It started when the announcement for the Ultimate Trail of Penang (UToP) 100km came up in September 2018. The event was going to take place on 12th October 2019, it was my birthday so it was hard not to remember the date of the what could be known as the toughest 100km trail in Malaysia at that time. I was really waiting for the registration date to open at that time and when it did, there was no hesitation.
But the trouble does not start there, it start when Team Pacat announces their toughest yet 100km trail, The Great Malaya Trail (TGMT). Initially, this event was supposed to be 2 weeks before UToP, I was tempted to try both even though two weeks was a short recovery period, but I should be able to do it. Then for some reason, the organizer decided to move TGMT one week after UToP... With UToP being so tough, I initially decided to let TGMT go...
Month passes and during these times, there was no thought of going to TGMT. What changes my mind? It started when my friend told me, I still too early to think about going fast in long-distance events, maybe I should slow down and focus on maintaining a strong pace and form first. These led me to go for my first back to back event. Plus by accidentally registering for Rinjani Ultra, this will be sort of a good test to see where I am.
As I left with one more week to UToP, I started to carb load and sleep early in preparation for the races. Diet isn't much difference but usually, I will take in more carb food. Also making sure I get at least 7-8hours of sleep everyday. (Though this isn't much as I heard some even sleep more than 9 hours..) Didn't do a lot of training anymore during this week and basically just rest it out for the event.
October 11, one day before UToP. After collecting our race pack kit, we ate our dinner and went to bed as soon as possible as the event starts the next day at 4.00am. For this event, I wasn't stressed out or worry, it was more like excitement as I finally get to do a race with an elevation gain of more than 5,500m. (In Malaysia, the only event that has that much elevation gain is in Sabah...)
October 12, 4:00am. Weather was cooling and everyone gather at the starting line like school kids waiting for the alarm bell to ring!
ULTIMATE TRAIL OF PENANG:
Ultimate Trail of Penang, 100km @ 6000m Elevation Gain or I would like to call it, Trans-Penang hike was not easy. One of the toughest 100km which does make TMBT 100km looks much more relaxing.
During the first 2km, everyone was already running as if we were running some short distance event... The first climb was not too bad, in fact I started overtaking as hiking tends to be my forte. After that, it was the first big hike, Bendera Hill up to Old Crag Hotel. During this climb, I was still on point and doing ok.
Then... I trip of the tree root at 15km which leads to cramps but manageable. It did spoil the race a bit as on and off, the cramp come. But I guess it also cause I was wearing the knee guard which after I took off at 30km, the cramp issue lessen but every uphill from here, my leg will start to feel wobbly but thank God for the medic at Pantai Kerechut, at least it made my climb up to Bukit Batu Hitam less hellish (still wanna cry though...)
At 49km, the thought of DNF, as always, lurks very closely as I burn a lot of time here and COT was very close now, I decided to push it off and just focus on the next cp instead of the whole race. Thankfully at 53km onward, it was mostly road and COT was much more plentiful for us to gain back...
After 22km of mostly road, we manage to gain back at least 3 hours from the COT and we took 30minutes to sleep here. Then midnight came together with the bitchy Laksamana and Tiger Hill... Luckily Min Fung was there (though we were pacing together since 53km) and we go through the night with many tears and blood. Microsleep on the trail after every 50 steps, whining and cursing at the never-ending uphill...
Thank God the morning rises and we manage to pull through and reach the finish line without to many problems! Heck, we were even running some of the downhill which really motivates us!
BETWEEN THE ONE WEEK:
After all of that, I was having a lot of doubts about the next event. Yes, I did finish UTOP without a lot of problems and it seems I should be able to recover for TGMT, but with the next event being much more wilder and raining season were at its peak, you can see why I very scare.
After that, I heard there were 3 of my friends doing TGMT also after UTOP (1 of them (Solo Soew) were UTOP100 and the other two (JW & SY) were top podiumer for UTOP). I was finally able to convince myself to go on and just take the event as a long hiking trip and training. If I have to DNF, then let it be...
THE GREAT MALAYA TRAIL:
TGMT was initially a 100km full raw trail event but due to landslide which fully blocked a part of the trail, it was reduced to 80km, though the Elevation Gain remains almost the same at 6000m...
Now when you thought UTOP is tough, TGMT is another kind of monster and since it was raining a lot beforehand, the trail was slippery and you are mostly on your own. Unlike MMTF which had ropes, here you use your fingers to climb...
