We ran 12 ultras in 2019! It was – by far – our biggest year of racing to date. Each event was unique: we traveled far and wide to experience a range of distances, climates and geography. What follows is a summary of the 12 awesome races that made 2019 such an incredible year!
ALL the races!
9 Dragons 50 miler – February, Hong Kong
We kicked off the year with 9 Dragons in Hong Kong. We were incredibly excited about this race, and had even gone to recce the course in advance. Although we had confidence in the course and fell in love with the city, the race did not go as planned.
We signed up for the 50/50 – a two day challenge consisting of a 50 mile race followed by a 50 kilometer race. Both races feature the tough terrain Hong Kong running is renowned for, coupled with tight cut-off times. But an accident on the trail altered our plans.
Kent took a massive tumble that caused him to black out mid-way through the 50 miler on the first day. Although he displayed unbelievable grit by finishing the race (aided by ice and ibuprofen), we opted out of the second day’s event to play it safe.
Although this was definitely the right choice, it wasn’t easy. We spent the remainder of our week in Hong Kong wanting more. As Kent’s injuries began to heal, we dreamed big dreams.
Pilipinas Akyathlon 47k – February, Philippines
…which was how we found ourselves in the Philippines just one week later! After some crazy last minute flight rerouting, we ended our lunar new year holidays in a familiar place: Baguio, in northern Luzon!
Akyathlon takes place on the very same mountain as CMU, so we already knew what we were in for. We had a favorite veg restaurant to return to, a friend to reunite with and awesome trails to revisit!
It wound up being pretty tough: our first duo of back-to-back race weekends and serious heat to contend with. But it was great to have friends, new and old, on the course with us, and wonderful to enjoy the beautiful pine forests of Mount Ugo for a second time. It was also very satisfying to improve on our previous performance in the Cordillera!
Dalat Ultra Trail 70k – March, Vietnam
Next up was this delightful race – and an opportunity to spend a weekend in Vietnam! I was excited to return to a beautiful country I felt like I’d only gotten a taste of on my first visit in 2017.
Although we had just a weekend to explore it, Dalat proved to be a highlight of the year. I was surprised by the pine forests of the highlands – and loved running through them on a speedy, competitive course!
We raced in to a very fast finish after I overcame a battle with nausea mid-race. At the finish line, we reunited with Sungsik – our friend from Akyathlon -and I was excited to meet some fast female heroes too!
Ultra Trail Luang Prabang 61k – March, Laos
I literally quit my job to run this race. We both did! This brand new race in another country we love enticed us to alter all of our plans. It was not an easy day out, but it was worth it!
Ultra Trail Luang Prabang was pretty insane, in a lot of good ways. The majority was real, honest-to-goodness jungle. Nearly virgin, except for the very narrow trail that had been machete-ed through the trees for the sole purpose of this race. It was extremely hot, intensely smoky and it took us nearly 17 hours to complete this 60 kilometer race.
Somehow, covered in scrapes, scratches and ant bites, I came across the line victorious! This race was exciting from start to finish, from the natural environment to the competition I faced in the final kilometers.
With such exertions ought to come great relaxation, and Laos is the perfect place for that. Kent and I made a new friend, lounged the days away in our favorite riverside restaurant and splurged on fresh fruit juices and massages. It was paradise!
Mt. Apo 100k – April, Philippines
We’d spent the springtime building up to this big race: it was time to conquer another 100k. True to form, we’d picked a hard one that would test us in a variety of ways.
We started off speedy, and despite the technicality of the final climb, stuck close to the lead pack! We lingered on the summit of Mount Apo, enjoying some of the most magnificent views ever. Going down was supposed to be easy – but it wound up being the hard part!
Desperately dehydrated, Kent ate some wild blueberries from the trail, only to barf them back out a few hours later. I was so jet-lagged from our jaunt back and forth across the international dateline that I passed out at a check-point, and then faced stomach issues of my own. We got lost, we were sent off in the wrong direction at one point and our GPS watch ran out of battery before we could finish.
Despite everything, our determination never wavered. Even sore, exhausted and sick, deep into a long and lonely night, we knew we would finish this race. It might not have been the improved 100k time we’d hoped for, but it was a race to be proud of nonetheless!
Lavaredo Ultra Trail, 120k – June, Italy
Although the setting was dreamy, this was definitely not the race of my dreams. Getting violently ill en route to Italy put a huge damper on our plans to conquer a new distance. I was pleased just to make it to the start of Lavaredo Ultra Trail after very nearly not. But I could not make it all the way to the finish.
Still, I left feeling grateful for an unforgettable experience. We ran with a pace spreadsheet for the first time, and it was game-changing! The race route was, of course, drop-dead gorgeous – so this is the Ultra-Trail World Tour! I especially enjoyed the scenery in the earlier parts of the day when I was still in good shape. But even our final climb up the epic Val Travenanzes – when I was the closest to useless that I’ve ever been – was beautiful.
