The Magnificent Merapoh Trail (TMMT 2019) - The Final Edition

We had visited Merapoh twice for The Magnificent Merapoh Trail (TMMT). Our first visit was in 2016 upon the invitation from the organiser to join their route recce. The second visit was in 2017 when we took photos along the route during the race that year.

There were no plan to join TMMT 2019 initially because Son is sitting for his SPM this year and we had told the organiser so.

But then, seeing that 2019 is the final series for TMMT, Hubby and I somehow decided to both join the event and our entries were courtesy of The Running Project.

We opted to join the 35K category and unfortunately, never really got the chance to train for it. Our last trail was our hike in Kurume in May and none at all in Malaysia. 

I am only training for an upcoming 10K so doing TMMT is actually a huge diversion from any training that I am doing right now. But we did it anyway to support the event, but fully knowing our limitations.

We drove to Merapoh on Friday and arrived shortly after 1pm.

After collecting our race kit, we stayed in the hall for the mandatory race briefing at 4pm then it was to Gua Musang to check-in to our hotel.

It was raining heavily that night and even on race morning. A friend had asked whether we intend to still run in the race. For me, there was never a question of not running it, unless the organiser had called-off the race.

We parked our car in front of Merapoh Train station and headed to the race site just across the road. The organiser had provided breakfasts for all of us - boiled eggs, sandwiches and even hot drinks but I wasn't in the mood to eat anything. I already drank something at the hotel before we head out and I had hoped it would suffice.

The 35K Starting Line was not the same as 70K and 100K categories and we were transported to the race site using shuttle transportation.

For us, we board this lorry. Hahaha, baru rasa macam buruh kasar, kan?

Some used the 4WD.

This one pretty special, though. Hehehe

Due to the downpour, the race route had to be diverted for safety measure. The organiser informed me that the 35K route was affected for about 10K. For the 70K & 100K, 40% of their route was affected as the river that was part of their initial route was dangerous to cross.

Also, due to the heavy downpour, the 35K category was flagged-off later at 8.15am.

I was feeling a bit hungry while waiting for the (delayed) flag-off, and the Ribena pastilles that I brought along wasn't really helping so finally I nibbled on my N8 Real Energy Bar. Just a tiny nibble and it helped!

Early on, with our lack (or non-existent) training, we decided to walk the whole route. With that in mind, we started last, way at the back.

In a hindsight, it probably would've been better if we started in the middle pack as there were long waiting times to climb up to the first cave and cross the river section.

We reached the first cave just 700m into the run, barely enough distance to have a gap between runners.

From here, it was a 40 minutes wait before we get to climb up the cave.

It was very slippery and with many runners passing the route earlier, the section was, as we call it "trek barai". Thankfully, a male runner helped pull me up when I slipped.

Less than 1K into the run and already so comot!

From here, it was a short respite of dirt road before we enter another mud-fest section of "tanah merah" road. It was hard to walk let alone run.

We then reached the river section and saw a long, slow moving queue.

Spent about an hour here to wait to cross the river. Bumped into a few familiar faces here so we just joked around while waiting for our turn.

The first 9K was excruciatingly slow and it was hard to gauge our route as we couldn't rely on the route map that was printed on our bib. The elevation was totally different so we couldn't really guess what's coming up too.

We reached the first checkpoint (CP) and water station (WS) at around KM11 (my watch). Topped up our drinks, ate some langsat and another nibble of the N8 Real Energy Bar that I had earlier.

From the first CP, we entered kampung road so we managed to pick up speed, but we still maintained our walk-only plan.

A group of kampung kids on bicycles offered us mangosteens and I took some. In exchange, I offered them lollipops that I brought along that I had intended to share with village kids there.

We arrived the second WS just as the Zohor azan was heard. A surau was located right opposite the WS, making it easy for Muslim runners to perform their prayers there.

That's how much N8 Real Energy Bar I needed at each stop.

We stopped here and took longer stop time. Topped up our drinks but didn't eat anything at the WS. 35K only la, need to eat so much for what?

From here, we needed to continue another 5K before making a u-turn back to the same WS.

I bumped into many runners who did 35K, 70K & 100K at this point and decided to take some photos.

While we realized there is the 10-hours COT for 35K (which is mighty generous already), we didn't really feel the need to be pressured. Suffer for what, seriously? Hahaha

Hubby and I had agreed earlier to just enjoy the run and we did! It has been such a long time we did a trail run together. I think the last one was King of Kemensah trail way back in 2015 as part of the sweeper team.

Incidentally, Hubby played the "unofficial" sweeper role again at TMMT. He kept urging other runners to keep in front of him and not let him pass them, telling them he was the sweeper.

He helped other (female) runners too, by showing where to step/put their feet safely at small river crossings or at slippery route. Which was what he had done during the 2017's PSP King of Forest too! So helpful one, this fella. *snort*

After the u-turn and reaching the same WS again, we took photo at this railway track.

We had a photo taken at this railway track in 2016 too! Hehe

We had thought  we were the last batch of runners but somehow we managed to pass a number of them as we crossed this railway track. 

It should be another 8K from this point and for the next 5K it was mainly on tarmac and gravel.

Reaching the third and last CP at KM33, we were told that we had only 3K to go. Despite being slow and fatigue setting in (we never really had a high mileage training to prepare), we still had another hour to reach the finish line.

So we drank some 100-Plus and I ate some mangosteens before we continued with our walk.

But as they said, never trust what anyone said in trail. "Sikit saja", "dah nak habis dah", "kat atas tu je", "last uphill", "kat depan tu je"... never trust any of that. LOL

We bumped into another group of kids plucking rambutans and again, they offered us fruits. I ate some and offered my stash of lollipops to them. A fellow runner passed his Gardenia chocolate bun to the kids.

From here we passed by a pond and I heard runners behind me remarking that we're almost there. By now, my watch had clocked in 35K.

But judging the route, I know we were nowhere near the finish line yet. Hahaha

And true enough, the organisers served us with a nice long hill to tackle. As we finally reached the peak, a female runner asked whether we still have enough time. With only 20 minutes to go, we told her to rush as there wasn't enough time to meet the 10-hour COT already.

For us, we decided there that it'd be no fun to rush and try to meet the COT and suffer needlessly so we just took it easy. Hubby had experienced calf pain by this time, although he still could walk faster than I did.

At the final peak, with a nice almost 360 degrees of Merapoh, we bumped into a photographer friend of ours and took photos there. Can't wait to see the photos, Fadil! Sorry lah, forgot to selfie with you. 

From that section, we needed to climb down using the stairs/drain before continuing on tarmac for another 1K or so.

As expected, we arrived the finish line after the COT and had our bib snipped off. Although there was still a bit of disappointment of not meeting the COT, we were also happy that we completed the route and persevered until the end. And we did it together and I even managed to take photos of friends who ran in the race.

Despite not getting a medal or a finisher tee, we didn't view joining the race as a waste or the DNF something to be really sad of. We knew and realised our limitations. Siapa nak bagi 38K if we didn't enter this race? 

Should we want to join a trail race again and not only meet the COT but have a good timing - there is only one thing to do: TRAIN FOR IT.

Otherwise, we're just happy to be plodding along, meet friends, take photos and enjoy a day of fresh air with other runners.

Finally, congratulations to all finishers of TMMT 2019! You're GREAT! Anda memang HEBAT!

For those who didn't manage to meet the COT or couldn't finish the race, good job too. Keep up the spirit of perseverance and see you in another race. We shouldn't give up just because of one tiny fall.

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