Teelakow V-Trail 2018 (52km)
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.
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%
Second half is the real killer, it has a rolling hill of 4-5km long. We were required to climb, walk, crawl and jump across some sharp lime stones (in the dark for slow runners). The stones were sharp enough to cut you. I did not want to risk my life, so I climbed forward extremely slow. From bad to worse, I missed a marker and accidentally went reversed for some distance. Eventually I burned up all my buffer time and was overtaken by five runners.
Judging that I would miss the next check point cut-off time by maybe 30 minutes, I was frustrated and decided to take a nap on a lime stone. Once I turned off my headlamp, the jungle went completely dark. I couldn't see my fingers even when I placed them right in front of my eyes.
After taking some rest, I proceeded further again slowly. My friend Andrew Loo appeared up from behind not so long after. I lent him some water since his was depleted, then we went out together to the farm area.
Unexpectedly, the final 15km flat course was another nightmare. Many markers have disappeared and we couldn't find our way to proceed further. We walked a few km around, forward and backward, to look for the path using GPX file on phone but to no avail.The landscape was complicated and well barricaded with gates.
Eventually the organizer staffs found the four of us who were stranded and guide us back to the finishing line. Despite knowing the route, the crew who guided us also lost in the wood and paddy field for a couple times. The last 15km flat course took us more than 5 hours.
(Side note: I was told that the markers were destroyed by local farmers, but I cannot confirm the validity of this information.)
Race location: Easy access. Vang Vieng is a tourism spot, and the organizer has provided shuttle buses to pick up runners to starting point.
Food and water supply: Superb supply with various choices, e.g. several energy drinks and solid foods.
Organizer's crew: Superb crew support, they cooked cup noodle for me. A crew even spent hours to lead us back to the finishing line after we got lost. This organizer also has the plenty of pro photographers to snap your photos.
Route marking: First half of the route was fairly well marked. Reflective markers were very helpful during the night. Second half of the route was disaster, all markers totally gone.
Difficulty: 7 out of 10 (from the scale of 0 to 10, where 10 as the toughest)
Conclusion:
- First half was not technical, runners just need plenty of leg power to ascend and descend the hill. Second half could be slightly scary, as the rocks which you would step on were pointy and sharp, and could possibly fall off suddenly.
- I recommend Teelakow's V-trail to whoever love to have technical element in their races.
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 time in the first half and headed toward the second half with full confident.
Second half is the real killer, it has a rolling hill of 4-5km long. We were required to climb, walk, crawl and jump across some sharp lime stones (in the dark for slow runners). The stones were sharp enough to cut you. I did not want to risk my life, so I climbed forward extremely slow. From bad to worse, I missed a marker and accidentally went reversed for some distance. Eventually I burned up all my buffer time and was overtaken by five runners.
Judging that I would miss the next check point cut-off time by maybe 30 minutes, I was frustrated and decided to take a nap on a lime stone. Once I turned off my headlamp, the jungle went completely dark. I couldn't see my fingers even when I placed them right in front of my eyes.
After taking some rest, I proceeded further again slowly. My friend Andrew Loo appeared up from behind not so long after. I lent him some water since his was depleted, then we went out together to the farm area.
Unexpectedly, the final 15km flat course was another nightmare. Many markers have disappeared and we couldn't find our way to proceed further. We walked a few km around, forward and backward, to look for the path using GPX file on phone but to no avail.The landscape was complicated and well barricaded with gates.
Eventually the organizer staffs found the four of us who were stranded and guide us back to the finishing line. Despite knowing the route, the crew who guided us also lost in the wood and paddy field for a couple times. The last 15km flat course took us more than 5 hours.
(Side note: I was told that the markers were destroyed by local farmers, but I cannot confirm the validity of this information.)
Verdict:
Race location: Easy access. Vang Vieng is a tourism spot, and the organizer has provided shuttle buses to pick up runners to starting point.
Food and water supply: Superb supply with various choices, e.g. several energy drinks and solid foods.
Organizer's crew: Superb crew support, they cooked cup noodle for me. A crew even spent hours to lead us back to the finishing line after we got lost. This organizer also has the plenty of pro photographers to snap your photos.
Route marking: First half of the route was fairly well marked. Reflective markers were very helpful during the night. Second half of the route was disaster, all markers totally gone.
Difficulty: 7 out of 10 (from the scale of 0 to 10, where 10 as the toughest)
Conclusion:
- First half was not technical, runners just need plenty of leg power to ascend and descend the hill. Second half could be slightly scary, as the rocks which you would step on were pointy and sharp, and could possibly fall off suddenly.
- I recommend Teelakow's V-trail to whoever love to have technical element in their races.
Plenty of photos from the event photographers!
(credit to Teelakow & TheMemoryShots for some of above photos)
#Vtrail #Teelakow # Vangviengtrail
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