Another challenging race by Fone sports. The race is set in Kayu Aro nearest Airport town is Padang. Padang to Singapore is actually only 1 and half hour of plane flight as it is located on Sumatra island. However, there are only limited number of Scoot flights direct from Singapore to Padang, as such transiting in KL is the main option I have as flights are more frequent from KL.
Choosing the Race
I did the Rinjani last year and was really amazed by the Indonesian volcanoes. It is not the first time that I am in awe of the mountains in Indonesia, but Rinajni really left a deep impression although it was really tough ( for me ). Kerinci is a volcano in Jambi area of Sumatra, I never heard of it till I came across the Fone sports page about this mountain. After some research, I realise that it is the highest Volcano in Indonesia standing at 3,804 m above sea level. Somehow this place in Sumatra is very unheard of and no touristy, maybe to the locals. I was contemplating and wanted to do the Bromo one instead, but since I had been to Bromo, I decided to give it one shot. Although as I usually said, I do not really like to travel to the volcanoes in Indonesia because of the lack of efficient transportation system and the connection seems to be so unreliable and full of uncertainty as I experienced in Mt Ijen and many other races before.
Complex Logistics
This time round the logistics proved to be another challenge to me, the race organiser maybe did not expect to have many overseas participants, only connected everyone for the shuttle bus and accommodations nearer date to the race. Most of the connections were done over Instagram messenger and after which on whatsapp which makes it very convenient. Originally, I was very worried and booked a hotel way in advanced. The nearest town from the mountain is called Kayu Aro. There are no resorts or stuff like that there , I mean things like a five star hotel or chain. The best is some homestays and cottage stays. Looking at the Agoda , there were just a few decent ones around like the Hills and Swarga, but from the map they look really quite far from the action. Homestay Family resort became the main official “hotel” as it was nearest to the field where the race start was. I think maybe I am solo traveller so it tends to be more challenging. In short if you are thinking of going to this race, the better hotel stay will be the Homestay Family Resort and Bintang Kerinci Homestay Because all of them were sold out for the period of the race, I end up scouting and went for this totally no one know homestay Timan B I got a real big room as all other rooms were taken and later upon reaching the home stay I knew why, the other rooms were inclusive of sleeping in the living room and some common areas for the local Padang runners who just want a place to crash, it can be as cheap as 80,000RP a night. I basically connected with the Ibu of the house via whatsapp and one room per night which can sleep up to 4 pax was 200,000RP. ( no taxes etc.)
Honestly, Timan B is really not very standard and a bit of a jaded and old. The bath room were shared and only one had hot water shower ( which gets used up and unstable supply). Going up to the rooms on the second floor is challenging if you are not so mobile as it is just a steep ladder way , the bad point is you need to climb that steps to go up and down to the toilet. The plus point is that it is along the main road pretty easy to find, near to the start and race expo, good view of the teh plantation and the good eateries. And although with our language barrier the bapak and ibu of the house were very friendly and kind to this solo foreigner lady whom they keep thinking is a Korean. And also thanks to their connection I was able to get my trip back to the Padang airport smoothly.
Due to my direct flight timing, I had to leave Kersik Tuo ( Kayu Aro) the night after finishing my race. The van ride to the Airport is a good 8 hours ( if there is a Jam in the day ) and if a night trip, its about 6 hours. If I could I would have taken all the shuttle services provided by the organiser but because of the timing of my flight I had to make arrangements for the going back with independent transporter which… I also found on facebook called Cahaya, I personally find this provider not very reliable although in the end they do show up but the timing was stretched from the original 8pm pick up they delayed until 10:30 Pm and they kept increasing the price claiming that going to Padang air port had a fee adjustment.
To cut the long story short, I think maybe coming here with a packaged tour trek might be better than for race, unless you have a lot of time and do not mind the trial and errors. My overall impression of the logistics was that it was tough , too inefficient and not too friendly and conducive. Kinda like a hardship tour. I personally feel Kerinci might not become a touristy area because its really too remote and there are hardly direct flights. It might be a long time to see it becoming like Bromo. The bad part about most of Indonesian trail race as I cannot emphasise more is the transport to the race point. The main way is thru Toyota Hi ace vans or similar ones and the rides are long not for the faint hearted due to lousy road conditions. In fact if not for this race, I think there are hardly any foreigners coming. I must say what it can offer is the rustic, back to nature and old school days kind of vibes.
Race Proper
All that I needed to say about the logistics was done, I just had to get it out so that future participants will know what they are in for. Race sign up is at Fone sport website actually I personally feel this website is very good and easy to navigate with real updates on your payment and participating status, the race information is also clearly stated for the participants. Payment also can be easily done through credit card.
There was a technical briefing the evening before the race on Sunday 5th april. Originally start time was 5am but they push it back to 5:20am. I was hoping that they will start earlier so that we can catch the sunrise but organiser probably thought of the safety issues that comes along and decided to go for a later timing. Only the 100k, 70k and 30k needed to go up the summit while 12k is more like a trial trail testing around the teh plantation to take photos and relax. Of course there were some really elites going for the 12km at a fast speed.
