D'nonce Hiking Challenge - A struggle but sweet nonetheless ! :)

I hardly hike up the hills although Bukit Jambul is just a 5mins drive from my house.. So it was not a surprise that I struggled all the way during the D’nonce Hiking Challenge this morning !! Hahaaa… This is my second actual hike in >1 year.. so you can imagine the hardship I went through.. Anyway, I signed up for the fun of it and hiking up via the moongate would be fun and the last time I went up there was during my high school time – the annual Hiking Competition, which I hated most !

I was at the Youth Park early at 6am, a bit kiasu because of limited car park space and true enough, I only had the last row to park before the whole place is filled with cars. Met some familiar faces like the i-Run regulars, PS Lim, Evelyn, James Boo, Saad etc.. The race was supposed to start at 7am but was somehow delayed until 7:10am. Even the run direction at starting point was a bit confusing – whether run towards the car park, or the other way round to Jesselton Heights. The first km was a run (or rather sprint) towards the moongate and that’s almost exactly 1km. Once we hit the ascend up the hill, it became apparent that over-taking is almost impossible although some brave souls actually pushed through, for better placing I guess. The first 1+km are all stony steps. Upon reaching station 5 (the usual tea drinker gathering place), we went further higher… this time more muddy and jungle treks. Some section even had to be supported by holding on to ropes. The whole route resembles a trail-run and obstacles race (avoiding branches, fallen tree trunks etc).

The run was supposed to be a 1km run + 4km hike up and ended with a 4km hike down with the peak being at Cendana. Well, I didn’t know exactly when we hit Cendana as I was dead tired walking, climbing and some jogging along flat lands. The downhill was faster but not necessary easier as I was trying to avoid the slippery treks, no thanks to the heavy downpour 24 hrs earlier.. Well, I was thinking to myself.. Had it rained that Sunday morning, the whole trek would have turned into small pools of water ! My right knee hurt a bit as I was <1km before the finishing point. Both my foot also went through so many twist and turns from the uneven treks. We shall see if they ache by tomorrow morning.. All in all, it took me 1:42 to finish the race. It wasn’t a 9.5km route as my Garmin showed only 7.6km although I suspect that the way a GPS watch works, the incline and decline would be considered a straight line and not tangen, hence that could explain the huge difference in the distance. But who cares. Got my medal (for finishing within 3hrs qualifying time)… and I hope to be back next year with better timing, though the route would have changed by then too.. Now, a month’s of no race, except hard training, before the Sundown 21k on 5/27 !!



The running vest & bib - 1437 for Men's Open



Finisher medal back

Finisher medal front



Me and Evelyn at the end of race



Finishing Point