GO ASIA TRAIL

I participated in the TRAIL RUN portion of XTERRA TAIWAN 2023 (April 16, 2023) in Kenting, a resort area in the southernmost tip of Taiwan. This will be my second trip to Taiwan since the After Corona, following the Formosa Trail in November.

This trip to Taiwan was not only to participate in a race, but also to take a work vacation abroad for the first time in my life. I plan to write a separate article on the work vacation, but this article focuses on the race and the trip. The main focus of this trip was the work vacation, and the race was just an afterthought.

Travel route

KIX → Kaohsiung flights are still expensive...

Originally, it would have been best to fly from Kansai International Airport to Kaohsiung and then take an express bus to Kenting, but the number of flights has not recovered yet and it is very expensive. As far as I could find, the round trip cost more than 100,000 yen, which was too much to pay for a 3-hour flight, so I decided to travel via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (Taipei). The round trip from Kansai International Airport to Taipei cost 55,000 yen, and the airline was Peach.

This turned out to be quite a demanding schedule, and I was really quite tired from the travel alone. We took the 7:50 a.m. Peach flight from KIX and arrived at the race site around 4 p.m. The race registration was open until 5 p.m., so we had to wait until 5 p.m. before we could register for the race. Since the race registration was not open until 5:00 p.m., we anticipated that we would be on the edge of time, so we decided to have lunch on the Taiwan Shinkansen train.

• Kansai International Airport→Taoyuan International Airport (flight: about 3 hours)
• Taoyuan International Airport→ THSR Taoyuan Taoyuan Airport MRT about 20 min.
• THSR Taoyuan→Zuoying (Kaohsiung) THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail) 1hr 35min
• Zuoying (Kaohsiung) → Kending express bus 2hrs 10 mins from KIX to Kending

Although this trip is an irregularity, under normal circumstances, flying from Kansai International Airport to Kaohsiung is a relatively easy way to get there.

Wearing masks is mandatory in Taiwan until 4/16

I traveled to Taiwan at a delicate time, but until 4/16 (Sunday), it was mandatory to wear a mask when taking a train or bus in Taiwan. I entered Taiwan on Saturday, April 15, and since there were many foreigners like me in the airport, many people were not wearing masks, but when I was about to board the Taoyuan MRT, the station staff warned me in Chinese that I should wear a mask.

I had read in some article that it was no longer necessary to wear a mask in Taiwan, so I thought, "Do I still have to wear a mask?" But when I looked it up, I found that from Monday, April 17, the requirement to wear masks will be abolished in all places except hospitals. I entered the country at the halfway point.

In Taiwan bullet train, I was allowed to take off my mask while eating, so I could eat, but in buses and MRT, I was told that I would be fined if I did not wear a mask.

I wondered if Taiwanese people would take off their masks, but on the express bus from Kending to Zuoying, a young man got on the bus with his mask off, so I thought "Oh, it's OK" and took off my mask too. After that, I stayed in Tainan and Taipei, but there were still not many people taking off their masks on trains and buses, and I felt that this situation was very similar to Japan.

About XTERRA TAIWAN

The course, starting point, and main venue have changed from 5 years ago.

Everything from the course to the main venue seems to have undergone a major renovation since last year, and the maximum distance has also been changed from 21km to 35km. The previous main venue was the "Salvation Army Kenting Youth Activity Center," which was easily accessible from the main street of Kenting, but this time it was changed to a ranch called "Kenting Shiyu Creek Farm.

It is not within walking distance, but it is about 2 km away from the center of Kenting, making it slightly less accessible, but this is not a problem because shuttle buses leave from the center. The road from the center to the venue is a walk along a road with no buildings or stores, and I saw one or two wild dogs there, so I would recommend taking the shuttle bus.

The day of the race

I participated in the 35 km TRAIL Marathon category. The weather was cloudy and sometimes sunny, with a high temperature of 30 degrees. Humidity was high. I heard that the weather in Taiwan is still better, but for me, coming from Japan where the morning temperature was 12~13 degrees Celsius and the daytime high was over 20 degrees Celsius, the weather was quite tough. The heat and humidity were particularly unbearable.