Bogdkhan Mountain Trail 64k – July, Mongolia
After a significant break to accommodate an international move, a job upgrade and our first European race, we were back in action at this beauty. We were delighted to meet fast, friendly race director Carole, and reunite, once again, with Sungsik!
Equally awesome was returning to Mongolia, one of our favorite countries on Earth. After an extremely memorable adventure with horses there in 2015, I was over-the-moon to be back and running wild myself!
The blazing pace of the Mongolian elites wowed us, as did the green summer scenery of the steppe. We ran a great race, and even more importantly had amazing time befriending horses and dogs on the course!
We had literally just the one day there – but what a perfect one!
The Magnificent Merapoh Trail 100k – August, Malaysia
This one was my birthday race, and so was always destined to be a favorite. It was top-notch in so many ways: it was one of our most successful weekend getaways of all time (the food! the little side adventures!) and the perfect way to celebrate a special day.
Plus, it was – by far – our best ever 100k performance! We completed the race in 15 hours, an unbelievable 9 hours faster than our previous best time!
Of course, that’s partly due to the course, which was flatter and more runnable than our norm. But we were also dialed in, with hydration and nutrition on point. That helped it rise to the top of our performances – and best memories!
I loved every minute of this race: from running wildly through a thunderstorm, to crawling through amazing cave formations, to feeling like I could run forever through the palm plantations, looking for evidence of elephants. We hung out with Been and Sungsik, and really enjoyed each other’s company on the course.
Even the hard parts, like when I chafed – badly enough to be left with scars -in the final couple of kilometers – or lay shivering under my emergency blanket in the medical tent afterwards – were unforgettable. The kind competitor and her encouraging words when I was in so much pain, and the stranger who fed me fruit when I couldn’t use my hands are just two examples of treasured memories from this race.
TMMT was also neat for a few other reasons: I got to do an interview with a Malaysian trail filmmaker and I was called onstage during the race briefing! I felt a little bit like a pro athlete, and it was fun!
Devil’s Ridge 60k – September, China
A race in the desert. High altitude challenge. Our first race on the Chinese mainland. Devil’s Ridge was a race of many firsts, and it was one of our favorites of the year!
For this race, we got to travel to a really unique, lesser-visited part of China. Deep in the deserts of Gansu province, jagged mountains soar over 3000 meters into the sky, wild winds swirl up in sandy twisters, and the danxia landforms are a sight to behold!
In these beautiful environs, we ran a race we were proud of. We conquered the dizzying effects of altitude to run down a negative split. Chased by a photographer’s drone, we ran faster and faster over the empty expanse. It was an exhilarating ending to one of our most memorable races!
Ultra Trail Gold Coast 50k – September, Australia
We had long been seeking an excuse to visit the land down under. So we were super stoked that for the first time ever, an Australian race was on the Asia Trail Master calendar! We could start with a big run, and follow it up with a road trip for our golden week vacation!
This laid-back event reminded us a lot of our only race experience so far in North America. It was no-frills, un-fussy, friendly and fun! But it was also unique: with race distances up to 500 kilometers on a looped course, there were all kinds of runners out there on all kinds of adventures!
Inspired by them, and by the fast new friend who kicked my butt in the women’s race, we had just a great day out on the trails. We did not see any famous Aussie wildlife, but there was time to come for that. I’m forever grateful to this race for bringing us to Oz for the first time!
Seoul100k – October, South Korea
This race was irresistible to me. A pedestrian tour around the South Korean capital was a dream come true for me: this was the just race I’d been hoping for! It was also, of course, a perfect excuse to our former home. Our Seoul100k race was a trip down memory lane – and our second 100k of the year!
This race was also kind of a miracle. We barely made it onto the starting list – registering only a few days before the event – and then a flight delay made us hours late to race check-in. Somehow, after just a couple of hours of restless sleep, we managed to have a great race!
The first 50k were a dream: running on and around Bukhansan – Seoul’s national park. Then darkness hit, and with it my sleep monsters and Kent’s nausea. We struggled through the second section of the race. But we weren’t alone: trail friends, old and new, helped us through the night.
Izu Trail Journey 68k – December, Japan
Our East Asian neighbor was the setting for our lovemoon in 2011. We knew we’d only go back for something really special. Izu was that something. It was a truly beautiful race.
The best weather conditions in the history of the race offered fantastic Mount Fuji views along the race course. Words fail to describe it, really. The perfect shape of the cone, topped with snow, as seen from a beautiful ridgeline trail? That’s hard to top!
An altered course had us running more road than previous years’ editions – but also running faster! This was our first cold race, and the weather played to Kent’s strengths. He led us to an excellent performance. Along the way, there were waterfalls, giant worms, friends old and new, and volunteers dressed in Fuji costumes. It was the perfect race to conclude an incredible year of running.
So there you have it, the 12 ultras of 2019! If you want to read more about the races in the Asia Trail Master series, check out this article. Or, if you want to explore why 2019 was a standout year for the Standers, check out my year in review here!