Get ready to rev up your engines and push your limits because the REDLINE Fitness Games Powered by NISSAN are here to give you the ultimate adrenaline rush! This one-of-a-kind workout experience is set to revolutionize the fitness scene in Malaysia and it's an event you don't want to miss.
Taking place on September 23rd and 24th at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre (MIECC), REDLINE Fitness Games Powered by NISSAN is going to be an electrifying indoor event like no other. Whether you're a gym-goer or a fitness enthusiast, this competition is designed to inspire, motivate, and ignite your passion for a fitter and healthier lifestyle in Southeast Asia.
In case you haven't heard - for the first time ever, Spartan Race Malaysia will be headed to Kuching, Sarawak! This will be the first time a major OCR brand has ventured to East Malaysia and why not? There is ample space, jungles and a lot of untapped potential. My money's on the orang asli guys kicking ass and taking the podium position.
If your first response is: Kuching is a part of Malaysia meh?, I am gonna google your social medias and have them deleted! Yeh, that's right. Nowadays, that's even more tragic than throwing paint on your house.
As a former Spartan Racer, it's always nice to see my friends and other people take on the Spartan Race and then listen to their tales of harrowing obstacles and endless burpees (provided they even did do their burpees at all) Not to be left out from the action, Blue Ant Extreme has launched The Xtreme Quest - a challenge for people from different background to take on the Spartan Race in Iskandar Puteri this coming 2 Dec.
The Spartan Race Beast was supposed to be in October but due to unforeseen circumstances, was moved to December and to Johor Bahru. This of course raised a lot of protest amongst the participants and with this hanging over their heads, Spartan Race Malaysia had better not screwed up the last OCR event of the year.
On a whim, I flew to Japan to participate in the Super leg of the Spartan Race, intending to complete part of my 2017 Trifecta in a country I absolute adore. Also because I missed the local Spartan Super because I was in the country I absolute adore. Go figure.
Anyway, this trip was...different from my other OCR travels because 1) it was in Japan, 2) I was running solo and finally 3) I can't converse fully with other racers. I was excited and nervous and admittedly, a little scared because it would my first Spartan Race abroad without my teammates whom I found myself missing midway through.
Race morning was rainy rainy rainy. It was so rainy that the race village became a mud pit with people tiptoeing across the field to get to the bag drop tent. If it wasn't for my trusty Inov8 Ultra shoes, I was sure I would have face planted multiple times. It seemed that Spartan Race Japan needed to work on the bag drop system because it took racers over an hour to bag drop! I think the fact that we had to pay 500yen for the big plastic bag to store our bag made it worst because we were slowing down to dig into our bags and had to step aside to repack and etc. MOVING ON.
I missed my 10am flag off time but managed to wiggle my way to the startline for the 1030am flag off. After the usual Aroo Aroo Aroo and Who are You, I am Spartan ceremony (I really missed Australia's Spartan Races at this point because the spirit wasn't the same), were unleashed into the course.
To sum it up, the route was hard. Sagamiko Forest was an amusement themed park on a hill and boasted a beautiful forest with leaves turning red and yellow to greet autumn. The first half of the course led us up up up and away into the hill right up to its ferris wheel at its peak. The route alternated between road and trail keeping it fast and slow all at once. Scenery-wise, had it been sunny, it would have been stunning. As it were, it poured the whole way, a teaser to the torrent rains of Typhoon Lan that hit the following day. The rain made the trails twice as slippery and muddy, the obstacles twice as hard and the river crossings twice as fast.
The difficulty in obstacles varies. Obstacles I used to struggle with like the atlas carry, I found easy here and obstacles I would usually ace were surprisingly challenging such as the rope climb and the herculean hoist. Due to my stunned growth, wall obstacles can be a challenge. It was here I had to open my mouth and say, "Onegai tasukete..." aka, "help me please."
In all fairness, I only had to use it once out of the three times I needed help. The other two times I lucked out and had two english speaking westerners help me out. Somewhere along the 10km, I was chitchatting with an American dude who had come to Japan on a holiday and was conned into doing the race by his friends.
I know how you feel, dude. I am still wondering how I conned myself into spending RM666 (17,500yen) to participate in this race. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, I am just glad that my race wasn't cancelled due to the typhoon because the Sprint race on Sunday was called off due to Typhoon Lan hitting mainland Japan hard.
All in all, I think this video of the race that I compiled on my iPhone while waiting for the train in the shivering cold, gave a good walkthrough of the race. I really need to get myself a GoPro if I am going to be doing more of these races solo. (ehem coughsponsorGoProcough)
I am giving this Super a 4 out of 5 Buck Furpees because the weather brought on a whole new set of challenges to the course.