The race started at 6:00 am. It was cloudy at the starting point, so it did not feel extremely hot, but based on my experience, I knew that it would get very hot within an hour or two, so I decided to run in low gear throughout the race. This time, since it was just a sideshow, I decided to run while taking pictures with my recently purchased Osmo Action 3 without worrying about the record.

Cloudy at the beginning of the race

The first half of the race was warm but overcast the entire time, which made it relatively easy to run, which honestly helped since the XTERRA TAIWAN course was basically treeless and exposed to a lot of direct sunlight. If it had been a sunny day, we would have been in trouble....

The problem of the aid stations being located too far apart in the first half of the race

Five years ago, aid stations were located every 2 to 3 km, so I prepared my equipment accordingly. So, the day before the race, a bib was distributed with a chart of highs and lows printed on the back, and to my surprise, there was a 14km section from 14.7km to 28.4km with no aids. ・・・・ www.

I had only brought a 500ml bottle of soft flask from Japan, and I felt that 500ml was too much in these temperatures, so I decided to run with the original XTERRA bottle I received as a novelty in my backpack. However, there was a simple aid station around the 21km mark where you could refill only with water, so in the end, 500ml was fine, but when they handed me this bib, I was in a hurry. (I wish they had mentioned that there was an aid station at the 21km point where you could refuel with water...). But this section of the course was tough because the sun came out and we had to run in the sunshine, which was unfortunate.

As you can see from the course chart above, the cumulative elevation is about 1000m for a 35km race, so in a Japanese climate, it would have been almost a high-speed race, but it was hot in the southernmost part of Taiwan. If I had run in this climate with the same sensation as in Japan, I would have had a DNF for sure. I ran in low gear throughout the race and brought salt-thermal supplements and 2RUN with me so I could finish without cramps. Experience is the key to success in this race, and I felt that I have improved my pace control.

After the goal

I finished the race in 6 hours and 20 minutes. If the course had been the same as in Japan, I would have finished in the 5-hour range. That is what it means to run in a hot country. I felt again that this was a challenge.

Right after the finish, I was in no condition to eat, but I knew that food was free, so I went to get some and got this. It was rice flour stir-fried with mussels and seafood. The drink on the left is called "winter melon tea," a slightly sweet drink based on winter melon that is often seen in Taiwan.

Incidentally, I didn't take many still pictures with my iPhone this time, and mainly used the Osmo Action 3 to take videos, so I don't have many photos. I am currently editing a video that I am not very familiar with, but I plan to upload it somewhere soon.

To Kenting Night Market

After the race, we went to the Kenting night market. Many hotels are scattered along this night market, so as soon as we left our hotel, we immediately felt as if we were in a night market. Kending has many beaches, so you can enjoy the sea during the day and the night market at night. The city is very compact, and you can go anywhere on foot.

Prices at Kending night markets are resort prices, as it is a resort area. Compared to other night markets, it seems a bit expensive. Incidentally, grilled corn is priced at NT$130 (about 600 yen), which is quite expensive considering the prices in Taiwan, and NT$130 is the price you can afford to buy beef noodle in Taipei or other metropolitan areas, or a boxed lunch at a Taiwanese convenience store. However, the grilled corn in the photo above was superb. The kernels are firm, and the sweet and spicy sauce is so good. It is worth the NT$130.

Also, there was Donald Trump's Menchikatsu restaurant 5 years ago, and it is still going strong in April 2023, so I took a commemorative photo.

Summary

I enjoyed XTERRA TAIWAN and Kenting very much after 5 years. Putting aside the heat, I felt that it was an event that I could easily participate in. There was even a kids' race, so I felt it was a fun event for the whole family.

During the race, it was so hot that I regretted a bit, thinking, "Oh, I should have chosen the 21 km race," but I am glad I finished the race. I also ran into Mr. F, a Japanese trail runner who lives in Taipei for the first time in four or five years, at the venue, and it was nice to talk with him.

I made the mistake of taking a bullet train on the day I arrived in Taipei. Even though I have more physical strength than most people, I was tired after spending about 11 hours traveling from my home. I need to start thinking of travel as part of the race.

The XTERRA race was a sub, and my main focus was a work vacation in Tainan. I plan to write about my work vacation, so stay tuned!