Salomon Suunto X Trail 17k – Taiwan race

RAIN. RAIN. RAIN = Slippery Wet Muddy Run

Garmin Statistics

This weekend in Taiwan was all about being wet and muddy. This is my first trail running race where more than 80% were trails. Taiwan trail featured at Zhi Nan Temple with me falling a lot. I stopped counting after 10 falls... It's single track featuring lots of roots making it a difficult but interesting race. Although I've yet mastered the stamina to run up 500m hill without stopping. I was surprised to see over 430 participants for both the 9k and 16.5k

Split Time +Elevation -Elevation Temp



1 0:05:10 81 0 73F
A nonstop shoot up the steep road. I tested this out before the beginning of the race and was pooped by the time I hit the toilets... So, I went a little slower and was able to pass a few people. No dips on the elevation either. Most of it is paved before a major turn into the mountain. The 9K's went left and the 17K's went right.











2 0:06:09 53 15 73F

First fall was when my right leg slid off the ledge. Very close call. The second fall was when I slid face first - and I'm not playing baseball! I stopped counting after 10 falls.










3 0:05:23 61 13 73F
4 0:10:12 130 14 79F
Tiring steps going up; even had to hold ropes to climb at times.

5 0:14:07 96 12 77F
6 0:11:47 67 71 77F
Finally made it to the top. Once you are in position, it's hard for runners to pass you unless you give way. Luckily, I wasn't passed by too many runners. And at times, I felt I was alone running (no one in 50m front or back)










7 0:11:51 15 126 77F
Downhill required much technical ability. At one time I had to go backwards.

8 0:09:56 55 12 75F

There was a part of this trail where I felt I was skiing down the mud.

9 0:11:14 20 83 75F
10 0:08:20 13 98 75F
11 0:08:35 18 128 77F
Another part was overgrown and I almost felt I had to bushwhack my way through; although, the front runners probably already did that for me.


12 0:06:05 9 73 79F
13 0:07:27 21 70 79F
14 0:07:16 50 37 79F
15 0:07:42 47 14 79F
As I was getting close, the weather opened up and I was able to view Taipei 101

16 0:07:18 51 14 79F
17 0:01:36 10 17 79F
A Carlsburg with my name on it was waiting for me at the end of the race.

16.3k 2:20:16 795 795

After cleaning up, a guy that I met in HK for marathon training and his friend were chatting with 6x World Trail mountain champion New Zealander Jonathan Wyatt for 15-20 minutes asking him all sorts of crazy running questions!








Official Race Results: 25th place out of 221
http://www.actionasiaevents.com/attachments/087_Overall%20Results%20with%20cp%20splits%2017km%20TAIWAN%20SSXT%20jun%205%202010.pdf
1 Fu-Cai Chen 01:41:14 1 17km MEN 40-49
2 Jonathan Wyatt 01:44:50 1 17km MEN 30-39
3 EAGLE You-Jia Wu 01:46:00 2 17km MEN 40-49

...
25 Joel LaBelle 02:20:20 16 17km MEN 30-39
...
221 Ming-Hua Chao 05:15:01 25 17km MEN 50-59