Some tips for racing in a foreign country abroad (where English is NOT the first language)
1) Learn the local language of 'help me' and 'thank you'
2) Contact the organiser on transport plans. I found out too late that the organisers had buses through back and forth to the race site from Shinjuku. Having said that....
3) Try to stay as close as possible to the race site or somewhere accessible to the race site.
4) Bring extra money because sometimes the organiser might neglect to mention additional costs such as the connecting buses from the station to the race site costing 250yen one way. It wasn't mentioned in the race guide.
5) Plan ahead. Seriously, don't leave everything to chance and luck in a foreign country.
6) If you don't want to bring your passport to the race site or in my case, forgot to bring it, snap a pic of it beforehand and keep it on your phone/camera.
So just to quickly make sure everyone is on the same page on what I will be talking about - Spartan Race Malaysia was supposed to have its Spartan Beast on 8 October at a tbc location in Kuala Lumpur. The key details here being: 8 October and Kuala Lumpur.
This has been promoted and pushed in their offers, partnerships and promotional materials including the APAC poster.
And then...two months before the race, we learnt that Spartan Race had decided to move the date to 9 December and the venue to Johor Bahru still at an undetermined address. It will be a three race-event consisting of an Ultra-Beast, Beast and Sprint now and is also part of the Singapore Beast leg (well, seeing as they have literally no room for a Beast on that island...)
Okay, so things have been a bit quiet on the blog. Work has been 'bitch be cray cray' crazy. I have picked up my creative writing once to deal with the stress hence the lack of updates here. Sorry about that.
Hear ye hear ye! Behold - my long overdue race recap of Spartan Race Sprint 2017, held at the glorious green, ever hilly Semenyih on 12 March.
To cut down on travelling time in the morning (thus having more time to sleep in), I stayed overnight at the race site at the Semenyih Eco Resort and was rewarded with a glimpse of the start and finish of the course. Only a glimpse because that was only 10% of the total course of 9km and 25 obstacles that greeted racers on the morning itself.
For the first time in my four years of running the Spartan Races, I participated in the elite category simply out of curiosity to see what it was like to be held at a higher standard in the lead pack and to be chased by the competitive racers in the heat after In short, not fun. The race was close to stressful with barely enough time to catch a breather right from the start.
Talk about taking it to a whole new level of competition.
Since breaking in the Asian market, Spartan Race has seen a lot of love and support from the local fitness and OCR community and this perhaps prompted them to launch their first ever Asia Pacific Championship Series.
The first event of the series will kick off on
the 22nd of April in Hong Kong and end with the fifth event in Australia where the first ever
APAC Champions will be crowned. Racers will be competing for over USD $50,000 (RM221,900) in cash and
prizes across the entire series.
The Asia Pacific Championship series will have 4 qualifying events starting with:
Hong Kong
Sprint (5km + & 20+ obstacles) on April 22nd,
Taiwan Super (13km+ & 22+ obstacles) on
May 20th,
Korea Super on June 10th,
Malaysia Super on July 9th,
and culminating with
the Australia Beast at the end of November.
If a Spartan trifecta or even a double trifecta is on your to-do list for 2017, then consider this for the race calendar... One weekend, two days of pure unadulterated obstacle course racing on the beautiful island of Hawaii.
That's right, I am talking about Spartan Trifecta Hawaii Weekend, set to take place on 5-6 August, 2017 at Kualoa Ranch on Oahu Island. Just imagine running all three Spartan Race - Sprint, Super and Beast across the beautiful scenic terrain.
Well, I have done it. I managed to completed not one but two Spartan Trifecta this year. Once a distant dream, it was made possible with a lot of planning and the willingness to make small sacrifices like buying less clothes and going out less. So much less...I have no social life now outside of my bootcamp and work groups.
A Weekend in Beautiful Hell
It seemed right that my first Trifecta for 2016 had come from Malaysia and very appropriate that my second came from Australia, the land where my Spartan journey started. The journey to these Trifectas has been nothing short of memorable.
The Kuala Lumpur leg of Spartan Race Malaysia concluded itself in a spectacular fashion with two back-to-back events, a Sprint and a Beast over one weekend. It was the final stretch for many pursuing their Trifecta, having completed their first ever Sprint event in October 2015 and the Super in March 2016.
Normally Trifectas are completed within a calendar year (Jan-Dec) but due to the requests of Asians who got their first taste of Spartan Race end of last year, Big Boss Joe DeSena made an exemption for the KL and Singapore Sprint and announced that it counted towards the 2016 Trifecta.
Until now, Hawaii was the only place where one could attempt a Spartan Trifecta in one weekend. Well, this year, Spartan Race Australia has upped its game to include a Trifecta weekend in its schedule.
What is a Trifecta weekend? As the name indicated, it's a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) for racers to race all three Spartan Races: Sprint, Super and Beast over both days. Hence a Trifecta. Weekend.
