Race Review Vietnam Mountain Marathon

EVENT. NAME: Vietnam Mountain Marathon 42km

Other distances offered 10, 15, 70 and 100km

VENUE: Sa Pa, Vietnam

DATE: 22 Sept 2018 Time: 07:30 [07:29] COT 10 hrs.

Headline Event Owners: Topaz Travel

Event Organising Company: Topaz Travel

Race Director: David Lloyd

Timing company:

Registration company: Direct

PLEASE NOTE: This review is based on my personal observations and experience of the event and is intended to be helpful to other runners for their future event selection and also to aid the organisers by giving a honest and unbiased opinion of both the good and the not so good elements as I found them. Where, on the rare occasion I have used information other than my own it will be clearly stated as such and will have been from a trusted source and corroborated by others.

THE EVENT

EVENT SCORE CARD SUMMARY

PRE-RACE.

Entry and information: The initial event information and updates: Registration details were full and very informative and the use of social media was frequent and relevant and constantly updated. [Reg detailed and easy 3/3, Social media pre-registration 3/3, Updates 4/4] total 10/10.

Contact: [Facebook, Web-site, Phone, E-mail 4/4, Usage 6/6] total 10/10.

Categories: Exactly as last year the age-group categories were misleading, a real let down, in that each category was shown in the results but there were no awards or even recognition of the age-group winners. [Male/female 2/2, Vet 3/3, Age groups 1/5] total 6/10.

Value of entry: Expensive but reasonable value at 119US$ total 17/20.

Race registration and kit collection: Collection point, ease of collection: Race kit collection was basically a day-long running festival in the town square, the day prior to the event, before the race briefing. With a small expo and all-day musical entertainment. The craft-beer stand was missing this year which was a pity. [Pick-up point 8/8, Organisation 8/8] total 16/20.

Section total 59/70

Race site Facilities:

Venue, space and amenities: The venue for this event is stunning and well worth the effort and expense to get to. Warm up space was a problem due to the remoteness of the starting points and cooling down was difficult at the finish due to sheer numbers [Venue 5/5, Space wu/cd 1/3, Pre race water 2/2] total 8/10.

Toilets facilities: Considering the remote location the tented toilet village at the start was welcome, the facilities at the finish were good but very crowded. [Number 2/5, Condition 3/4, Lighting 1/1] total 6/10.

Start area: Each distance had its own start time and place to which competitor were bused from the town square. The start area was penned so that fast runners were given the opportunity to have a front position to start. Control of the local motorbike users was very patchy but all other traffic was stopped. [Staffing 4/5, Information 4/5] total 8/10.

Parking and transport: Parking is not applicable as everyone was bussed in and out total 10/10.

Section total 32/40 Running total 91/110.

Care of Competitors:

Starting time, race & safety briefing and control: The race briefing was very detailed but not compulsory. [Briefing 5/6, Start time 4/4] total 9/10.

Medical facilities. Start/finish and on course: This was a very tough course and I would have expected first aid facilities at all the check points. I saw no evidence of any first aid on the course [Start/fin 4/8] [Ambulance 3/7] [Mobile/Aid stations 0/5] total 7/20.

Section total 16/30 Running total 107/140

THE RACE.

Organisation:

Course management: This was an extremely difficult course that was so well managed, the course markings were frequent and clear, all major junctions were manned. It would have been difficult, even for me, to have gotten lost. A major down point was that there was no mandatory kit inspection and therefore no enforcement. [Safety: emg # 4/4, kit insp 0/8, Enforcement 0/8] [Signage 10/10] [Environmental impact 10/10] total 24/40.

Course design and enjoyment factor: As brutal as the last climb and descent were, Silverstone Mountain, coming just seven kilometres from the end, makes this the tough challenge that it is. The variation within the course is extreme and keeps you engaged for the duration. This year there seemed to have been more concrete than last year, I must assume this was due to the course change because of the land-slide. Excellent – Very High - High – Med – Low (subjective) total 19/20.

Marshaling: Thank you for your support and enthusiasm throughout the day. [Quantity 5/5] [Quality 7/7] [Friendly 3/3] total 15/15.

Feed stations: Staffed brilliantly, a great crowd of people who just seemed to be enjoying the event as much as those who were taking part. I did say last year that I felt that there could have been a little more food variety offered and perhaps one additional station, but this year, even with the additional distance, nothing changed. [as advised 5/5] [Number guide: 3/5] [Staffing # & quality 4/4] [Stocking 4/6] total 16/20.

