The title is in Mandarin as this was done in Taiwan, my home land. I have never been to this place before despite being in Taiwan many times. This time, we happen to return because of my Grandmother’s one year death anniversary, and there were some rites to be done.
Race Shirt
The parcel containing the Bib and Tee
So I thought might as well get down to some action since I am there. My family are not very sporty people and they tend to just stay at home and watch the TV. After checking the place, start point seemed to be located near to my mother’s BFF house in Xindian, which is further south, while my mother stays further up North near to Dan shui.
Because of the location and early start time of 6:00 Am for the race, I decided to stay nearer to the start point. This happen to be the hot spring resort near to the Da Ping Lin MRT, which is a pretty new line. Glad that I made this choice because the room is big and comfy, in fact it can hold a family. But after much invitations to my family, no one wanted to come with me. I thought if my father was around, he might join me.
Signing up
Website for Sign up: https://bao-ming.com/eb/content/5611#reg
Well to cut all the nitty gritty, the sign up is at the EB site which has almost all the Taiwanese races there, it is a very well organised way of handling the races on the island. The runners in Taiwan also have a very well organised way of having the drop bag, there is a standardised drop bag size where most of the runners will use for their drop bags. I felt this was another very organised way of handling the runs.
They have opted to send the Bib and race tee to the participants address, thus there was no collection. But since I was in Singapore, I ended up collecting the bib kit at the race itself, good thing is the organiser allowed for that exception.
The race start is at the 烘爐地 God of Land Temple, this is really a very local event, didn’t really spot many foreigners at the race. Being a road race, there were some challenging parts of elevation as the temple is located on a hill, which is about 300M in height, 南勢角山, Nan Shi Jiao Hill. I must say this place might be a good for beginner trail hill too.
The Race
At the start line
I signed up for 21km only because I was stipulated to do another 50Km at the end of the year, which is the MR 25 Ultra challenge, so I thought I should give myself a break. Beside the starting which was a road down hill and the coming back which was the up hill climb into the temple, the rest of the route was rather flat and majority is into a riverside park which was sheltered from the traffic. This made it safer to run.
God of Land temple where the start point is
There was a shuttle bus from the Nan Shi Jiao MRT to bring runners up to the temple. It was rather cold in the morning and windy, but still tolerable. There were also sheltered area in the temple for you to put the drop bag, at the same time , hide a bit before the start of the race. 42k started 05:30 am while 21K started at 6am. Some hydration was served at the race site, somehow, this race had some local elites joining, bringing the standard up.
Neat arrangement of drop bag for runners in Taiwan
Kind of enjoyed running in this race especially towards the park side where everything was flat and a U turn meant that you are back to the finish line. You could see runners along the way and everyone was cheering for each other. I quickly found a target to follow, he looked older than me, but we were overtaking each other until one point, he just took over me completely. But that already put me in a good position already. I remember one guy shouting at me: ” you are overall 2nd, keep going!”. That kind of motivated me to push a bit further. Ending last 2 Km was really up hill, trying my best I ran and walked and finally passed through the finishing arc. Was happy to come in overall 2nd! Although there were no cash prize, winners got this really crazy looking trophy which I eventually left with my mother at her Taiwan apartment.
The Ending
Catching up with the fast one!
I caught up with the dude who overtook me and actually he was the one who came forth to chat with me. Being a very rustic and community friendly race, the atmosphere was very homely with the Emcee going around to chat with people. There were also some booths selling sporting stuff, and I got a pair of the crocodile slippers and gloves from the booths.
Finisher goodie bag!
Breakfast time
The finisher gift was really bountiful, they had a thermal tupperware and also teapot too, quite useful. Runners also get to have breakfast provided by the organiser which is bee hoon and some hot soup. Perfect for a cold weather. The good thing is that the weather is cooling and the sun is up. You can also get a panoramic view of Taipei city after the race.
Beautiful scenery from the temple
Taking the shuttle back to MRT
The nan shi jiao station
Sharing the joy with my mom’s BFF and her Husband
After a few cameo moments, I took the shuttle bus down and went to meet my mother’s BFF for lunch, since she stayed near. I must say it was quite a nice race having to only pay about 50 sing dollars. I guess in Singapore you will not be able to get such kind of price for race anymore.