The dates have been announced as 26-27 November at Bright, Victoria, Australia. Rumour has it that it will be a Friday - 4Hour Hurricane Heat, Saturday - Super and Sprint and Sunday - Beast and Ultrabeast. Woahhhhhhh.
Registration is set to open on 4 June 2016 and according to Spartan Race Australia big boss, Max DeLacy, it will be all-systems go if registration hits over 2,000 by 15 July 2016.
LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN!
So leave no space and time for second guessing and mark the dates for a weekend that will surely be known as L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y.
Keep checking back or follow me on Facebook for the registration link.
The Battle on the Black River was certainly a name unfit for the recent Spartan Race Super held in another development project, at Canary Gardens, Bandar Bestari. It wasn't so much of a battle but rather a series of long jump challenges. It wasn't so much of a Black River but rather....a series of parits and longkangs (ditches and drains in English respectively)
Well, there was one "Black River" but it was brown from...sewage waste. Gross.
But I am really getting ahead of myself here. I was tackling my second Super race fresh off Malaysia's first Hurricane Heat and despite the anticipated equinox, I felt good about going into the race. Minus the slight headache from inhaling the haze during Hurricane Heat.
It was almost 4:15am, our supposed check-in time for Hurricane Heat and my sister and I had no idea where the supposed meet-up place was. The email told us to gather at Canary Gardens, Bandar Bestari, Klang at the Finishing Arch of the Spartan Super to held later on that same day. But when we got to the garden, it was pitch black, no one was in sight and the stench of haze lingered in the air. My reaction was...well, f**k.
We brisk-walked up and down the empty park looking for the Finishing Arch and then we heard it - the sounds of Spartans - counting out burpees in unison no doubt. Following the noises, we finally spotted a man standing on a small hill with a megaphone. "Are you here for Hurricane Heat?"
Why do I keep doing this to myself?, I asked myself over and over again. Kyoto Marathon (no regrets), Mount Fuji (no regrets), Spartan Stadium Combo - Tough Mudder - Melbourne 10km run (no regrets) and the list goes on. I think I need an intervention.
You see, I have just signed up for Hurricane Heat organised by Spartan Race, this time in Klang. Granted, it's a 2 hours Hurricane Heat but it's the first I am joining. I spent the whole of 2015 chasing my Spartan Trifecta and now that I have it, where does that lead me? Hurricane Heat seemed like the next natural course of action.
What is Hurricane Heat and how does it differ from a Spartan Race?
Spartan Race Super is less than a week away and training for it has only gotten more intense with the team. The original Spartan Malaysia team Do's and Doms took to Crossfit Pahlwan (not to do crossfit, god forbid and Raj will have a fit) and got our butts whipped into shape by Coach Lily. Lily had just returned from Australia where she did the Spartan Stadium and got a taste of the intense 300.
First Spartan Race training session of the year at Crossfit Pahlawan, Citta Mall and it was a killer. The training session was organised by Spartan Race and Crossfit and was held in two sessions in the afternoon of 9 January 2016.
I love working out at Crossfit Pahlawan mainly because it comes equipped with a section for rope-climb practice. It was the ideal location to prepare for an obstacle race like Spartan or Viper. Specifically for the Spartan Stadium series or for Viper Arena. When we were preparing for our Trifecta attempt last year, my team used Crossfit Pahlawan for our training sessions. Check out the madness in the video courtesy of Hashida Lee below.
Follow the United Spartans of Malaysia on Facebook here for more training sessions and OCR updates.
Words cannot describe what 2015 was to me. Exhausting - physically, mentally, financially. Liberating - physically, mentally, financially not quite. Once again, I got to travel, I got to race and I got fitter. Much fitter but no less fatter.... T_T
In spite of its many ups and downs, I find myself mostly looking back fondly on the ups. Despite having two trips cancelled, it was good year in terms of personal achievements. Even though I didn't conquer Mount Kinabalu, I did scaled Japan's highest mountain. I may not have gone to Korea, but I did get to enjoy two separate short weekends in Australia with my friends and a long week there with my sister in two cities for three race events. Madness I tell ya!
If I were to list down my 2015 achievements and memorable moments, this is it:
My teammate spotted the image of what seemed to be a Triple or Quadruple Trifecta Holder on the international Spartan social media and shared it with the team. This apparently was a leaked image from Spartan.
source: http://blog.mudrunfun.com/
I must admit it was a pretty cool swag to the existing Trifecta wedges and tray. There were talks of a possible Triple Trifecta next year but of course, then someone pointed out it was probably a marketing ploy by Spartan.
I agree and somewhat disagree. Yes, it was probably another Spartan marketing ploy but a triple Trifecta would be too on the point and too straightforward and knowing Spartan Race, it was anything but straightforward.
