An eChat with the legend behind TMBT: Mr. Aman Avtar S.Sandhu
The following is a question and answer adaptation of the detailed reply that I received from Aman, after sending him the draft of my The Most Beautiful Thing (TMBT) Race Review for comment.
I had heard many good things, from some of the top trail runners here in Malaysia, about the man behind the growth of Trail and Ultra Trail running in Sabah, and indeed, the whole of Malaysia as others strove to achieve his high standards. In a very short amount of time I can fully understand why he has gained the respect, and gratitude of so many trail runners here in Malaysia.
A genuine man in love with an idea of building his vision of our sport to the highest of levels.
Penned by Aman back in 2009, of the Sabah Adventure Challenge: Over the years, people keep asking me: WHY do people come to Borneo to subject themselves to the sort of torture and pain they do for three days under the hot Borneo sun? A sense of adventure perhaps? A longing to discover? Over three days, participants subject themselves to the most difficult conditions imaginable from dawn to dusk (and beyond in some cases past midnight!) with the hope of finishing a pretty tough race to begin with.... They are obviously, somebody-special.
I concur, somebody special. Dedicated to pass on his sense of adventure to anyone who was prepared to put themselves on the line for that rush of Adrenalin, but, more so to pass it on in as safe and rewarding way as he could, adventure that was infectious.
Q. Thanks for your time, so, how are things.
A. Finally home after trying to get home since yesterday late evening. Missed my home, bed and dogs for the past 2 and a half weeks I have been away helping out with the TMBT.
Q. How and why did TMBT come about in the first place.
A. When we founded the TMBT back in 2011, it was after organizing the old Sabah Adventure Challenge since 1999. A lot of year's trying to make ends meet year to year without a sponsor and without any cash support but we did it because at the end of the day, what started out as a weekend of competition amongst friends became a passion and something we enjoyed putting together year to year and having people fly out to do the race and to not only enjoy the experience but to see a side of Sabah, very few would otherwise get to see.
With the TMBT, I had always loved cross country running since my boarding school days in Singapore in the early eighties. I was fortunate to have an English boarding house master who religiously took me and a small group of 11-year old's to McRitchie Reservoir in an old VW van at five am to run. He didn't force us to do it but made sure we were in the van at 5 every Saturday morning without fail and I never asked him, why he picked me.
I recently tried getting in touch with him, knowing he must be well into his 90's but his son had informed me his father was not well and it was not a good idea to meet up then. It's sad. I wanted, after 33 years, to thank him for putting me on this path and for being a very, very good father figure to me as a young boy, living away from home and with a diverse mix of characters and individuals in that boarding school.
I wanted TMBT to be the experience runners never got to experience and for that experience to be something to take home and to remember. Never mind if you did not finish or were unable to meet the cut off times. But what was important to me was that people tried their very best to finish. And got to enjoy what we have, for over 18 years, enjoyed in Borneo and especially around the Mount Kinabalu area.
Amazing trails. Amazing views. And a peek into the day to day lives of the Dusun villagers and mountain guides who work on the mountain itself.
Q. Has TMBT been a profitable venture.
A. It was never about money or profits because the vision at the time did not look past the first or second year’s of the race. It was breaking even and trying to put together a very complex race or a very complex race course with a very complex logistics set up. When TMBT grew into what it is now, I actually offered to step back and to resign from organizing the race because I was just mentally and physically drained from carrying the load and the pressures that came with looking after 1000-1200 runners on that type of race course. It is now part of a fully fledged event company, Borneo Ultra Trails Sdn Bhd. Everything is above board, and the company has a board of director’s, and has now recruited full time staff, a spanking new office. It is heading in the right direction with the right people who understand what TMBT is all about. I do have a little bit of an involvement in that I do give my opinion on some matters when it is asked and they will learn from mistakes made and learn very fast I know because they are most importantly, passionate and it makes a world of difference when you have people willing to put in so much effort into the race. The work load alone for organizing TMBT is something very very few people can or will ever understand.
