GO ASIA TRAIL

I participated in the TransLantau, a very popular trail race in Hong Kong held on March 11-12, 2016. This was my first overseas race and it was a very good experience and a great memory.

One of the most popular trail races in Hong Kong, TransLantau is held on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Lantau Island is home to Hong Kong International Airport and Disneyland. It is more of a rural area than Hong Kong Island. Lantau Island is rich in nature and is also famous as a resort area.

The starting point is a beach called Mui Wo, and there are hotels around Mui Wo, but they are rather expensive. 。。。。 Therefore, many runners stay overnight on Hong Kong Island and take a ferry from Central Ferry Pier to Lantau Island in the early morning.

The main race is 100km, but 50km and 25km races are also popular. When I tried to enter, the 100km race was already sold out. I entered the 50km race. There were many participants from overseas, coming from about 50 countries. There were about 10 Japanese in the 50km race.

I met a Japanese participant at the ferry terminal. As usual, I saw equipment that only Japanese seem to have (Answer 4 as in the previous race in Taiwan) (laugh).

The course is said to be the reverse of last year's, and this year it was run clockwise from Mui Wo. The first half is a runnable trail along the coastline, and the second half is a mountainous area with ups and downs centering on North Lantau Countory Park.

The 50km started at 9:00 am. The weather was cloudy. The temperature was maybe 10 degrees Celsius. Usually the high temperature is over 20 degrees Celsius, but this year was said to be colder than usual. But for those of us from Japan, the weather was probably a little better than usual.

After driving for a while, we entered a pleasant trail along the coastline. If it had been sunny, it might have been more refreshing, but there were not many ups and downs, so we could run comfortably. From the start to checkpoint 3 (27km point), the trail is like this all the way.

Then, the mountain area in the second half of the race. The climbs in the second half of the race were pretty tough.

First was Sunset Peak, where the fog got stronger as the elevation increased, and visibility was so poor that I could not see 20 meters ahead. The temperature was low and the wind was strong, so we had to wear a wind shell (Teton Bros / Wind River Jacket) or we would freeze to death....

This area was a bit mentally challenging. Because of the poor visibility, we would normally be able to enjoy the spectacular scenery, but there was none of that! And it was windy and cold, and the people around us were running silently...

However, I was happy and felt encouraged when I occasionally encountered someone who called out to me in Japanese, and I felt that I was helped a lot there (see the national flag on the bib).

As we approached Pak Mong Villedge, the final aid station, the fog lifted and visibility improved. Then you can enjoy the unique scenery of Hong Kong as you run. The harbor and the Hong Kong International Airport...I love airplanes, so I can't wait to see them... (laughs).

Then we arrived at Pak Mong, the final aid station. Here again, I met another Japanese participant, wearing a Japanese flag on his T-shirt. It is really nice to see Japanese people in a race in a foreign country like this.

And then, 13km to go.... We entered Lo Fu Tan, but the climb continued to be tough. It was foggy and windy, but it was better than Sunset Peak. I don't know if it was the temperature difference or fatigue from the trip, but my right thigh started to cramp up.

Then...a surprise encounter on the trail...a Hong Kong girl who was resting in front of me on the way up said, "You were at last year's Ultra Taiwan event, weren't you? You were at last year's Ultra Taiwan event, weren't you? I replied in English, "Ohhhh, yes, I was there.

She seemed a little tired, so I decided to go on ahead. I turned around and went back to the regular route.

Then, with 4km to go, there was one last hard climb...and the trail was very narrow and bushy. I named the trail "My Neighbor Totoro" and called it "My Neighbor Totoro Trail. (I didn't have time to take pictures of this area...)

And as I was running down the last staircase hell, I saw Mui Wo, the start/finish point of the trail. Then, the Hong Kong girl from earlier caught up with me from behind. We finished the race in almost the same position.

The result was 9 hours and 3 minutes. The ranking was 184th (out of 635 finishers).

http://translantau.livetrail.net/

I was personally very satisfied with my run, as it went well. However, there were many hard trails, technical downhills, and stairs, so my legs were cramping up! This will be my next challenge.

I was able to climb faster than before, and I was able to run aggressively on the climbs that I could. This is also a result of interval training, hill dashes, and hard training on the trails over the past few months. Especially the hard training in Katano (private city) in Osaka at the end of January 2016 helped.