Author: Sean
Race: Ultra
Country: Malaysia, Iskandar
Distance (according to Garmin): 51.38km
Elevation (according to Garmin): 845m
Terrain: Dirt roads, jungle trails, road and muddy streams.
Race Rating: 3.7/5
As I’ll regularly tell anyone who’ll listen, I am not a runner, I don’t like running further than 10km or longer than an hour, I hate running with a pack and prefer to be in nothing more than short shorts and a pair of shoes. So you may be asking why I decided a 50km+ OCR was a good race for me to try, you may be asking why I thought doing 2 Ultra’s in the space of 4 weeks was a good idea, you might even be asking why I’ve dedicated myself to a heavily running based sport despite my distaste for what it entails.
Please don’t mistake my dislike of running for a shared feeling in obstacle course racing. I love OCR, the grind, the unknown, the training and the grit needed to complete these races all excite me still at every event. So the reason I choose to do this specific Ultra was to test if I could stretch that excitement to include something so far out of my comfort zone. The short answer is no. I had fun doing this race and the first thing I said when I crossed the finish line and the only answer I’ll give to the question ‘will you do another?’ is: never again.
This is all to do with me however, and not the actual race. We were told we wouldn’t be receiving a map prior to race day so you can imagine my surprise when I opened Instagram on Thursday evening and staring back at me was a full map for the Saturday’s race. The terrain, elevation and obstacles listed all seemed to suit me and after a quick chat about my strategy with Jessie I went to bed ready for the challenge. We stayed at an ‘AirB&B’ about 20 minutes from the race site as I had to arrive at around 5am to check in for my 6:30 start time. Getting a grab to the site was easy and thankfully Spartan Race Malaysia has given clear drop off instructions to repeat to the driver.
Upon arrival we were informed start times had been delayed by half an hour, not unusual for Spartan but a little annoying as 30minutes extra sleep in the morning is always a bonus. The next piece of information given is that, due to poor weather in the week leading up to the event, some of the obstacles would be missing from course. We weren’t told which obstacles but I allowed myself to hope my current nemesis obstacles Stairway 2.0 and Olympus (that steeper set up and slippery material are killing me) were the ones missing, and all my beloved heavy carries and drags would be in the race to slow some runners down. I went and collected my bib and dropped off my transition box and was glad to be greeted by some friendly faces working transition. This all went seamlessly and the guys and girls in the transition tent were thorough and professional which gave good vibes for the rest of the team working the race that day.
After a brief warm up and lots of chatting to fellow Spartans, 7am rolled around and I headed for the start line to be told we’d have another short delay. at 7.15 we finally entered the flag off zone and got ready to race. We were then informed which obstacles would be missing and let’s just say there were a lot of happy faces from the lighter runners. We’d lost Armer, Tyrolean Traverse, Memory Wall, Stairway 2.0, Z-Wall, Plate Drag and the Atlas Carry. For those keeping score, that meant 1 obstacle I hate vs 7 of my favourites were gone before we even started. I quickly realised this was going to be a running race and so gave up hopes of a top 5 finish and focussed on my self imposed 7 hour time cap (we actually had 12 hours to finish but I wanted to be done way before that).
With the usual chorus of Aroo’s and a larger than average crowd to send us on our way, we began. The first KM was a slight uphill with a few Low Walls and Hurdles just to break the run slightly. These were no problem and my first watch buzz sounded at 5:15, a pace way above where I had planned to be in an Ultra. I eased off and settled into my more comfortable running pace as I headed towards the first water station at about 1.5km in. From here we headed into the jungle briefly before emerging onto a grass bank. With only 6 people ahead of me at this point the thick, high grass was hard to run through and really got the legs burning early.
After a long run we reached the first muddy crossing. Being a taller guy i tried to jump the gap and keep my feet dry, however my back foot landed in the mud and in an attempt to pull it free as fast as possible I ended up losing a shoe and found myself clambering into the mud to retrieve my missing footwear. After putting a now very wet muddy sock back into a fully saturated shoe there was a short run to a steep climb and the 8ft Wall. After the wall I grabbed a cup of isotonic drink from the next water station, took an energy gel and headed off on to the Ultra only loop. This was a nice 4km mix of roads, grass banks, dried out river beds and a long steep climb that required hands and knees scrambling to get up. There was also a second water crossing but no shoe drama this time. There were no obstacles on the Ultra loop which was one of my biggest disappointments of the day. I want to do something extra on an Ultra, not just run more than everyone else. We rejoined the regular Beast course on another stretch of long flat dirt road and headed toward our next water stop, which brings me to complaint number 2: there was 9km’s for Ultra races without any aid stations, I understand not having one on the 4km Ultra loop but having such a massive gap between stops isn’t ideal.