Q. Do you see yourself continuing in your roll with TMBT.
A. I have worked very well with a very small team. A team I passed the baton onto last October with the intention of walking away completely from race organizing with BUTM 2016 being my last commitment to the new company that was formed at my retirement. I had been admitted into hospital three years in a row after each TMBT race from the pressures and stress of organizing the race
As much as I would like to have, I could not leave them on their own and not help. It would have been unfair on them after years of their help and support to me, also, because I wanted to ensure runners who did the course came away safe and sound. My commitments have been reduced and I can now focus on my day job and then come out to help just before the event and contribute in whatever manner I can to help. I provide some assistance in direction and guidance but for the most part, they run the show now and I am more than happy to let them do so. It has been a successful transition.
The pressures you have on you in the weeks leading up to the race till the end of the race is something will ever experience as a race director. You literally, have people's lives on your hands and you need to make logical, sensible decisions in the route planning, the logistics, the manpower, the search and rescue options and then to hope the weather is good and people get through the race course safe and sound. The responsibilities are massive.
Someone recently asked me after TMBT 2016 if organizing the TMBT was as complicated as potentially organizing a road marathon. I think, looking at the responsibilities, the size of such races but the fact it’s all on roads and in a generally controlled environment, it is a totally different animal from organizing a major ultra-trail in a mountain area. A totally different set of problems and issues, but, I think, in all honesty, relatively easy to do if I were to switch roles now.
Runners can have access to medical teams on the entire race course. You are able to re-direct runners who fail to make cut off times to a pit stop. You can have one central start area and finish area. You can close roads and block traffic to ensure a controlled route that is safe. Good or bad weather, thunder and lightning aside, the race can carry on. You don’t need to worry about ferrying 800 runners across Sabah to a remote starting point in a little village in the middle of nowhere. You don’t have to worry about landslides, raging rivers, damaged hanging bridges, lost runners….. Road marathons, in my opinion, aren’t as difficult to organize as a direct comparison.
I will carry on helping as long as I can without letting it affect my day job and my home life. Over the past 5 years, I have literally, spent 5 months out of the 12 months per year at home with the rest being spent in hotels travelling for work and for our events. It has taken a toll.
There is also the pressure from the authorities, who, after two years of consecutive deaths in and around the Mountain during the earthquake and then the recent death of Max during his Mount Kinabalu Climbathon training session is also something that was be taken into account. Everybody wants a safe race course but you are at the mercy of mother nature whenever you step out of your house or on to a trail or an ultra-trail marathon
Q. So what did you think of my race review?
A. I had a chance to read your review and I think what you have stated is quite fair. It's important for any person when documenting their experiences to give a fair and honest experience, something, sometimes, others don't because of many reasons.
If a mistake is made, it is better to admit it, rather than try to bullshit your way out of it or to divert blame. People are not stupid. Accept that you may have made a mistake in the decision making process and do your best the next time around to ensure things improve. It’s all about the experience pre-race, during the race and post-race. But you know, sometimes, the best made plans can fall apart, literally so you end up having to problem solve your way out of it. I think someone once said, plan for the best, but accept that the worst can happen.
Q. There were, what looked like, one or two organisational problems, firstly regarding the race kit collection. How do you view this?
A. What I would say is that the boo-boo over the race kit collections, something we pride ourselves on getting right year in-year out over the past 18 years went horribly wrong this year because I think we got a little bit slack and it was probably the easiest thing to do as far as the race is concerned: packing race kits into boxes and then depending on volunteers to pack the items without a supervisor monitoring the packing. We had a tried and tested system in place at Sutera with multiple rooms, all race kits and information desks at one location. We had done this for 3 years in a row (2 years at Sutera, 1 at the Hyatt) and changing the system and splitting the registration centres was, in hindsight, a bad idea, but logically speaking, should not have been a problem if you think about it. 200 runners have given you their bib numbers. You pack those 200 race kits. Easy, right?
It isn’t' when the process fails and mistakes are made and no double checks are made before the boxes are shipped.
I think the team have all agreed, let's go back to the old system and stick to it. It works. Its's easier to control. And people like it.