Section total 74/95 Running total 181/235

POST RACE.

Finish line: [Control 1/2] [Ease of medal collection 3/3] [choice of food and hydration 5/5] total 9/10.

Resting and cool down areas: There was little room for anything approaching a cool down run at the finishing area, the swimming pool would have offered a very good alternative if it hadn’t been packed to the gunnels. The queues at the shower facilities made me think twice and I hopped on the bus still stinking. Good – Sufficient – Lacking. Subjective total 4/10.

Finishing information: The master of ceremonies, at the finish area, kept us informed with his running commentary of finishers.

The prize ceremony was well attended and very well timed, just after the finish of the two shorter ‘fun run’ events, again well organised and not over the top. I was a very disappointed that the age-group winners were not, at least, mentioned but we can’t have everything now can we as we only paid the same entrance fees as everyone else. [Placings posted 0/2] [Announcements 1/2] [Prize ceremony 5/6] total 6/10.

Section total 19/30 Running total 200/265

AFTER EVENT

Course clean, policy and implementation: From what I saw the course was kept pretty well clean and the organisers promise a full clean up post event. total 10/10

Results: [Timely 24hrs 5/5] [Full results 3/3] [Age Grouped 2/2] total 10/10.

Post event communication: Good – Limited – None. [Organisers photo 2/3] [Event video/write ups 0/4] [Participants stories 0/3] total 2/10.

Section total 22/30

Grand total 222/295 giving an overall score for this event of 75.3%

COMMENT: Take note Malaysian organisers: No prize money and it still managed to bring around 3400 participants from 54 countries around the world to a remote area of Vietnam, because of the race quality.

Plus this not for profit event donated over 386,000,000 VDN (c. RM32000) to their chosen charity, New-borns Vietnam, and retained the same amount to spend locally on schools and social projects like building or repairing village bridges and schools etc.

I just feel that there are small areas that can be improved but comments and suggestions go unheeded and unanswered.

This year, for some unexplained reason, the organisers failed to lay on busses to transport those accompanying participants to the resort finishing point. No one expects a free-ride for them, the finishing point being so far from the town it is not unreasonable to expect that spectators would be catered for, as in previous years, at a fair price for the day use of the resort.

One other point I would like to make, the organisers Topaz Travel, owners of the Topaz Resort gained thousands of additional paying customers, and it could have been more, to their resort for the day. So was it really necessary to charge more than 60% extra on the cost of drinks?

Would I return to this event: No – Unlikely – Possibly – Yes Only because I have achieved my own personal goal at this event and there is a whole world out there yet to be discovered.

Happy Running.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

Photographs, thanks to: Topaz Travel

My personal race.

7:51:44 [43.98 Kms] Age-group champion [60 plus]. 65th. of 665

This year my race was much less adventurous than last years, I didn’t get stung by a wasp and I didn’t fall and crack my head. But, it is true what they say ‘it is harder to defend a title than to win one.

The course was much the same as last year with the exception of the long concrete detour demanded by a recent landslide on the original course.

All the highlights remained, after the initial tarmac road section the delights began, turning onto an old path down a slippery jungle trail connecting villages in two valleys, at this single file section we just had to stay in contact with those in front.

This was the land of both the Black H’mong and Red Dao minorities. We ran through their small wooden village gates and past them harvesting their rice

The first climb was serious and it required some power walking on some sections. The trail then circumnavigated a mountain covered by more rice fields and a bamboo forest. We then dropped down into the limestone valley of Ta Phin to connect with the half marathon route as we crossed the main road.

This quite steady section had been augmented by much concrete but finally it led us to Silverstone Mountain, the last seven kilomtres for all four distances of the day. Silverstone was that steep it was unrunnable from bottom to top, at times four-limb drive was absolutely necessary. Long and painful but I pushed on without a stop and on to the peak and the nice downhill almost to the finish. Cresting Silverstone and onto what I knew from last years experience was no nice downhill. The heavy rains washed away all the soil years ago, leaving a downhill section had to be run, slowly and very carefully, on a moving bed of rocks. For me the descent was tougher than the ascent and there was no picking up time.

A further one or two kilomtres from the base to the finish on pleasantly undulating tarmac was heaven sent, as was the very enthusiastic welcome at the Topaz Resort and home under eight hours as planned, for 42 kms.

For all that, almost forty minutes faster than last year even with the extra distance, I was only four minutes in front of the next sixty plus runner rather than the one-hour plus of last year.