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Monday 12 September 2005

Report Bukit Larut Off-Trail 2005

The Worst Run Event of The Year

Bukit Larut Off-Trail 2005 (BLOT). Thru my 2005 running calendar, It was my worst running experience. Not because my performance or tough route but the event organizing. Semua peserta reached finish line marah, some of them slam the table, koyak cert, koyak baju.. maki hamun jgn cerita laaa.. but will story detail later.

I know this story dah basi and dah larut seminggu, but actually i was very upset and disappointed in BLOT. Gantung my shoes for 5 days. No mood to run. hehee.. but sebenarnya aku rendam kasut tu dlm baldi for 3 days. 4th day basuh. 5th day baru kering. 3 days aku rendam kasut. If i know bad organizing of BLOT - Baik aku buat training run.

Paid RM30 - Mahai tuuuh. Register KL Int. Marathon lagi murah
Apa yang dpt - nothing.. except the cert.. - pi ambik sendiri.. bertimbun dlm kotak
No t'shirt..
Medal - Jgn mimpi laa.. if half-way, top 10. At the end belum tentu lagi. Sesat, ditipu and etc.
Lari macam nak gila - Gila, cari jalan. Buatnya sesat dlm hutan bukit larut. Sapa nak tanggung? Sendirik laaaa.. dah sign dlm borang.

Okay.. cerita pasai map for Open Category.
Start at Dataran Kedamaian, Taiping Lake Garden.



Start -> Check Point 1 (CP)1
Flat road. About 2-3km. Passing MRSM. Get into Bukit Larut entrance.
- 1st Water station

CP1 - CP2
Start climbing bukit larut. Between 2-3km. Luckily there were alot of akar pokok to step on or to crawl.

CP2 - CP3
Between 1km. Running and hiking
- 2nd Water station

CP3 - CP4
Running down the hill. About 3-4km. After that run on flat road to CP4 between 1-2km.

CP4-Taiping water fall/Batu Hampaq
3-4km flat road. Passing kubur perwira/askar until Burmese Pool.

Batu Hampaq / Taiping water fall - CP5
Run thru river. Probably 0.5-1.5km. Then run thru kampung houses to Sek Tunas Bakti until across Lake Garden road.

CP5-Finish line
Flat and hilly road thru Lake Garden jogging path. 2km

On schedule run start at 7:30am. But waiting for VIP, senam-robik and etc.. flag-off @ 8:30am. Nasib baik ada 2 cheer-leaders performance and a heavily rain before subuh. Sejuk hati and cuaca.





Orang angkat berat!

Five Young Cannibals





At starting line

Hedilee pun ada jugak.. He got 5th

Open category flag-off

Zul?.. i don't know what he is doing

Women category flag-off

Startup pun dah kelam-kabut whether Open or LMS (Larut, Matang and Selama Category) or mix to flag-off.

Start run to CP1 with moderate pace, sometimes speed-up abit try to catch-up with front group. 1km before reach CP1, elite group for LMS - potong. Mostly indian runners. CP1 @ kaki Bukit Larut, first water station - Wah! good la.. 3km sudah provide bottles of mineral water - Not taken, thought want to climb, don't want to bring heavy stuff.

CP1 - CP2
Really tough for me. Never train panjat bukit. Half-way climbing, i was crawl. Reaching & grab tree roots to pull-up. Alot of Open runners potong sayur at this part. More than i potong on running before. Stop and take a deep breath more than 10 times - i guess. Looked at other runners - cehh.. rileks ajer depa panjat. Aku dah setengah mampus. Until one stage i nearly fell-down to back, could not grab roots and can't control my body stability. I was decide to quit, my head was spining, peluh meleleh lebih dari lari, pinggang macam nak patah, then heard a shout..
"Tak jauh! another 200metre!"

Ohh! Thanks! your shout really boost to continue climb.
..and finally reach CP2. Got 2 marshal. Pick-up drinking water - Pheeww!!

CP2 - CP3
Walked about half-way to CP3 and then start runining after finish a bottle of water.
Between CP2 and CP3, LMS category need to run down and Open, continue run on tar road to CP3.

CP3 - CP4
At CP3, we direct to run down the hill. Heard some LMS runners shouted unsatisfied to marshal, i don't know why..
The route was very wet. No tree root to step on. Lot of dried leaves and slippery track left by early runners and the heavily rain adding more slippery.

At quarter-way, i was shock to meet-up with LMS category those try to climbing-up. Aikk?! How come? They should follow start climbing up with us at CP1 until CP2 then run down between CP2 & CP3. Then i remember situation at CP3.

A few minutes after, i meet-up again with LMS and Open runners they run and climb back to CP3.
"Mana ada jalan!"
"Ini tipu punya kerja.."
Said LMS and Open runners
Aku mati akai.. ikut depa naik or terus lari turun.
"Gila nak naik balik"
Said to myself and continue run down. Masa tu ada 3 org runner dgn aku. Depa pun decide lari turun.. so aku follow.

3 of us know, we already lost. Tak ade laluan or track bekas org lari turun. In-fact 3 of us create new track. Jatuh berguling, luka berdarah, kena duri, jatuh terduduk, tersungkoq jangan cerita laa.. We're lost!. Just depend on shouts with other runners who could listen ours'
"WHHOOOUUUU"
"whuooooo.."
sayup dengar balik - hope not an echo.

