Tembusu Vertical Marathon 2017

Aching calves.

Blessed.

Photo credits: Yong Jian

Long awaited; blessed.

What was also long awaited was me getting down to writing about this event. What drew my attention to this was both the cause (supporting Tembusu College's tCambodia) and the activity (stair-climbing).

I was particularly keen to start in an early wave for this event as a stairwell is only so wide. Furthermore, I had to rush off to classes after I was done. Thankfully, I started in the first wave.

I found myself leading initially. Then again, waves were of tiny groups of about 5 and not even segregated by gender. It wasn't long before a female climber caught up with me. Judging from her movements however, I suspected I would soon catch up and she'd probably be in lots of pain.

The route was pretty complex as besides the stairs, some careful navigation was needed. Unfamiliarity wasn't of any use. Nonetheless, I didn't take this race too seriously. I was certain I would secure a podium, the exact position wouldn't matter too much to me. And I had another race with the NTU Cross team in the afternoon.

With a controlled ascent of the first block of 20-odd floors, I began my first descent. I quickly heard pounding footsteps approaching from behind - it had to be Kai Peng. Unsurprisingly, he passed me. This meant he probably had gained a good 20 seconds on me since he had started in the second wave.

I quickly knew why he was so fast with this - he flew down the flights of stairs. 

The rest of the race was just a repetition of ascending a block before descending. It got progressively harder. Lots of concentration is required in a stair race as footing and even the number of steps matters tremendously. Cut an unnecessary step and you'd save a fraction of a second. Do this for... many flights... and it adds up.

Eventually, I was back down to the ground and conservatively sprinted towards the Finish. Kai Peng was waiting.

I also caught a quick word with Yaner who was queuing for his wave's start. To be honest, Yaner's definitely a faster climber than me, though I didn't know about his descents. Nonetheless, the Men's Open was mine due to my fortunate first wave start.

Next up is NVM 2017 - multiple categories!