Editorial Bit

In early July we drove part of the route of the Tour de France in Kent. It was time of surprising optimism. A year earlier the villages and towns along the route were full of people complaining how something very French was going to interrupt their very English quiet Sunday. Now, on the eve of the race, the place was incredibly vibrant. The English had suddenly become very French and adopted the race not as a flashing blur of speeding Lycra but as an excuse to reinvent a sense of long lost local identity. The media was full of stories of people who commuted to London and did not know people in their local community. The Tour had changed all that: planning committees sprung up all over Kent and the whole weekend was turned into one big party centered on a way of village life and community that many thought had gone for ever. For many people in Southern England Le Tour was undoubtedly a “good thing”. And then came the drug test results.

I still can’t make up my mind whether or not the expulsion of the guilty is a sign that the testers are finally getting the upper hand (the cynic in me says, temporarily) or whether it simply means we had a bunch of incredibly stupid athletes. What is clear however is that there is now a generation of clean younger riders coming through whom are determined to change the ways of the past. Perhaps the people of Kent were right to be optimistic after all.


New Events Bit:

While we’re on the subject of Le Tour the stage open to the public L’Etape du Tour has proved so popular that the organizers have added another stage to be called L’Etape de Legende. The idea is to select a classic stage from the past and use it for a fill day race. This year’s event will start in Strasbourg on September 23 and traces a stage from the 1967 tour.


At last it’s finally happening: yes Ironman China is now official. Four years after the event was first planned the inaugural race will take place on April 20. The original idea was to race at the Sanya end of Hainan Island but the new announcement has shifted the course to Haikou at the opposite end of Hainan. Entries will be open form August 3 on www.ironmanchina.com


A new Trailwalker will take place in Belgium next year. No website details yet but the race will be on August 30.

For many years Yiannis Kouros dominated the Melbourne-Sydney race. In recent years the race has disappeared from the calendar but there are now plans for an event in 2009 that will not just go from Melbourne to Sydney but extend on to Brisbane. The race will be limited to 15 runners and is expected to take 44 days. More details as I get them.


A new and potentially very fast race is set for Hong Kong on 2 December when Disneyland hosts the first UNICEF half marathon and 10k. The area has been a long time favourite of cyclists putting in miles for long races and the same reasons (i.e. it’s flat and fast) augur well for some good times. The course has been designed by Keith Noyes, who also ran Boston this year. He is clearly showing some signs of a midlife crisis having never been seen before anywhere near a road race.


The first ever marathon in Bhutan takes place on November 22, see www.209events.com


Singapore’s ladies seem to have got them themselves pretty well organized. There is a ladies only 10k run on October 21 but even more impressive is the women’s only triathlon on September 23. What’s impressive is the way they got themselves a whole slew of sponsors, take a look at www.triladies.com and if you are a man you can simply admire they have got a spa to sponsor them!


Quiz time: how many of you were aware that Hong Kong is hosting a leg of the world wide City Chase series on September 15 with a trip to Rome twelve days later for the winners? Answer: not me for sure. Details are in scant supply on www.citychase.com

Recent Results Bit:

Briton Lucy Brooks surprised more than a few men by her second place finish in the Gobi March, especially as she was less than 3 minutes away from winning overall.

Fellow Briton Martin Ilott set the fastest unsupported time for a Trans America run recently. He took 71.27 days at an average of 46 miles a day. His website, www.runxusa.com has a slightly different time but the record time is corrected for time zone changes. Despite pushing a baby stroller (that’s how he was supported) Martin’s time was 10th fastest ever.

At the recent Adventure Racing World Championships just five teams finished the full course. The debate on this has been long and extensive: on the one hand are those who argue that for a world event the course must be exacting and if teams can’t finish it then that’s hard luck. The other side of the argument is that for the sport to grow it has to be about racing hard against other teams in a way that is attractive to both media and sponsors (and perhaps even spectators). There are pros and cons on both sides but ultimately I’m of the view that if we go too far down the path of exclusivity and develop courses that only a few teams can finish the sport simply won’t attract enough sponsors to go forward.