We can't allow this to happen again obviously but it caused a lot of unwanted stress, unwanted anger, disappointment and bewilderment I think not only amongst a small number of runners who were affected but also within the team: how on earth did this go wrong and how did we allow it to happen in the first place.
I have a lot of sympathy for runners who had informed us they wanted to collect their kits from Mega and Sutera but not a lot for those who tried their luck and had not bothered to inform us ahead of the race and made life incredibly difficult for everyone concerned.
Its never easy making decisions that affect runners, but it is very easy for people to criticize the decision makers over an in-correct shirt size, or the registration team, exhausted as they are after being overwhelmed and only able to take a short 30-minute lunch break, having been shouted at for long periods by local runners, etc etc. Some of this was totally unnecessary and escalated by a small number of local runners. But, these are the sorts of characters we are seeing now coming into the sport so we just have to make sure we do a better job next time and learn from this.
To be fair, it affected 100 runners out of 1200 runners but it was not a nice situation to have happen.
Q. Unfortunately there were several complaints surrounding the transport of participants to and from Kota Kinabalu?
A. One of the most challenging aspects of any race is moving 600-800 runners at 3.30am and 5.00am from Kota Kinabalu to the start line. This year, we had been warning people well in advance of the cut off times and even allowed it to be dragged up to the 15th, just two weeks before the event, which, traditionally, I never allow as I like to get thing wrapped up and organized well in advance of the race but for some reason, so many people had not gotten their buses organized, or they changed departure points which then caused problems because we then had to change bus configurations at literally the last minute and so forth.
It was something we never had happen before and with peak tourist season on now, getting the mini vans we usually use was very difficult, especially 30 mini vans that we needed as most were already booked and/or did not want to do the job as they preferred to do normal Kota Kinabalu to small town routes instead and then to go home at the end of the day and not sit and wait for runners to finish at ten or eleven pm.
It was unnecessary stress on the staff handling it as they literally had seven meetings within the space of seven days.
Next year, we stop all bus registrations a month before the race and will just send individuals wanting last minute mini bus rides to a tour company to handle.
I think the other issue is, some runners, simply either do not read email updates and/or do not bother checking the information board to check if there is any change to bus departure times or if there are any important updates they need to be aware of. They take these things for granted. Experienced runners don’t. It’s part of the learning curve.
Q. How can you see participants playing their part in improving things for the future?
A. The fact remains; a number of runners don't do their homework in the lead up to the race and/or don't plan or prepare well. Signing up for a race to some, means, literally, planning the logistics a few days before flying out, including booking hotels and it's not good but, that's the reality of it.
I get to read a lot of the emails the staff get each week and just view the contents of the emails and requests or questions posed. I try to answer a portion of the more complicated questions but generally leave most questions to be answered to the team.
I think the majority of runners were organized and were prepared but many were not. For example: A considerable number of participants who needed buses at, what I consider, the last minute got upset when we told them buses from the locations they wanted were already full and/or wanted changes because friends were on different buses and they demanded that they be put on buses with their friends (not a request but a full on YOU WILL MOVE ME OR ELSE!)
Sometimes, people need to be sensible and to just calm down and accept the situation as it is, and work around a problem. This, at times, missing from some individuals who think just because they have paid an entry fee, they are entitled to do, say or demand what they want and when they want. Sometimes you just have to say NO and put a stop to that. I have done it in the past and it has upset individuals but you cannot allow individuals to dictate to you how to organize the logistics and planning of the race. Think of the majority always.
Participants need to realise that last minute changes and demands only lead to problems. We need to be stronger and determine realistic cut of dates and stick to them.
Q. What did you think of the reaction to the race course?
A. I had the impression some of the 100k runners, mainly those who had done this race a few times already and are maybe a little bit bored and need a different challenge, felt the 100k route was too easy. After maybe doing Bromo or other more technical race courses, I can see why. Perhaps as these runners have done TMBT 2-3 times in the past, maybe it’s time for them to take on a new challenge rather than expect an established event to change?
