When the Sirei Park Trail event got cancelled in August, the organiser Lumens gave me a choice to take a couple of races up or get a refund. I decided to take on the Kledang challenge as I was balloting for the Hong Kong 100 then. I thought it might be good to do some training and at the same time get to go Ipoh and visit Joey, having her say that the Bukit Kledang (RTM) route is something that she always wanted to bring me to.
This race is in Ipoh itself and the famous RTM hill, since my bib was transferred, I did not go through the online sign up. You can sign up at the Check Point Asia Website. The race is basically looping around Bukit Kledang. About 9 km of trail and another 9 km of roads. The check points is also planted at the starting, peak and Uturn point of the hill. There were 4 categories 10k, 19k, 38k and 56k.
Similarity to Macritchie Loops
This race really felt like Macritchie loops, with a main check point a the carpark area of the foot of the hill. There was a live kitchen, some tables and chairs and portable toilets around. This makes it very convenient for the runners. You can just leave your essentials there and when you reach back just grab them.
Total 4 Loops
The first 9 Km ish up is road but it is just up up up until you feel like giving up. Then at the end of it is the RTM tower, a check point was set up there with food and drinks. This time I never use the 1.5 Litre hydration pack, instead I just use the 500ml soft flask and only brought one as I thought it was loops, so after like one – two hours we will be back to the same place for food and drinks. The next stretch down is Trail portion, I wouldn’t say it too technical but its not easy either especially at night. Luckily for me, I use the led lenser lights now which covers a wider area and visibility is high with the strong power of the light.
The markers were pretty obvious and easy to find although at some parts they were covered or dropped off. This is quite common for trail races. As it was in loops, I saw Wai Theng, a fellow MR25 runner who did the 56km which is 3 sets in all. She was about to finish her second one when I saw her and helping to restore the markers in the trail. She said she vomitted a few times but I could see she’s strong and keep on going. My descending has always been bad and it never improved despite me saying I need to make some efforts to improve it.
So the going down was quite slow for the trail while many of the people in my 38 km category flew down. Path was narrow and I had to make way for them to get down. The climbing was much easier for me although I am not exactly very fast but I can spur on in this section. The uturn point was another check point with food and drinks , there were sandwiches, eggs , hot coffee, and usual beverages ( water, isotonic, my favourite rose syrup).
My strategy was easy, run and walk faster at the road part and climb faster at the trail part leaving me more time to procrastinate at the descending of the trail. I rested every check point although only 9 plus Km per lap it does get into you after 2 rounds. I was on my way to finish my third lap when Joey and Ben caught up with me. The duo was fast and they still can chit chat. Finally in my last lap down the road, I tried as far to run as much as I could and wanted to meet the timing of at sub 12 hours.
Finally I came back just before 6am in the morning. Joey and Ben had already changed up and was waiting for me. By now the live kitchen at the start point was already serving some nice breakfast of porridge, soup and beehoon. Joey had a fresh doughnut too. As there were not many participants, all three of us came in podium, but of course we were not exactly that shabby to begin with. Was quite happy with my results and this had been a good training for me.
After Note
I really enjoyed the R & R for ipoh as the food is good and cheap and this time I even made it to the Onsen retreat at Tambun area known as the Banjaran Hot Spring Retreat. It was really relaxing especially after my Ironman, I did not really had a good rest and this place was absolute amazing with the onsen, food and a nice sleep in the pavillion in the rain. I would love to come back Ipoh again for all the rest and relax and the Bukit Kledang is really good training.