More running followed, with a brief break from the hot sun to take us into some jungle, which although the under foot terrain was the same, was at least a bit shaded and pleasant too view. Finally arriving at another set of obstacles I quickly scaled Inverted Wall and 7ft Wall and was back to running. Knowing I was close to the first real obstacle gauntlet of the day filled me with joy, I felt strong and full of energy and ready to get through burpee free. I ran into Twister and grabbed my first handhold took my weight and felt great. I moved so fast I missed a handhold and punched myself in the eye dropping off the obstacle and heading to the burpee pit. This was just a hit to my pride and a silly mistake that I didn’t allow to bother me. I got on with my burpees, ran the 10m to Monkey Bars and powered my way across effortlessly, ran to the Vertical Cargo, scaled it and headed for my true Spartan love, the Bucket Carry. What a letdown this was. Less than 150m out and back a basically flat path, barely enough time to even feel the bucket let alone make any time up on the racers who don’t love carries as much as me. After Bucket came Olympus where a referee told me I wasn’t allowed to use the step to start the obstacle. Despite knowing this was wrong, I listened and without the ability to get high on the wall failed at the halfway point. These burpees were mostly expected so I got through them and headed on to Spear Throw, selected a spear that was already stuck deep in it target and set myself up to throw.
A straight solid throw down the middle let me head off and marked the end of any possible burpees this lap, which at only 17/25km felt good. Bender was around the next corner, another obstacle which at this point is just an inconvenience for me rather than an issue. Half a KM in the distance I could see a pile of sandbags and what looked like a steep hill and tough terrain for our second carry of the loop. Sadly I was mistaken. While slightly more challenging than Bucket Brigade, it was still a short carry and easy to do in a quick unbroken stroll. The next 10km was dull. We were run across flat dusty trail, did a single barbed wire crawl and then a brief jog in the jungle leading to a large water crossing. I jumped in and feeling how deep the mud on the bottom was, opted to swim my way across and save my legs. I made time on several racers in the water and climbed out ahead of them. Soaked through but grateful for the cooling effect of the swim, I ran towards the multi-rig. I love a rig, and am always just a little saddened when its just 8 rings with no variety (I’m debating heading a ‘make multi-rigs multi again’ campaign for 2020) but pleased I’d be through it without a hitch. The last km of loop 1 involved a ran and climb up a crowded A-Frame (Open Beast and Super racers were on course by this point) then a sprint to Hercules Hoist. One of my specialty obstacles, I hoisted the bag the full 20ft and lowered it back to the ground like it weighed nothing. I quickly scaled the Rope Climb and ran up to Slip Wall as Jessie shouted from the sidelines to tell me I was 10th place Elite (this was a slight miscalculation, I was 6th) and that if I wanted my lap leaders bib I had to hustle. I made it to transition in 3:19 , 11 minutes ahead of schedule.
A few things went wrong in transition. Someone had moved my bin and put their own belongings on top of it so it took a while to find. I was then unable to eat my midway nutrition and got a bit flustered so took longer than I should to swap hydration bladders and refill my pack with gels and salt tabs. After just under 15minutes I downed some isotonic’s and headed out at a jog for lap 2, slightly off pace but nothing some faster runs couldn’t negate. I won’t bore you with the details of the first 13km of lap 2, everything was very much the same as lap 1 but more lonely and a whole lot hotter. I reached Kilometre 38 ahead of schedule, having made up lost time on some nice fast flats and making quicker water stops than in lap 1, using my own hydration more often. As I headed towards Twister for the second time, I was smiling, Jessie & Lucy were waiting nearby to cheer me on and my body felt great (other than a slight niggle in my right hip which had set on about 25km previously) I was ready to seek vengeance on my nemesis from the previous lap. I had a private debate about putting on my gloves to protect my hands at this point and decided against it in favour of a better connection with the bar. This would prove to be a big mistake. The first 2 sections of Twister went smoothly (the picture you saw earlier is from the first half of this obstacle in lap 2) then I found myself facing the wrong way on the final bar. Undeterred, I switched to a hand to hand sideways technique which is fine but far from my favourite. On the final grips as I was reaching for the bell my hand slipped, causing me to miss the bell and signalling the beginning of my downfall.
My hand, after being cleaned but before cutting away the skin flaps.
The exact moment I slip on Twister and attempt to swing for the bell.