Brazilian legend Valmir Nunes recently became the first man to break 24 hours at Badwater. His time of 22.51 is truly astonishing particularly as Nunes has faded somewhat from the top echelons of ultra running in recent years.

Modesty stands in the way of congratulating the Hong Kong team that beat everyone bar four Gurkha teams at Trailwalker UK and in so doing, broke the Mixed Team record. Let’s just say that my wife is very happy being the fastest ever woman on the course.

Calendar Update:

Liberal use of beta translation software has enabled me to update the calendar with more Korean and Japanese races. Automatic translation is an easy target for a weak joke or two but some of the translations really do make ordinary races sound much more attractive. I’ll let you find out for yourselves.

The North Face company has been increasingly involved with adventure racing and trail running. Their latest sponsorship is of a series of four races in the US covering Washington DC, Des Moines, Hartford and Seattle. Racers can choose one of four distances: 10k, 21k, 50k or 50 miles. The winners of the qualifying events will compete in the final in San Francisco on December 1 for US$10,000 prize money. Details at www.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge

If you have never raced in the Kanchanaburi region of Thailand you have missed out on a truly wonderful place. You can rectify this omission in your life by entering next year’s River Kwai Trophy race on March 1.

The event is sponsored by North Face who is also hosting another adventure race in Thailand on November 17, details can be found by clicking on the link in the calendar.

Action Asia returns with a series of off road duathlons beginning on September 8 along with the traditional Hong Kong adventure race on December 15.

The next Primal Quest has been announced for June 21 next year: no details yet on exact location

Over the last few years a series of races have been taking place aimed firmly at corporations. Whilst they have been marketed very much as a way of developing company team work they are unashamedly adventure races. The races have tended to have different sponsors in different countries: Microsoft and Cisco have both been involved. This year the series has retained the individual sponsors of each race but have grouped them together under the Intelligent Sport World Series. Hong Kong will host a race for the first time when 50 teams will compete in the SmarTone-Vodaphone HK Challenge on October 25. Details can be found at www.asia-challenge.com and hopefully some of you will work for companies who are not in the middle of final budgets that week!

Other Random Bits:

For super cool (and expensive) cycling gear have a peak at www.rapha.cc The magazine looks a bit cool too.


Reality television shows may be an excuse for cheap programming and more often than not, poor quality TV. One new show however is looking for genuine adventurers: no silly games, no knockout by public vote, simply a group of people who are prepared to survive the winter in the Alaskan Wilderness. You can apply here www.thealaskaexperiment.com


A few months ago I plugged a triathlon DVD called What It Takes. The makers of the movie are back again with a film of the 2007 US Cross Country Championships. You can find out more at www.showdownrace.com


I received a free introductory magazine the other day. It was a typical Asian review type mag that was destined for the bin until I saw the photos of a fairly spectacular ski resort in the Tian Shan Mountains. Even more surprising was the photo of adventure racer Billy Mattison who now apparently lives there overseeing the launch of the resort with a view to creating a rival to Colorado. The ski area is called Ping Tian.


Is it my imagination or have some of the pre Trailwalker events in Hong Kong quietly dropped their requirement to raise money for charity? The fund raising success of Trailwalker has spawned a series of events designed to bring competitors up to race fitness but for a time the “fitness” seemed more financial than physical.

A new magazine has appeared on newsstands around the region, Asia Runner has been put together by some of the people who receive this list and they kindly asked permission to repeat some of my ramblings in the initial edition. More details can be found at www.asiarunner.com

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Standard Chartered have stepped in with increased prize money for this month’s Ironman Korea in Jeju: let’s hope everyone actually gets to swim this year.


In Memoriam:


The adventure racing community in Singapore and Malaysia is mourning the death of Ian Ng from dengue fever. Ian put an enormous amount of effort into developing the sport and was heavily involved with the Sabah Adventure Challenge where he was manager of the SART teams. He will be missed.