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Columbia Trail Masters 25k

Last Sunday 6th July was the seventh round of the Columbia Trail Masters event. This time it was held in Kaengkrachan, Petchaburi, Thailand, at the Kaengkrachan Resort and Country Club, which is about 2 hours from Bangkok.

There were eight people in our group, four took part in the 25km course, including myself, three entered the 10km race and my wife acted as team manager and photographer. We all drove down the day before the race and stayed at a nearby resort so that we could pickup our bibs and timing chips.

Bib collection was a bit of a hassle, because everyone, regardless of whether they had already paid or not, had to queue for the cashier before we could collect our timing chip and t-shirt. It wasn’t made clear why we had to do this which was a bit frustrating.

There a few stalls selling discounted Columbia gear and other brand I wasn’t familiar with. My wife bought some pretty cool shoes and I picked up a light jacket.

After all that we went back to our resort to get some food and rest because we had to be up by about 5am so that we could be ready for a 6:40 race start.

Getting to the race the next day wasn’t an issue and we were in time for the pre-race briefing which was really useful as they explained the different trail markings (though it didn’t prevent a few people from taking a wrong turn early in the race).

We set off later than planned at about 7am. The early part of the course was gently undulating on a gradual decent, so I was able to maintain a steady effort up to the second water station at the 10km mark. The course was mostly open to the sky with very little tree cover and the heat picked up very quickly. I tried to stay hydrated and fueled, and started to take frequent walking breaks, which helped for the next 10km until the fourth water station.

Up to that point I was OK. I had spent almost three hours in the sun, but I felt fine. I had a good hat and sunglasses to protect me from the sun. I kept hydrated, so I wasn’t thirsty. However, the heat and the climb would get the better of me in the final 5km.

The last 5km were a series of ascents with a final descent into the resort, mostly without any tree cover. After the first long climb, I was completely zapped of all my energy, my right quad started cramping just above the knee and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at the slightest bit of physical exertion.

It was slow going to say the least and I did my best to stay on my feet and keep moving. Eventually, I took a short break under a tree 500m from the finish line before I made the final push.

Next time I’m faced with conditions like that I should really think about a cooling strategy as simply staying hydrated and wearing a hat just didn’t cut it.

Distance: 25km
Total time: 3h44m