Levin the Windchaser

I had to cut my running shoe in order to complete the run... literally! The Most Beautiful Thing (a.k.a TMBT) is one of the oldest ultra trail marathons in Malaysia, held in Sabah every year. I have participated the 109km distance on 14th September 2019 with several friends, three weeks after TMMT 2019 . Race Information: Organizer's Distance & elevation gain: 109km, with 5,595m elevation gain My recorded Distance & elevation gain:   114km+, with 5,333m elevation gain (I was lost and incurred extra mileage. My watch was in ultra mode, hence the elevation gain is questionable) Cut off Time: 33 hours (It took me 30hours 50minutes to complete it) Weather: Cold, 10-20 deg.C Finisher rate: 61%   My race report: The trail was run-able for 85% of the times and the route was straight forward. Due to the heavy rain before race start, the organizer has re-routed the course to avoid river crossing and the overall distance increased slightly. Unfortunate ...

The Magnificent Merapoh Trail ("TMMT") 2019 was held on 23th Aug. This run was suppose to be my warm-up race for TMBT 2019 , so I planned to go at a relax pace. Most runners expected the run to be easy due to its flat course profile, but rain and mud had messed up their life. Race Information: Organizer's Distance & elevation gain: 70km, with 1,855m elevation gain My recorded Distance & elevation gain:   74km, with 1,060m elevation gain Cut off Time: 15 hours (It took me 14hours 55minutes to complete it. I was stuck in the trail traffic jam for 1 hour sharp) Weather: Drizzling and clouded Finishing rate: 53% My race report (extracted from my Facebook): This 70km ultra marathon was supposed to be my warm-up run for TMBT in Sept 2019, it ended up more challenging than I've expected. The sky was drizzling at 4am, I dressed my windbreaker and waited under the rain before the starting line. After flag off, everyone was fast in the first 10km...

Gopeng Ultra Trail ("GUT") 2019 was my first 100km ultra trail marathon. I chose to join this race because of it's moderate elevation and long cut off time (28 hours). The purpose of this run was to gauge the readiness of myself to join Asia Trail Master's races. GUT was held in Gopeng, Malaysia, on 23rd March 2019. Race Information: Organizer's Distance & elevation gain: 100km, with 3,175m elevation gain My recorded Distance & elevation gain: 91km, with 2,380m elevation gain (note: the route was cut short by 10km due to land slides) Cut off Time: 28 hours (my completed time was 22 hours, with walking only) Weather: Crazily hot, temperature went up to 41 deg.C during noon. Finishing rate: 75% My race report (extracted from my Facebook): Gopeng Ultra Trail's 100km category runners flagged off at 4:30am. Handicapped by my problematic right knee, my strategy was to complete the 100km with only fast walking. Theoretically it ...

Vang Vieng Trail 2018 (a.k.a. "V-trail") was my first ultra trail marathon.  I participated in the race in order to gauge my readiness to do 100km ultra marathon, i.e. Gopeng Ultra Trail 2019 . The race was held by Thai organizer Teelakow, in Laos on 3rd Nov 2018. Race information:  Organizer's Distance & elevation gain: 52km, with 3,041m elevation gain My recorded Distance & elevation gain: 57km, with 3,365m elevation again (note: I was lost, thus extra distance) Cut off Time: 18 hours (my completed time was 24 hours) Weather: Chill but no rain, temperature estimated around 15-20 deg.C Finishing rate: 49% My race report (extracted from my Facebook): The elevation gain for the first half (26km) is estimated to be around 2600m. I slowed down my pace and it wasn't too bad, felt like hiking Gunung Datuk four times continuously. Some runners were exhausted and decided to DNF after completing the first half. I earned myself ample buffer ...