Yang Ming Shan Ultra Marathon 2018

This race is held in Taipei, Yang Ming Shan by the Chinese Taipei Association of Ultrarunners, the race categories are set as 5K, 10K, 20K and 42.195K.  There are also longer ultra races 50km and 66km.  The one I took part is full marathon of 42.195km, to speak the truth this is more like a hilly road race than a trail.

Registration

The registration starts online and can be found in the official website, there is also early bird price for the registration. For overseas runners, you can collect the bib, time chip and souvenir wind breaker at the counter on the race day itself.  To speak the truth, I kind of like this boutique race, there are not too many people crowding to disturb as they limit the amount of people that can sign up for the race.

Be sure that you have secured your time chip on the shoes as this is the only evidence that you ran this race.

Race Route

Starting from Zhi Shan Secondary school’s special hall, the start and end point are all inside a building, this is good for a cold winter’s day.  For the FM, we flag off at 6am, then it is all the way up to the Yang Ming Shan area.  The weather is cold during this period.  Most runners wore the wind breaker for the run, making it very useful for all.  Although the organiser informed us to bring our own cups for water breaks, there were some paper cups available.  The organiser is also very kind to have hot ginger tea towards the end of the race.  The water points are well equipped with good food too. This is really helpful for those who are scared of cold weather.

There were road marshallers along the way but towards the mountain roads, the bicycles, other vehicles are allowed so you have to be careful yourself especially at the bends to prevent getting into accidents.

For the FM, there was only one turning point, and after that it is the same route back to the Zhishan Secondary School.

Finishing

I did not take much pictures for this race because I was trying to go for a good timing, unfortunately not taking into consideration of the hills and slopes.  I did not end with the timing that I had expected to achieve, however, I am glad that I managed to finish it at least in a decent timing.  The ending was in the hall itself.  There were noodle soup for finishers for FM and above, others get a box of bread which I feel is decent enough.  There were also hydration, water and some isotonic.  Every finisher will get to pose with the finishing banner and the time clock.  There is also an environmentally friendly wooden made finisher medal for all.  I was lucky to come in as the first in the women’s category, something which I did not expect.  Maybe there were not that many women to begin with.

Was actually quite surprised to see many pictures being posted for free for runners, this is really a perks for the activity.

Conclusion

Taiwan is a good choice for races in the sense that the organisation is fairly well planned.  By far my experience here had always been good and organisers always try to put themselves into the shoes of the runners and rewards are also generous.   Will be looking forward to more races in Taiwan.