing your body’s needs and intolerances during the training phase will help keep major gastric problems at bay on race day.

Katia, owner of d.BeFit (www.dbefit.com), is a NASM certified personal trainer, a NASM Sports Nutrition Specialist, as well is a TRX certified trainer.

77

Race Directory

Where To Race In Asia DATE

RACE

DISTANCE

LOCATION

WEBSITE

12-Sep

Petra Desert Marathon 善行者

21km and 42km

Jordan

petra-desert-marathon.com

12-Sep

OSJ Mount Adatara Trail Race

10km and 50km

Japan

powersports.co.jp/osjtrail

13-Sep

Zao Onsen Sky Trail (Skyrunner Japan Series)

15km and 35km

Japan

s-mountain.com

12-Sep 13-Sep 13-Sep 13-Sep 13-Sep 19-Sep 19-Sep

Salomon Trailwalker

Hakuba International Trail Race Tamagawa Genryu Trail Run Conquer Trail

Beyond the Ultimate Mountain Ultra 吉武·杭州山地越野赛

19-Sep

Kaveri Trail Marathon

20-Sep

Lantau Vertical

19-Sep 20-Sep 20-Sep 21-Sep 22-Sep 25-Sep 26-Sep 26-Sep 26-Sep 26-Sep 26-Sep 27-Sep 27-Sep 27-Sep 2-Oct

78

Singha Trail Running Festival Yangmingshan Cross Country Race

Famous Mountain China (中国健身 名山登山大会 –云台山站) OSJ Otaki Dirt Marathon

Shinetsu Five Mountains Trail Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji

OtterBox Action Asia X-Trail Taiwan Mid Autumn Race

Vietnam Mountain Marathon

Xuan Zhang Route - Ultra-Trail Gobi (玄奘之路八百流沙极限赛) Salomon ShuangXi Old Trail Challenge

Kyushu Backbone Mountains Trail Run (Yamato) Kyushu Backbone Mountains Trail Run (Gokase) Shinshu Togakushi Trail Race Bhatti Lakes Ultra

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

50km and 100km

22km and 27km 7km, 20km, 35km and 50km 25km

11km and 25km 220km

China

South Korea Japan Japan

Philippines Nepal

shanxingzhe.fupin.org.cn

koreatrail.net

hakubatrail.com

www.kfctriathlon.jp

conquertrailadventure.wordpress.com beyondtheultimate.co.uk

32km

China

iranshao.com/races/1202

3km, 10km and 21km

Thailand

facebook.com/events/927230324007769

10km, 21km and 42km

India

7km

Hong Kong

N/A

China

10.6km 20km and 42km 110km

84km and 161km 9km and 17km 7km and 15km

10km, 21km, 42km and 70km 400km

7.5km and 16km 35km 19km

5km, 8km, 28km and 45km

50km, 80km, 100km, 160km and 220km

Taiwan Japan Japan Japan

Taiwan

Hong Kong Vietnam China

Taiwan Japan Japan Japan India

ktm.runnersforlifenewsletter.com lantauvertical.com sportsnet.org.tw fmc100.com

powersports.co.jp/osjtrail sfmt100.com

ultratrailmtfuji.com

actionasiaevents.com xterace.com

vietnammountainmarathon.com xuanzang.com.cn

www.ibodygo.com.tw/EventTopic.aspx?n=185 uf-gp.com/yamato-trail uf-gp.com/gokase-trail togakushi-trail.jp

bhattilakesultra.com

A clear day out at Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji offers a spectacular view of the highest mountain in Japan.

Photo: NPO Fuji Trail Runners

Race Directory

DATE

RACE

DISTANCE

LOCATION

WEBSITE

3-Oct

Trans Kansai

200km

Japan

transkansai.com

3-Oct

Fuji Sanroku Trail Run

9.5km and 18km

Japan

trailrun-series.jp

3-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 4-Oct 5-Oct 9-Oct

10-Oct 10-Oct 10-Oct 10-Oct 10-Oct 10-Oct 11-Oct 11-Oct 12-Oct

Godawari Running Festival Suunto Lantau 2 Peaks

Miyamit Falls Trail Marathon

Khao Yai Trail Marathon 2015 Madarao Forest Trails Shugendo Trail

Mt. Kushigata Trail Run Masikryong Marathon

Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon Jeju International Trail Running OSJ Koumi100

Annapurna 100

Royal Penguin Marathon

Raleigh Challenge Wilson Trail MesaStila Challenge & Ultra

The North Face 100 – Singapore Aizu Bandai Climbing Trail Run Kirishima Mountain Climbing Marathon

Yatsugatake Trail Running Festival

5km, 18km and 50km 23km

26km and 42km

3.5km, 10km, 21km, 42km 16km and 50km 15km 20km

5km, 10km, 21km and 42km 42km and 60km

10km, 20km and 100km (multi-stage)