I split TGMT into 3 sections to make it look less scary:
- Trans-Repin 24km @ 1500m EG
- Trans-Lentang Legong 25km @ 2000m EG
- Trans-Reverse Nuang 33km @ 2500m EG
The first 15km, the trail is mostly runnable but tend to get slippery. As if UTOP people were running fast, at TGMT everyone was like running as if they are running a half marathon but the COT looks much tighter than UTOP, it normal...
The road to Pondok Repin which is the first CP wasn't much of a problem and wasn't technical (it was all ATV off-road), I just had to calm myself down as quite a few runners were overtaking even at the uphill climb. But after Pondok Repin, this is where the real monster of TGMT truly comes alive. Already at 15km we were slipping and sliding trying to climb up to Puncak Repin.
After Repin, it was your typical jungle trail downhill all the way to Janda Baik... First stage of the event done and also the CP2, Trans-Repin took 5hrs40mins here... I eat a lot here as the next CP, CP3 is flipping 25km away with plentiful of EG...
This is also where Trans-Lentang Legong starts... Thing were actually ok from Janda Baik all the way to Puncak Repin but of course, trails are as technical as usual. The trail to Puncak Lentang Legong wasn't too bad as I recalled. I still took a while though as the trail was not runnable at all...
After reaching Puncak Lentang Legong, thing starts turning to hell very fast. Almost every downhill, I start using my butt to slide and every uphill you encounter, after climbing 2 steps up and grab the wrong tree roots, you going to drop 6 steps... And then it rains, making the place even more slippery and the weather was starting to get very cold from the wind...
The trail between Puncak Repin and Puncak Nuang was 10km and this 10km is the most hellish part of TGMT, took me 6 hours just to complete this route...
After reaching Nuang for the first time, it your typical trail down to Pangsoon trailhead, Hulu Langat (CP3). Trans-Lentang Lengong took me 11hrs30mins here... Rested and refueled an hour here and surprisingly not being too sleepy, I get ready for the last stage...
It was then the start of the last stage, Trans-Reverse-Nuang... Started the climb back up to Nuang at 1:00am, the dark and scary Nuang jungle was luckily being softened by my "pacer" Suparman. As we only had 8 hours to reach Nuang trailhead at Janda Baik, we push together all the way to Puncak Nuang under 4 hours... After eating some food here, we push again all the way to Nuang Trailhead at Janda Baik under 3 hours...
24hrs50mins at 7:50am, we reached Janda Baik (CP4 @ 65km) and there was the last section to go. With the sun shining bright, the trail was at least getting better and from here and knowing I had 11 hours to go, I started to just chill and finish the race without injury.
There wasn't much drama from here onward as I took it as a typical hiking trip and rested 5 minutes at every campsite all the way until the finish line!
CONCLUSION:
Both trails are tough and definitely make TMBT look easy. As there is a saying:
"There a saying where if they are your best friend, bring them to #TMBT. If they are your best enemy, bring them to #UTOP. If you want to lose your friend, bring them to #TGMT."
Coming from a hiker background and a runner wannabe, TGMT was definitely less mentally tiring for me surprisingly but it is definitely tougher than UTOP for me.
UTOP is more like a running event and the longest CP is 12km so one can actually not carry food and rely solely on CP food but for TGMT, you are going to be drinking river water and with the longest CP is 25km, you better bring some food for the trip, it more like a hiking event where you are mostly on your own and you have to learn to be self-sufficient in the jungle,,,
Ultimate Trail of Penang, 100km @ 6000m Elevation Gain or I would like to call it, Trans-Penang hike was not easy. One of the toughest 100km which does make TMBT 100km looks much more relaxing.
During the first 2km, everyone was already running as if we were running some short distance event... The first climb was not too bad, in fact I started overtaking as hiking tends to be my forte. After that, it was the first big hike, Bendera Hill up to Old Crag Hotel. During this climb, I was still on point and doing ok.
Then... I trip of the tree root at 15km which leads to cramps but manageable. It did spoil the race a bit as on and off, the cramp come. But I guess it also cause I was wearing the knee guard which after I took off at 30km, the cramp issue lessen but every uphill from here, my leg will start to feel wobbly but thank God for the medic at Pantai Kerechut, at least it made my climb up to Bukit Batu Hitam less hellish (still wanna cry though...)
At 49km, the thought of DNF, as always, lurks very closely as I burn a lot of time here and COT was very close now, I decided to push it off and just focus on the next cp instead of the whole race. Thankfully at 53km onward, it was mostly road and COT was much more plentiful for us to gain back...
After 22km of mostly road, we manage to gain back at least 3 hours from the COT and we took 30minutes to sleep here. Then midnight came together with the bitchy Laksamana and Tiger Hill... Luckily Min Fung was there (though we were pacing together since 53km) and we go through the night with many tears and blood. Microsleep on the trail after every 50 steps, whining and cursing at the never-ending uphill...
