In Motion Asia: Outdoor Adventures in Taiwan and Asia

Sept 2011 - Clive Saffery Sept ARA

 

September ARA news & update from ultra-runner Clive Saffery

Editorial Bit:
Is it just me or has the level of innovation in adventure racing disappeared? Of course technology continues to improve footwear and clothing and we’ve made enormous advances in nutrition. When I look at the matt black carbon stealth fighter of a bike my wife will ride at next week’s Ironman 70.3 World Championships or at Brad Wiggins using electric gear shifting during the current Vuelta it’s clear that bike technology is racing ahead but I’m thinking about true innovation. The sort of innovation that comes from closely reading the race rules and then working out what is specifically not forbidden and then going out and building it. We invented tow systems this way, we invented kites to make our kayaks go faster and the Kiwis in particular were superb at using a few bits of wire to create almost anything. It seems to me that somehow we need to bring back the thinking into our sport and create events where a bit of brain power and innovation plays a greater role than mere technology. After all isn’t it meant to be an adventure?

I haven’t had a rant for a while indulge me while I pick on a couple of easy subjects. Firstly, as always in pride of place, the Hong Kong government. A byzantine organization with zero interest in streamlining itself it seems entirely populated by people who have never seen the outside world: they certainly haven’t seen the inside of a country park. To make things worse it’s an organization that constantly rotates people into different jobs without any good handovers leaving poor race directors scratching their heads when it comes to getting permits. Any adventure race in Hong Kong has to apply for permits months earlier that was necessary even a couple of years ago: the people making the decisions are constantly changing, they have no idea about sport and if you’d have better luck applying for a licence for an all night Al Queda rave party than you would get a permit for a mountain bike section in a race. As one race director said to me last week, “it’s getting so bad I might as well put on an expedition length race, at least it would be worth the effort”. Sounds like a good idea to me, perhaps I shouldn’t criticize the government after all.

So let me instead turn my attention to those sad looking souls in St John’s ambulance uniforms who turn up at races supposedly to provide medical assistance. Yes, they are well meaning and yes they are volunteers but why can’t their team leader actually give some thought to what might actually happen during the race. I watched a girl collapse last week during a run. We got her to the medics quickly but as usual they had no cold towels and no ice (she was suffering from the heat) and didn’t even turn her on her side when she started to froth at the mouth. It’s a problem that could be solved in five minutes: all that’s needed is for any of us to give the medical team the list of medical gear we take with us for a long event. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the St John’s people to change (and they probably won’t notice that if I did I’d be dead).

News Bit:

