84 Penang Hill Hiking Challenge

84 Penang Hill and the Rest Stop at 46.

Two weeks after my PBIM 2012, it is time for 84 Penang Hill Inter-firm Hiking Challenge. I went for a practice hike about a week ago, just to see how far my stamina goes for this hiking. Have not been hiking this road for a while. My practice hike ended with 33 mins. Plan to do a sub 30 mins during the challenge.

The 3 dogs at the main gate of the jeep track to Penang Hill

The hike was to start at 8am on Saturday morning. Arrived about 7.20am and after that went to the flat loop of Penang Botanical Garden just a warm up run. The flat loop is not ideal to run when the loop is pretty crowded with walkers in the morning. And I see runners weaving themselves in and out of traffic  at the car park outside the Botanical Garden. It is difficult to hike immediately without a warm up run. Walking slowly to the main gate after a short run at about 7.50pm and you have to register yourself and be give a small slip of paper indicating which firm you are from. I guess I will be the oldest the participant for the hike. Hopefully, can smoked a number of them during the hike. Trying to stand in front of the pack as they are no timing chip and once they say "Start" and that is when the hiking start.

Cyclist riding up the steep slope

Views along the route

I saw the guy who has been fastest for the past few years from one of the bigger firm. And one guy was whispering to me. That guy is the fastest let us try to overtake him slowly. I could not hike faster than him which I knew this guy has done it in 19 mins before a few years back. A few of them was trying to run in the beginning which I knew you will be walking very soon because the 84 Penang Hill Hike is very steep until 46. After that they will some flat short course and some slope but not as steep as from 1 to 46. True enough, after a short turn, all of these guys are walking.

I just concentrate on my hike and forget about the rest. I manage to overtake a number of guys along the slope up to 46. But the stretch from 30 to 46 is really steep. Almost have to drop my pace at this point and I was breathing very heavily. At this point, a number of guys drop their pace and you overtake a few more. I reached 46 in about 18 mins. After 46, have to take a short walk of about 30 seconds and then I have to run. Because if i don't run after 46, I will never make it in less than 30 mins. I keep running until when it becomes too steep and have to walk again. My consolation is that for the whole hike I think only one guy overtook me. Finally reaching 84 Penang Hill, finishing in 28:58. I got my sub 30 mins finished. And they wrote your time on the small slip of paper which I gave them on passing the finishing point.

Plants along the route

The marathon training has given me the confidence to push harder during the tough part of the steep slope and having to run after the steep. I was trying to see who are other guys that were there and who is finishing after me. To my surprise, met a partner from another firm who has just got into running and hiking. He is about 5 years my senior. I was just telling him I normally do trails hiking and not this road nowadays and I have been doing a lot of road running. He was saying he intended to run the half marathon at PBIM 2012 recently but have to pull out due to family commitment. I told him I ran the half last year and just completed my full marathon this year. I relay a bit of marathon experience and where he could get the resources from the internet if he wants to.

The chit-chat distracted me from noticing who have finished the hike and who were there. Finally, I only noticed that our guys and gals have completed the hike. Nice to see that the gals finished the hike. Last year they could not finish it. And one of the gals managed to finished in less than 40 mins. I just found out that the fast guy who finished first this year did it in 26 mins. My timing is not really that far from him. And I probably enjoy beating the younger guys in this hiking challenge. Now finally a rest after my marathon.

A Fun Hiking Challenge. All of us finished it.