Rinjani 100 _ 36KM Version

Rinjani 100 is a tough, very tough race, more so in the past where there were only 50 and above categories.  It was a race that no one dare to dream unless you are at least a 450 mountain level in the ITRA Index.  There were many bloggers writing how tight and tough this race is and to finish it means only the best of the best.  The recent years saw a more manageable category of 27km and 36km where runners can enjoy the scenery of Rinjani without going through a real arduous race.

Signing up of the race is online under the F-one sports group.  https://fonesport.id/rinjani100, I chose the 36 Km as I really want to go to the summit and I felt I am still not up for it for 60km.  My trail skills are really terrible and no matter how over and over again I try my best to improve them, I just cannot find a similar terrain in Singapore to simulate.  The nearest I can thinking of is in Lambak, but it take time to go there.  So ended up always the same speed or even worse.  The 36km have elevation gain of 3,179m and cut off of 15hours, this is quite similar to some 50km races and given the high altitude of Mt Rinjani, one can expect quite some challenge to approach this category.  The cost for the signing up is about S$155.  You get an entry bib in a cloth bag, the race tee and Bib.

Getting to Lombok and Race Pack collection

As I have never been to Lombok, it was a fresh new experience for me.  I decided to go Mataram, their Urban sort of Capital for the first night before heading up to the mountain as I will be staying there for 2 nights and experience tells me there is nothing up there.  The Lombok airport is very new and big, there are many shops inside for food and last minute souvenir shopping.  When I come out of the arrival hall, there were already Rinjani 100 crew there to pick up the runners, seems like this year is a big event.  I headed to the taxi and bus stands which was further down in the centre to take the Damri bus to Mataram, it cost only $4 compared to many who will charge $20 etc.  I stayed at the Aston Inn, it was modern nice and clean with a good swimming pool and relatively decent Gym.  Overall, I spend about $700 plus in total for this trip with the Bib.

I went for one Pilates course in Mataram near the hotel and went shopping at Mataram Mall, which is modern and had a big supermarket.  There was also an Alfa mart near the hotel so I spent a lot of time just shopping around these place getting the race needs.  Generally, Mataram felt like any Indon town a lot of motorbikes and traffic but not so bad and its quite tranquil and quiet.  While in Mataram, I also had to sort out the way up to Sembalun ( the town nearest to Mt Rinjani), most transport company quoted me $60-70 SGD, but through Grab, I found a cheap car about $48 SGD.  I booked it in advance to bring me to the next hotel in Rinajni, Zoya Rinjani Villas.

After a hearty breakfast buffet in the morning , I was greeted way in time by the driver at about 09:45am and we set off to Sembalun.   This is the town where the race expo is and most will be staying there, the race expo is at the Hotel Nusantra, it already got booked out months before but this hotel is really nice.  As it was booked out, I just chose the nearest and available place to book on Agoda and managed to find this Zoya Rinjani Villa.  It seemed nice on the website.

There seemed to be only one route to the village and its not and easy route to drive.  Even my Grab driver got lost, I guess not all in Mataram goes around the island too.  The village is very scenic and tranquil but there are a lot of prayers going on there with many mosques.  It is surrounded by the mountains making the place rather surreal.

Race pack collection was nothing fancy but the race start and finish site got this heroic feel with the epic music.  I also love the Mt Rinjani back drop setting too.  However, the town has nothing much to offer and if you are talking about nice structured roads , this is not the place.  There are some strawberry farms around.   We were given one Rinjani Canvas bag and event tee with bib, rest of the merchandise can be bought from a tent outside all priced at $25 sgd nett.  This time round there were a lot of runners from different countries and they came in groups also, Japan , Taiwan, China.

Race Proper

The 36k starts on the Sunday night of 19 May.  So we report to the site at 12am.  The weather was not cold at the ground, this is a blessing for me.  But I do know its definitely going to be cold up there in the Rinjani.  With the headlamps, we go through about 5 plus km of road runs ups and down into the savanna.  Then it was a bit of a muddy trek before the real forest climb.  As usual for the mountains, there were vegetation at first, slowly it become barren and in the end just volcanic ash.  The real challenge come towards the last 3 or so Km because its just all the way up and one step up is like many steps back.  With the poles the arms become exhausted manoeuvring.  Actually Rinjani is very structured, POS 1 some where still having the vegetation, POS 2 is where you can see the crater.  And finally leading to the ascend to the summit, the race is same way up and same way down.

The water stations and Check points are all very well stocked and there are isotonic, water, coffee and some cereal drinks also.  Food wise, there were the usual oranges, bananas, I did not see any gel but coming back there were eggs and also potatoes too.  As I started to ascend, I saw the first light coming up and I thought I will be able to make it to the summit before 7am, but it was so tough for me that one point I hid in the small dry bushes just to rest and think how to proceed as the ascending speed was way too slow.

After the real grind I finally made to the top about 7:30am and the sun was already out shining.  There were many people taking photos and videos at the summit, really crowded.  The organiser also stationed one team to take attendance and give up the U turn wrist band.  I took a while up there taking some photos and videos, but I know I cannot stay too long or face DNF.  Time is really tight and exhaustion is real.  Going down was not easy with the slippery ash, one Indonesian runner taught me to slide down with heels like skiing.  It worked better than my usual way, so I just slide down the 3 plus K.  There were many campers near to the summit too and beside the racers, the mountain was full of hiker, sight seeing folks especially at the lower lands.

The shoes were filled with the ash stones when I reached to normal plant vegetated area and many times I wanted to take out the shoes to shake them out but I never did partly due to time and also it was really terrible to squat down.  I could already feel the quartz sizzling!  By then , the few suspects around me were the same.  Most of the runners can descend better than me but due to fatigue , many really could not run no more even on even ground.

Making it to the End

Spamming a collection of Photos for going up the summit

Once we reach the flat ground, I knew I am not far from the ending point.  I tried to push here and there just to gain sometime.  By then was already past lunch, somehow I was feeling very lethargic going down hill for almost 4 hours.  The check points were my blessing, grabbing any food I can find and filling myself up with water, the morning was hot and scorching.  The good thing is the only cold point was the summit, the rest were manageable temperature.  Finally when I reach the road area, I decided to take a break to shake out the ash stones to make my ending less torture.

 

There were drizzles already.  The skies were grey but no signs of heavy rain, locals were saying the weather had been hot in the day and rainy from afternoon onwards.   Then it started to rain, about 2 km before reaching back, to speak the truth, I was really sleepy and z monster keep hitting me.  Just want to finish this last stretch as soon as possible especially now that rain was getting heavier and heavier.  I had no choice but to take out the rain coat once again and pull myself up to run back to the finish run.  Thank god the finished line was sheltered, I was crossed eyed again and the crew handed me the medal while checking that I had the summit wrist band.  The whole finishing line was crowded with people because of the train.  I waited a while at the Hotel Nusantra restaurant for the rain to wean off before heading back.  It was tiring but still manageable and I saw my friend Chin Tat amongst a group of Malaysian runners there.

 

He told me the 60km had many DNF, this is no surprise as they had to cover at least 3 summits!  Took some pictures, when the rain wean off, I slowly walked about to Zoya villa, the third prayer for the day started to sound again and I though so glad I did not sign up 60km and also thank got the hotel had hot water bath.  So that sums up the “legendary” Rinjani race.