• The Hong Kong Splash’n’Dash races have been postponed. We’re all with you Neddy x
• Hans Dieter Weisshaar’s website is proclaiming Han’s Last Great Race on Earth for 15 December 2015. Surely the German legend is not giving up? I’m targeting 6 May 2017 for my last great race: the 50th anniversary of my first ultra on the same day as Manchester United were winning the league at West Ham which led to the European Cup win a year later. Both events have seen me addicted to travelling the world watching United and racing, both have given me a few all night sessions and both will be impossible to actually give up.
• Just occasionally comes a story so brilliant that I have to include it here. So many congratulations to Wan Qing Liang for his outstanding performance in the annual cross Pearl River swimming race in Guangzhou. Remarkably he finished second in the 800m event despite being unable to swim two weeks beforehand. The winner paid him a worthy tribute, “You deserve to be our role model for succeeding in mastering swimming skills in such a short time”. So who is Wan Qing Liang? He happens to be the Mayor of Guangzhou. And the winner? Er… that happens to be the Mayor’s boss, the Guangdong party secretary Zhang Guang Ning. As a no doubt breathless policeman said after the race, “I found myself surpassed by secretary Zhang and Mayor Wan and was left far behind, although I led at the beginning”. The even more breathless, Gu Guang Ping, an official with China Southern Power Grid said, “To me an 800 metre swim means nothing. But I was short of breath when I tried to catch up with secretary Zhang today”. I sincerely hope such shortness of breath was caused by laughing because, to quote the Mayor, “without the help of flotation materials I would not have been able to make it”. A professor at the local university rather spoiled the story but daring to suggest that the event was choreographed, “This truly reflects an undesirable custom in Chinese officialdom for hundreds of years, in which lower ranking officials will spare no efforts to avoid stealing the limelight from their superiors, even in a game”. Next they will be trying to tell me that good old chairman Mao didn’t swim the length of the Yangtze every morning before breakfast.
• Step forward 14 year old David Simpiri who won the inaugural Amazing Maasai Ultra, the first ultra to take place in Kenya. The prime aim of the event (organized by two enterprising young ladies in Shanghai) was to raise funds for secondary school scholarships for Massai girls but no doubt some of them may now be distracted by young David who, as a result of his win, now owns a cow. Pretty prestigious in Kenya.
• Some justifiably good words for Hong Kong’s Charlie Riding in David Millar’s excellent new biography. Equally good was Millar’s lunchtime interview with the Financial Times just two weeks before Le Tour. No hermit like existence here: a beer, a couple of bottles of good white and a dessert wine proving conclusively that you can take the boy out of Hong Kong but not Hong Kong out of the boy.
• As Kevin Lin (and Chinese runner Bai Bin) closes in on the finish of his epic Silk Road run (on September 16 in Xian, 10,000k after he left Istanbul) news reaches me of an attempt to run round the entire coast of New Zealand. Dharbhasana Lynn sets off in November on a route that will cover 5300k.
• Although I spend most of every week in China I find it very difficult to get advance information on adventure races. Latest example is the 137k Danxia Taining National Mountainous Championships which took place in Fujian over four days on 2 August.
• Martin Strel, the Slovenian who famously swam the Amazon has set up a holiday company for those of you who wish to swim very long distances www.strelswimming.com I swim like the proverbial brick but even I’m tempted by the 7 day trip round the Croatian Islands (and so are a few others as all of them are sold out for this year).
• Should you find yourself in Barcelona and feel a compelling urge to wander round the industrial area near the airport make sure you go to one of the most wonderful bike shops in the world www.pave.cc Beautifully designed and great people too. Nearer home it looks as if a similar shop is about to open in Taipei check out www.inmotionasia.com
• Kilian Jornet finally got his Western States win. It’s always difficult to compare times across years given that some years have snow (like this year) and sometimes it’s plain running all the way but the first four men were all under 16 hours and within 21 minutes of each other. He also won UMTB last week much as expected but, as the French say, chapeau, to Hong Kong’s Claire Price for being the second woman at UMTB’s CCC race. An incredible and much deserved result.

Calendar Bit:

• Next year’s Hong Kong 100k has been fixed for 18 February www.hk100-ultra.com
• Also in Hong Kong some fun new ideas from www.xtechallenge.com including a two stage mountain run covering Hong Kong’s ten highest peaks. The two stages are 4 December and 15 January.
• A new bike race I only noticed lately www.hauteroute.org/en/ a mere 730k stage ride from Geneva to Nice. You may notice there are some bumps along the way.
• More and more new events coming from Mike Maddess with the promise of a Bhutan event next year www.actionasiaevents.com
• New event for Easter next year in Northern England, the 147 mile non stop Viking Way ultra www.vikingwayultra.com
• The inaugural Asia Pacific Ironman championships will take place on 25 March in Melbourne.
• Staying Down Under, The Track will again be run in 2012, 520k stage ultra on 10 May and the organizers have also added a 250k event in India set for January www.canal-aventure.com
• Although several people on this list have attempted the Bob Graham Round on England’s Lake District there is a need for a challenge for the, let’s say mature athlete. So if you have reached your half century in life you can have a go at this http://www.gofar.eclipse.co.uk/jossnaylorlc.html
• Staying in England a hundred miler has been set up as part of the Olympic legacy project, it’s a walk but many will run www.ldwa.org.uk/2012hundred
• A new 100 mile race in Utah’s stunning Zion National Park next May www.zio100.wordpress.com
• Let’s talk dragons. You can chase them in Indonesia in the 4 day stage adventure race Ultimate Indo-Chasing The Dragon on 10 March www.ultimateadventureraces.com or you can climb its back in Wales. In September next year, 20 years after the one and only legendary running of the race The Dragon’s Back in back: 220 miles, 50,000 feet of ascent in five days of tortuous running. So get signing up now, places are limited and vetted.
• The North Face 100k series extends to Thailand in February www.thenorthfacethailand.com
• A new ultra next year along Hadrian’s Wall in England (hopefully with the built in option to hurl abuse at the skirt wearing savages on the northern side) www.thewallrun.com
• The Rock’n’Roll series is now up to 25 races and has gone global.
• The Coastal Trail series in the UK has expanded to 7 races and added an ultra distance to each event www.endurancelife.com
  
  As usual the calendar has been updated primarily for the next three months, I will get a bit further ahead next time as they are less races to update during the winter.
  
  Until the next time, train hard and race smart.
  
  ARA Calendar Sep 1