Thank God the morning rises and we manage to pull through and reach the finish line without to many problems! Heck, we were even running some of the downhill which really motivates us!
BETWEEN THE ONE WEEK:
After all of that, I was having a lot of doubts about the next event. Yes, I did finish UTOP without a lot of problems and it seems I should be able to recover for TGMT, but with the next event being much more wilder and raining season were at its peak, you can see why I very scare.
After that, I heard there were 3 of my friends doing TGMT also after UTOP (1 of them (Solo Soew) were UTOP100 and the other two (JW & SY) were top podiumer for UTOP). I was finally able to convince myself to go on and just take the event as a long hiking trip and training. If I have to DNF, then let it be...
THE GREAT MALAYA TRAIL:
TGMT was initially a 100km full raw trail event but due to landslide which fully blocked a part of the trail, it was reduced to 80km, though the Elevation Gain remains almost the same at 6000m...
Now when you thought UTOP is tough, TGMT is another kind of monster and since it was raining a lot beforehand, the trail was slippery and you are mostly on your own. Unlike MMTF which had ropes, here you use your fingers to climb...
I split TGMT into 3 sections to make it look less scary:
- Trans-Repin 24km @ 1500m EG
- Trans-Lentang Legong 25km @ 2000m EG
- Trans-Reverse Nuang 33km @ 2500m EG
The first 15km, the trail is mostly runnable but tend to get slippery. As if UTOP people were running fast, at TGMT everyone was like running as if they are running a half marathon but the COT looks much tighter than UTOP, it normal...
The road to Pondok Repin which is the first CP wasn't much of a problem and wasn't technical (it was all ATV off-road), I just had to calm myself down as quite a few runners were overtaking even at the uphill climb. But after Pondok Repin, this is where the real monster of TGMT truly comes alive. Already at 15km we were slipping and sliding trying to climb up to Puncak Repin.
After Repin, it was your typical jungle trail downhill all the way to Janda Baik... First stage of the event done and also the CP2, Trans-Repin took 5hrs40mins here... I eat a lot here as the next CP, CP3 is flipping 25km away with plentiful of EG...
This is also where Trans-Lentang Legong starts... Thing were actually ok from Janda Baik all the way to Puncak Repin but of course, trails are as technical as usual. The trail to Puncak Lentang Legong wasn't too bad as I recalled. I still took a while though as the trail was not runnable at all...
After reaching Puncak Lentang Legong, thing starts turning to hell very fast. Almost every downhill, I start using my butt to slide and every uphill you encounter, after climbing 2 steps up and grab the wrong tree roots, you going to drop 6 steps... And then it rains, making the place even more slippery and the weather was starting to get very cold from the wind...
The trail between Puncak Repin and Puncak Nuang was 10km and this 10km is the most hellish part of TGMT, took me 6 hours just to complete this route...
After reaching Nuang for the first time, it your typical trail down to Pangsoon trailhead, Hulu Langat (CP3). Trans-Lentang Lengong took me 11hrs30mins here... Rested and refueled an hour here and surprisingly not being too sleepy, I get ready for the last stage...
It was then the start of the last stage, Trans-Reverse-Nuang... Started the climb back up to Nuang at 1:00am, the dark and scary Nuang jungle was luckily being softened by my "pacer" Suparman. As we only had 8 hours to reach Nuang trailhead at Janda Baik, we push together all the way to Puncak Nuang under 4 hours... After eating some food here, we push again all the way to Nuang Trailhead at Janda Baik under 3 hours...
24hrs50mins at 7:50am, we reached Janda Baik (CP4 @ 65km) and there was the last section to go. With the sun shining bright, the trail was at least getting better and from here and knowing I had 11 hours to go, I started to just chill and finish the race without injury.
There wasn't much drama from here onward as I took it as a typical hiking trip and rested 5 minutes at every campsite all the way until the finish line!
CONCLUSION:
Both trails are tough and definitely make TMBT look easy. As there is a saying:
"There a saying where if they are your best friend, bring them to #TMBT. If they are your best enemy, bring them to #UTOP. If you want to lose your friend, bring them to #TGMT."
Coming from a hiker background and a runner wannabe, TGMT was definitely less mentally tiring for me surprisingly but it is definitely tougher than UTOP for me.
UTOP is more like a running event and the longest CP is 12km so one can actually not carry food and rely solely on CP food but for TGMT, you are going to be drinking river water and with the longest CP is 25km, you better bring some food for the trip, it more like a hiking event where you are mostly on your own and you have to learn to be self-sufficient in the jungle,,,