Attempting the summit in 13hrs
The game plan for 30k is simple one straight road up and at the summit U turn and come back down. Along the way there were 2 prominent check points and there was one U turn point at the summit, before the summit, there are also some tentages at the more barren site of the forest to make sure participants are well as elevation start to increase.
The first part was going through the plantations, terrain was more or less like Macritchie in Singapore, dirt track and larger pebbles. There were weeds around so actually high socks long pants are more ideal. The first CP was the entrance to the national park it is a small shop but they convert to a CP with very good replenishment, fruits, hot drink like cereal beverages and isotonics.
Once into the forest is where the first night mare starts, beginning of the trail is still quite manageable and like the usuals, meandering roots and quite easy to handle after a few Km in, the narrow path with steep climbs come in. At this point its more like bouldering than trekking, I am using all my limbs to climb up, or maybe I am too short . Somehow poles are not very ideal for this part of the trail and they do not have ropes for pulling up. After going through all the ditches, we reach the CP 2 which has a pretty nice view at the mid point. I remember CP 2 is like at the final part before we go into the rocky barren part of the race. After CP the bouldering got even steeper and harder, and finally out into the sandy ash rock portion where the wind was stronger and it starts to get a bit cold. It was a cloudy day and we were not able to get a view of the surroundings as it was all blocked by clouds.
The final climb up was really brutal, its sliding, difficult to breathe and its just like never ending. Just when you thought its reaching the summit seemed to have moved further up. This stretch is where fellow runners start to encourage each other and push for the limit. I had met two new friends at a nearby restaurant while dinner the night before. Michael and Chong Ming, they are both from China but Mike been in Singapore with his wife very long while Chong Ming is a young chap age 19 joining the race to experience. I met them finally at the summit and gosh it was so tiring that I did not want to think of the going down. I was up at the summit about 12 noon if I am not wrong. All three of us took picture there as there were no photographers. It was quite windy and cold and I have to turn back down fast or meet with a very tight cut off, which is already ticking away. And my main consideration was my poor descending skills.
Treacherous Ending
Cutting the long story short, I ended up becoming the last person to reach finish line. The cut off is 13 hours which I already know will be very tight for me. I try to tell myself to just keep going and not think, anything runnable I will run and those which I cannot I try to do it faster if I can . I could already sense the tough descending when I was on my way up. Indeed, the volcanic ash area too a good 2-3 hours as I slided and rain came in. Many people were still ascending and many people also slided down. When I finally got to the forested boulder areas, it start to drizzle more. I was lucky to meet a bunch of Indon brothers who guided me to manoevre this kind of terrain as they could see I was struggling. The trick was to take quick fast steps in a meandering manner and jump around when you can. After a couple of practice, I managed to get the faith to leap. But fatigue also set in because the same motion for a few hours was tiring and having to grapple with previous injuries, I slided another time before. The brothers were nice and they helped me. However, just a few km before the CP2 I told them to please go ahead because time was really tight we only left with 3 hours and amost 12km more to go. I will be burden to them. They went ahead, when I reach CP 2 , its was really dark and skies cloudy with signs of rain. I had a brief water break and cut off the broken shoes base because I wore the fake Hoka which I wore for Rinjani also. There were still many rocks in my shoes but I do not have the time to take out , I charged down the last part and reached the CP 1 which was already collapsing around 5:30pm ish. I have another about 5-6 km of the plantation road to rush back to the finish. I wanted to walk because the shoes was really going gone really tired. But I told myself NOT TODAY, I have to finish it , after all the long rides, tough way here I cannot give up. Somehow, I had that last bust of energy , after a small hot meal of rice with soup and egg at the last check point, I ran all the way back, once I was on the road I really dashed even at 6min pace! Passing by one guy along the way I told him to start running dont walk but I guess he was too tired and it started to rain badly just like Rinjani.
As I ran across the field, in the pouring rain, people were collapsing the race site. Luckily the arch is not down yet and I always joke with Richard, I am so slow that the Ocean man arch can be down, this was almost like that. I dashed across the time line and final timing was just 3 min before closing ! I was the last person, the medal givers even took a LIVE insta of me as the last person! I was too tired to take that last pic and somemore in the rain, I took all my entitlements and slowly made my way back to Timan B. This is where I took a drenched picture of myself with the medal.
Final Thoughts
The homestay had other 30km runners too and they cheered for me as I ran past the homestay in the rain. Ibu was waiting for me also, I was so exhausted but still need to collapse everything. Thinking that my so called chartered will be here at 8 pm I rushed to clean up and pack. Luckily during my run where my connection was bad, Ibu had contacted the transport folks and they tied down a later timing.
The night ride was delayed and it was very rainy the whole night, Ibu and bapak waited for the van with me. I got on safely with a bunch of other people sharing the van. The shaky ride brought me to Padang airport early 6 am and I cannot check in till 9 plus for the 12 plus flight. Despite long waiting time, I did not have the energy to wander in the town as it was about 20km away and thinking about the logistics makes me tired. So I just rotted away in the airport.
I would say it was worth it for the trip. I would have done it again but not so near again. And as usual, Indonesia races be prepared for the brutal terrain , tight COT and logistics. This is also one reason I hardly invited Singaporeans to go with me for Indonesia trails.