Then left me alone - Cilaka! mana depa ni..
Luckily i meet-up with an army i guess run for Open category
"Bang, orang sini ka?"
"Ya"
"Bang familiar bukit ni ka?"
"Selalu dok training turun bukit ni"
"Cam tu, saya ikut abang lah!.. saya tak tau langsung jalan ni"
"Takpa.. kita ikut tanda cat merah kat batang pokok"


Punya la laju abang tu lari. ..sup ..sap ..sup ..sap - hilang!
Hantu betul. Tinggal aku sorang tengah hutan.

Aku follow cat tanda merah. Then came a indian behind,
"Betul ka jalan ni?"
"Saya pun tak tau.. kalau rasa betul ikut lah"

Dia potong dan sama jugak ..sup ..sap ..sup ..sap - hilang!
Mangkaq betul!

Suddenly datang abang army dari belakang aku..
"Whoih!! abang pi mana?.."
"Aku sesat laahhh.."

...his betul ka abang ni..

This time aku betul2 follow dia, takut hilang. And finally we able to get down and jumpa jalan tar.
- huh! nasib baik aku tak sesat!.

Kali ni, got advantage lari on tar road to CP4. Potong abang army and another guy in Open. Passing CP4, which located at t junction to Bukit Larut entrance.

CP4 - Taiping water fall/Batu hampaq
A flat road, potong alot of runners... mostly LMS category. Open - don't know sama ada depa sesat or i was left behind.

Taiping waterfall/Batu Hampaq - CP5
Here, can't remember what disciplines we need to do. I just remember there was a river, explained during briefing before aerobic exercise. The marshals didn't inform us what to do, just direct us a path along the river. Actually runners need to run thru river to CP5 - Hey! Don’t blame runners to remember all those disciplines we need to do. We’re struggling focus on the run. Marshal should inform us or put a signboard / message to runners.

Running along the river.. and end at school fence..
Cehh! Sekolah Bakti ke ni... patut cross sungai baru jumpa..
Run inside the school, thru school field, class rooms... and end at small fence door which direct us to cross the river. There no running track or trail left by earlier runners. Was puzzle for 3-4 mins. Thinking to cross the river or run thru main gate of the school. Thinking... asking others runners.. same answers..
"Mana tau..", "Hantam ajer lah"

- School guard was upset because we run inside school compound without any notice. But he unlock a small door for us.
"Encik.. kami pun tak tau.. sama ada jalan ni betul ke tak.."
That time, there were more that 20 runners.. still puzzle where to head to.

Cross the river and wash my shoes too... and got one lady mandi berkemban.. lari balik rumah - Malu kot kitaorg lalu depan dia. And inside kampung houses.. got a marshal waiting..
"Weeyyy apa buat macam ni... apa tanda pun tak dak.. menyusahkan org"
Shouted to marshal

CP5 - Finish line
At CP5, collect a 5th rubber-band which were used to tight nasi bungkus. And here.. banyak plak marshal tunggu.. Dalam hutan reti plak, takut nak tunggu.. tah2 ada org sesat tak boleh keluaq.

Cross Lake Garden road head to jogging path inside. As far i could see no Open category - so slow jog until finish line... At finish line, pick my cert and walk to rozie..
"Depa tipu.. "
Gloookkk, gooouukkk - Minum isotonik drinks x 2 botoi..


Finish line

Runners yang tak puashati and protes

A few meter to finish line


Medal yg kurang quality. Tali pakai simpul


Kasut ni dah cuci kat sungai tadi

Gaduh position 1-2 women. Tak puashati.

Kalau tak aku no. 3.. tapi depa punya pasai dapat no 28. Apa raaa..

Penyokong Perak

Geramnyer aku...

End of Part 1/2

6 Comments:
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  • Cerita kau ni boleh jadi klasik horror story for a badly organised race

    By Blogger krunner, at 12:41 pm  

  • Hiss.. aku serik dah dgn event yg tak tau asal usul. Betul2 pekena org. Langsung x respek runners yg dtg memeriahkan suasana..

    By Blogger aharis, at 1:51 pm  

  • fooyuuh.. panjang seh cerita.. very funny.. i like the peta, best.. hehehe..macam treasure map, ehehehe

    By Blogger ViXen, at 5:32 pm  

  • macam kat race Gopeng la...the organiser masa briefing said this:

    "you might not know who i am, but trust me, i've done adventure races before"

    masa dengar tuh pun dah gerun, lebih lebih lagi masa kita tanya pasal water station and CP, he gave us the wrong number numerous time...

    the race was a disaster, just a way for the local council to songlap some cash...and oh ya, cert could be obtained from the box, isi nama sendiri etc...i got my parents one set as welll!!!!

    By Blogger TriStupe, at 1:40 pm  

  • Peta cantek yee..
    On sleeping pun i boleh draw a very nice peta than that heheee..

    By Blogger aharis, at 3:56 pm  

  • Stupe,
    Think, if perak govt campur tangan mmg hancus run event. Just like IIR and yr Gopeng extreme.

    And consultant pun 2x5.

    If perak events.. must be selective sikit. Unless annually event like KRI.

    Going for UPSI Eco-Challenge?

    By Blogger aharis, at 4:02 pm  

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