100mi (5 loops of 32km) 50km and 100km 42km

78km and 156km

13km, 21km, 42km, 60km and 100km 50km and 100km 22km

5km and 9km

16km and 34km

Nepal Hong Kong

Philippines Thailand Japan Japan Japan

North Korea Nepal

South Korea Japan

Nepal Nepal

Hong Kong Indonesia

Singapore Japan Japan Japan

ultratrailkathmandu.com actionasiaevents.com mf42.strikingly.com race-hunter.com madarao.tv

uf-gp.com/shugendo-trail www.kfctriathlon.jp

experiencenorthkorea.com/package/masikryongmarathon everestmarathon.com trjeju.com

powersports.co.jp/osjtrail annapurna100.com rpmarathon.org raleigh.org.hk

mesastila.fonesport.com thenorthface100.com.sg runandpeace.jp

uf-gp.com/kirishima-tozan-marathon yatsugataketrailrun.com

79

Race Directory

DATE

RACE

DISTANCE

LOCATION

WEBSITE

16-Oct

Barclays Moontrekker 西湖群山越野赛

30km and 43km

Hong Kong

barclaysmoontrekker.com

17-Oct

Convoy Totem Run

16km and 57km

Hong Kong

totemrun.runourcity.org

18-Oct

TRaiNX Charity Cross Country Race

17-Oct 17-Oct 18-Oct 18-Oct 18-Oct

Kyoto Trail Run – Kitayama HK Rally

OSJ Hyonosen Mountains Trail Race 宁海50公里越野赛

18-Oct

The Caoling Historic Trail Challenge

21-Oct

Ten Times Needle Hill

20-Oct 24-Oct 24-Oct 24-Oct 25-Oct 25-Oct 25-Oct 25-Oct 30-Oct 30-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 31-Oct 1-Nov 1-Nov

80

Vietnam Ultra Trail Race

Yunnan • Qiubei International Marathon

天目七尖秋季越野赛 (Tian Mu 7 Ultra Sky Marathon) UltraTaiwan

Nishimera Sky Running Quest (Skyrunner Japan Series)

杭州西野追狼挑战赛 Hangzhou Western Trailcatcher Challenge MSIG HK50 Series - Hong Kong Island Rox-Mapawa Trail Run Solukhumbu Trail Everest Skyrace

Nepal Action Asia 3 Day Ultra Marathon

Dali 100 Ultra Endurance Race (大理100越野赛)

Hasetsune Cup - Japan Mountain Endurance Race Lantau Trail 70

Busan 100K Ultra Trail Race Merapoh Forest Run

MacLehose Trail Challenge Macau TrailHiker

Sowers Action Challenging 12 Hours Ranauthlon

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

18km and 36km 32km

4km, 4.4km and 15.5km 12km and 30km 71km 50km

10km and 15km 120km 21km

5km, 10km, 21km and 42km 50km

25km, 50km and 100km 38km 25km

24km and 50km

11km, 22km and 42km 254km 300km

60km and 100km 50km and 100km 72km 70km

50km and 100km 15km and 30km 45km

10km and 30km

12km, 26km and 42km 10km, 21km and 42km

China Japan

Hong Kong Hong Kong Japan

China

Taiwan

Vietnam

Hong Kong China China

Taiwan Japan

China

Hong Kong

Philippines Nepal Nepal Nepal China Japan

Hong Kong

South Korea Malaysia

Hong Kong Macau

Hong Kong Malaysia

iranshao.com/races/2652 actrep-sports.com

ylth.org/yldrc/TRaiNX_Race/Entry_ Form_20151018_v630.2.pdf

regonline.activeglobal.com/builder/site/Default. aspx?EventID=1736641 powersports.co.jp/osjtrail en.skyviewsport.com

www.ibodygo.com.tw/EventTopic.aspx?n=186 xtechallenge.com

tentimesneedlehill.com yunnanmarathon.com tianmu-7.com

ultrataiwan.com

universal-field.com

iranshao.com/races/2611 actionasiaevents.com

aktib.ph/1433-rox-mapawa-trail-run-2015 dawasherpa-races.com

leschevaliersduvent.fr/english/news actionasiaevents.com www.dali100k.com hasetsune.com

events.lantaubasecamp.com busan100k.com

runningproject.com.my xterace.com

macautrailhiker.com

c12hrs.sowers.org.hk asiaxtreme.com

Race Directory

DATE

RACE

DISTANCE

LOCATION

WEBSITE

1-Nov

Himalayan 100 Mile Stage Race

100mi

India

himalayan.com

4-Nov

Ultra Trail Mt Siguniang (环四姑娘 山超级越野跑)

42km and 60km

China

siguniang.new.chinarun.com

1-Nov 6-Nov 6-Nov 7-Nov 7-Nov 7-Nov 7-Nov

Vadodara Ultra

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru100 Ultra Oman Desert Marathon