I don't really like comparing race courses. Each is different and has its own challenges. And you know 50% of running is all about attitude and mental strength, 50% fitness/conditioning.
Mother nature reminded us what she can and will do on the day. It was an extremely difficult situation for many, I think because they were/are not used to that experience of having to crawl up and try to get to the finish line in muddy conditions. And for some, it was outside of the comfort zone they are used to because they have never been in that situation ever before and with temperatures being what they were and being tired, cold and hungry. I expect that very few have trained or been in situations like that ever before so it was an experience I hope, in time, they will look back on and take something from it that will enable them to be better prepared on their next adventure into the wilderness.
The weather satellites showed a lot of storm clouds around Mount Kinabalu moving in our direction from the top and western side of the mountain and if it had been as bad a storm as say, the type of rains we had last night and the sheer volume of rain that came down in such a short space of time, it could potentially have put a lot of people in very serious danger of hypothermia and other dangers.
Some panicked and some just did not know what to do. I made an assessment of what I could see was going on and then made the decision to hold back 60 runners in the 50k from entering that final stretch as I knew we had at least 100 runners down below who needed to be cleared and safely sent up to the finish line and it was already getting late. Instead of allowing myself to lose control of a situation, I felt it made logical sense to sort out the problems below and to deal with multiple problems as best we could in a sensible manner.
I know some of the runners we stopped felt they could have finished the race if we allowed them to continue. Yes, some may have been able to cope once the ropes were in place, but remember, the majority were tail-end-charlies and looking at the pace they were going at, and how long it took them to get to WS4, it may not have been a smart decision to allow them to make the final effort.
It will not have pleased some of the 50k finishers who did the whole route, but there are times, people need to say, "alright, it was a tough course, I am glad everyone finished safe and sound."
Some aren't happy but I would rather that then making a brash decision and allowing those sixty runners to continue and then not only putting them in trouble as we just could not predict how much more rain we would get and at what time.
Q. Is there anything you would like to add.
A. I had an American chap who wrote in to me who was incredibly unhappy with an email that I sent to everyone after we had all had a short break and recovered.
The two-day gap was to allow for appeals, any issues to be brought up before we sent out an email. I don't like rushing out emails or writing emails without having a good think and obviously, the American gentleman felt I was not being apologetic in the email that was sent out (I honestly don’t know what he is unhappy about as he did not explained what actually bothered him). I am not a businessman. I am there to tell runners as openly and as honestly “Look, this is the situation. This is what happened. And this is why we did what we did.” Would you rather I write a half page email of apology over small issues that affected such a small number of runners during the registrations or 1200 runners who, for the most part, went onto the race course and had an amazing experience? How much should I write? How long before readers get bored reading my emails?
Anyways, I thought I did apologize and explained I tried to be as open and as honest with what went wrong rather than giving the typical "we are very sorry for your experience and thank you for your comments" line.
You cannot please everyone James, especially in life, but you can certainly put in 120% effort in making sure they have a good race, and come out of it safe and sound and then have something to talk about after the event.
Q. What do see for the future of Trail Running here in Malaysia.
A. We have some very talented local runners, we have a growing number of trail runners, but there are some not so good habits that are being carried over from road running, amongst both senior and newbie runners, into trail running.
Rubbish continues to get dumped on race courses. It’s a social problem in Malaysia that does not seem to be improving, in fact it seems to be getting worse over time.
Bib swapping and bib selling is now a business for some individuals who sign up for races without ever planning to actually take part in the race and/or have absolutely no idea what they have signed up for.
The list goes on.
However, what is good is, more Malaysians are now running and living healthier lives than ever before. I think that in itself is such a fantastic thing. I have a lot of people who do get in touch with me all the time, people I have never had a chance to talk to or meet before. Especially during and after TMBT they talk about the experiences they had during TMBT and how it is or has changed them and the amazing experiences they have had and how they are then going to take on another challenge in a foreign country next. 5 years ago, how many people had done a 250 kilometre race? Or even 100 kilometres? I could count and name them.
Look at where we are today? People are doing amazing things they never even thought about doing years before.
Isn’t it amazing?