Glancing down I saw I’d badly ripped the skin on my hand and fingers, as I watched all the tears filled with blood and I realised just how deep they went. I quickly made the call to stuff my hand into my glove and deal with the damage after the race. I was pretty gutted and a lot of the steam left me at this point. I battled through the 30 burpees, using my fingertips on my right hand to avoid putting extra weight on the damaged skin then headed to Monkey Bars. This is where I realised I was in trouble. I took a grip of the bar and before putting any weight onto my hand knew I had no chance of making it across. I managed 2 bars before dropping to the ground and heading for more burpees. This is where I broke. Realising how many obstacles I had left that required 2 working hands and calculating the number of burpees in my future, I was ready to quit. Thankfully Jessie and Lucy wouldn’t let me stop here and helped me make it through the slowest most painful 30 burpees I’ve ever had to do, the first 10 done using just my elbow instead of my right hand. I was very vocal about quitting here, I was angry at myself for not putting my gloves on, angry at my body for letting me down and angry that 1 second had ruined 38km+ of enjoyable racing.
But, I finished them and climbed Vertical Cargo using one hand, locking my elbow through the rigging when I needed extra stability. As I grabbed the bucket for the second time I realised it was more than just my hand giving out. My heart rate was through the roof, I felt sick the whole carry and for the first time ever was grateful it was short and easy. I made the call not to attempt Olympus and just touched and headed straight for burpees. It took a long time to do these 30, I cried a bit, tried to quit again and ended up coming to the decision that my first DNF would come if I missed my spear. I headed over, went to the same spear as lap 1, picked it up and balanced it in the palm of my hand. Unable to grip properly I had little hope for nailing it and was halfway home in my head before letting fly and sending the most perfect spear I’ve ever thrown to the dead centre of the target. With a little renewed hope I headed off with Jessie walking beside me along the outskirts of the course. Bender proved tricky but doable using a similar one hand, one elbow technique to the Vertical Cargo and while my body was rebelling I continued on. Unable to take any nutrition or water on for the next 10km made Sandbag hard, Barbed Wire crawl slow and the general time trudging under the hot sun on a dirt road torturous. Thankfully, when I finally hit the water crossing at the 50km mark and managed to get my body temperature down, I felt better. This allowed me to have a gel and some water and I continued to the Multi-rig and what I felt certain was another set of burpees.
I decided to commit to the rings despite the pain and move as fast as I could to see if I could make it across to the bell and save myself some energy. I’m still unsure how I made it, but I did. The pain in my hand was washed away by a wave of relief that I only had a maximum 60 burpees to go and I’d be done. At this point, Joelle and Lester joined Jessie in my entourage and walked beside me to the A-Frame. Thankfully the netting was tight and I was able to walk up using just my good hand for balance. As I headed down the other side I saw some flashes of lightening (Jessie tells me they’d been visible for a while at this point but this was when I noticed them) and realised if I didn’t finish soon I risked being pulled off course due to weather conditions. This gave me the strength needed to run to Hercules Hoist. By this point the group around me had grown and I knew I’d finish if I could manage at least one of the next two obstacles. Herc Hoist was my best bet and after several gruelling minutes of one handed pulls and a lot of tricky feet movements the bag reached its apex and I was able to lower it back to the ground safely.
Not how I’d usually tackle a Herc Hoist, but it got the job done.
Rope climb was a no-go as soon as I touched it. I realised I didn’t have the energy in my arm or legs to make it to the top and so headed for 30 burpees. I managed to smile my way through these knowing I’d basically finished my second Ultra, surrounded by my friends and with a new idea of what grit really meant. Slip Wall was a bigger deal than it should have been but I just bit my lip and grabbed the rope until i was over the top. Running the final 50m’s jumping the fire and hugging Jessie will stick with me forever as one of my favourite memories, despite how horrific I’d felt for the last few hours. My total time on course ended up being 8:36, my second loop taking 5 hours, more than 90 minutes slower than planned. This time will be a constant disappointment to me and a reminder that I quit on myself when I should’ve pushed on.
Overall it was a race day/weekend I enjoyed, marred by a small injury, the always amazing Spartan community were out in force which makes for a great time at any event. The route was well laid out and would (with a full obstacle load) probably have been the best course of my year. I missed the obstacles that weren’t around and stick by my decision to never run another Ultra. Short fast races like a Stadion, Sprint or Super are my focus for all of 2020 with a Beast being a possibility if needed for the SEA series. So as we head into 2020 I’m excited for shorter runs, intense track session, and going hard in the gym to prepare for my chosen races.
If you’ve got any questions about Ultra’s, training or anything else then drop a comment below or message me on Instagram.