Vasque Hangzhou Trail Running Race (威斯杯杭州西湖跑山赛) Manaslu Trail Race Bangalore Ultra

The Borneo Ricky Lightfoot Challenge

25km and 55km

India

30km, 70km, 102km and 170km

Indonesia

165km

Oman

27km

197km

China

24h challenge, 100km, 75km, 50km, 25km, 12.5km 28km and 65km

Nepal India

Malaysia

vadodaraultra.com

bromotenggersemeru100ultra.com marathonoman.com fxoutdoor.cn

manaslutrailrace.org bangaloreultra.com borneoultra.com

If you wish to add your race to our race calendar, please send us an email at sabrina@asiasportconnection.com.

Please refer to the Race Calendar at www.asiatrailmag.com for the list of year-round trail races in Asia, and the reviews of these races.

MesaStila Challenge & Ultra takes the runners to five mountains in Central Java with a cumulative gain of up to 7,758m.

81

Market place

Escapade Sports ACTION X www.actionxstore.com

G/F, 28 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan T: +852 3102 2977 Daily: 11am-8pm

Causeway Bay 1/F, 19 Leighton Road T: +852 2891 1855

Mon-Thurs: 10am-9:00pm Fri-Sun: 9:30am-9pm

Central 1/F, 30-34 Cochrane Street T:+852 2851 0769 Mon-Thurs: 10:30am-9pm Fri-Sun: 10:30am-7:30pm

Repulse Bay Shop 110, Level 1, The Pulse, 28 Beach Road T : +852 2395 2778 Mon-Sun: 10am-8pm

APA Outdoor Shop eShop: www.apa.co/ eshop

Clearwater Bay Shop 5, Level 8, Silverstrand Mart, Clearwater Bay T: +852 2705 9919 Mon-Sun: 10am-8pm

Free delivery in Hong Kong!

16A Gee Chang Hong Centre, 65 Wong Chuk Hang Road T: +852 3153 4091 E: shop@apa.co Mon-Fri: 10am-7pm Sat-Sun: 11am-6pm

ROUND THE WORLD www.roundtheworld.hk

Shop A, 51 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan T: +852 2745 6988 Mon-Sat: 11am-8pm Sun: 10:30am-7:30pm

LANTAU BASE CAMP www.lantaubasecamp. com

Shop J, Sea View Building, Mui Wo, Lantau Island T: +852 5463 6060 Mon-Fri: 8:30am-7:30pm Sat-Sun & PH: 8am7:30pm Closed on Tuesday

82

GONE RUNNING

www.gonerunning.hk

| ASIA TRAIL • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

OVERLANDER

PATAGONIA

www.overlander.com.hk

www.facebook.com/ patagoniahk

Base Camp@ Causeway Bay 3/F Gold Swan Commercial Building, 438–444 Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay T: +852 3695 0871 Causeway Bay Shop 205, Causeway Bay Plaza I, No.489, Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay T: +852 2319 2038

Base Camp@Mongkok Rm 12-23, 12/F, Hollywood Plaza, 610 Nathan Rd, Mongkok T: +852 2117 1810 Packcity (Mongkok) Shop 229, Level 2, Trendy Zone, 580A-F Nathan Rd, Mongkok T: +852 2116 2707

GigaSports Unit 1, Level 8, Megabox, 38 Wang Chiu Rd., Kowloon Bay T: +852 2629 5009 Shatin Shop 536, Level 5, New Town Plaza, Phase 1, Shatin T: +852 3427 9626 Tseung Kwan O Shop 1129, Level 1, Phase II Metro City Plaza, Tseung Kwan O T: +852 2628 9902

Tsuen Wan Shop UG57, Citywalk, Tsuen Wan T: +852 2117 1720

Mon-Sat: 11am-9:30pm Sun: 11am-9:00pm

Tsim Sha Tsui G/F 25 Ashley Road.

T: + 852 3622 2373

Mon-Sun: 11:00 – 21:30 Shop OT224, Level 2 Ocean Terminal T: +852 3188 2400

Mon-Sun: 10:30 – 21:30 Kowloon Tong Shop L2-06, Level 2 Festival Walk Tel: +852 3105 1223

Mon-Sun: 11:00 – 21:30 Causeway Bay Shop 730, Level 7 Times Square T: +852 2506 0677

Mon-Sun: 11:00 – 21:30 Central Shop 2, 46 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central.

T: +852 2155 9567

Mon-Sun: 10:00 – 20:00 Shatin Shop 516, Level 5, New Town Plaza Phase 1 T: +852 3188 8138

Mon-Sun: 11:00 - 21:30

PASSION RUN 2160 Rama4 Rd., Klongtoei Klongtoei Bangkok Thailand 10110

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