Its Tough at the Top - Day 1 - Gorak Shep to Namche

Everyone knows that mountain races are tough but this one took its toll before the race had even started..........................

On the first morning in Gorak Shep, Ian Jones was diagnosed with early signs of AMS and had to descend to a lower altitude and thus miss the first stage of the race. Dipak Raj Rai had fallen off his bike on the way up to Lukla and had a nasty hip injury, while Chandra Chhetri slipped on the icy floor of the toilet in Gorak Shep and hurt his back. Luckily both he and Dipak made the start line.
 
The first day of this 5 day duathlon involved running 30km from close to Everest base camp to the largest town in the area, Namche bazaar. Along the way the competitors would drop over 2500m but would also climb a cumulative total of over 800m.
 
The safe money was always going to be on Dipak Raj Rai; with 3 straight Tenzing Hilary Everest Marathon victories under his belt, he was the one to beat. The international competitors were able to keep with him for at least 20 metres, before the altitude took effect leaving them gasping for air, and Dipak, Jabir and Chandra disappearing into the distance.
 
However, ultra runner Ian Sharman was able to use his mountain running skills to catch Chandra after about 3 miles and never looked back to finish in 3rd place.
 
Dipak and Jabir extended their leads throughout the race, both to finish well under four hours.
 
The final 2 international athletes, Joel Watson and Phil Evans found the going particularly hard at this altitude but both managed to complete the stage relatively unscathed and looking forward to tomorrows easy 20km leg!
 
Ian Jones, although fully recovered from his altitude sickness, is carrying a heavy cold but hopes to start competing from tomorrow.
 
Results for Day 1
 
1. Dipak Raj Rai 3hr 2 min
2. Jabir Raj Rai 3hr 34min
3. Ian Sharman 4hr 14min
4. Chandra Chhetri 5hr 56min
5. Phil Evans 5hr 59min
6. Joel Watson 6hr 37min

The only way is down - Day 2 - Namche to Lukla

Yesterdays stage had took its toll on the Kona Yeti duathlon. Nearly all the competitors awoke with aches and pains in various locations and needed an hour or so to get sore and stiff muscles working................

Today's stage started with a 700m sandy/rocky descent, which was as hard on the quads as going up, but at least everyone was able to breath normally!! Ian Sharman was gunning for a stage win, hoping the lower altitude would work in his favour and was in the lead at the bottom of the first descent. Unfortunately, even after 10 days at altitude he wasn't as acclimatised as Dipak Raj Rai (HeatmaxUK) and the first real ascent saw him slip into second place. He did, however, put in a sterling effort to hold onto that place, beating third placed mountain runner Jabir Rai into Lukla by over 6 minutes.
 
Dipak covered the 630m of climbing over 10 miles in less than 2 hours and came in to Lukla with a cumulative time from Gorak Shep of only 4 hours and 54 minutes.
 
Ian Jones, recovering from his cold, did well to come home in 4th place but still over 60 minutes behind the leaders.
 
Various ailments slowed the remaining international and local entrants with Chandra Chhetri, carrying an old knee injury, bringing up the field in over 5 hours.
 
Tomorrow the mountain biking starts but with some very technical sections and over 1000m of climbing it will be interesting to see if the more experienced mtb'ers can claw any time back on the elite runners. Image
 
Results for Day 2
 
1 Dipak Rai (Heatmaxuk) 1.51
2 Ian Sharman 2.11
3 Jabir Rai 2.17
4 Ian Jones 3.09
5 Phil Evans 3.19
6 Joel Watson 3.42
7 Chandra Chhetri 5.17
 
Top 3 places as on Day 2
 
1 Dipak Rai (HeatmaxUK) 4.54
2 Jabir Rai 5.51
3 Ian Sharman 6.26

Day 3 - Intrepidation, Exasperation and exhaustion.

With a relatively short stage yesterday, the athletes were able to spend an afternoon in Lukla making final preparations for the 3 days of following biking stages to Jiri.

The course of the trail now turned westward and instead of running along a valley it would now start to cross the contours of the himalayan foothills and involve much more ascending and descending.

Chandra Chhetri, riding a brand new Felt mtb and the most experienced biker of the Nepali contingent was hoping to use his technical riding  skills to claw back some time on race leader, Dipak Rai (HeatmaxUK) who was already some 6 hours ahead of him.

A frantic start commenced Day 3 with both Nepali and international riders vying for first place through the rocky streets of Lukla. Joel Watson of Geelong put his full susser through its paces to stay with the leaders early on, but once the trail started to drop rapidly on a greasy and treacherous rocky/muddy surface it was the more nimble runners that were able to take advantage by carrying their bikes for a faster and safer descent. 

From this point a torturous day of mainly push/carry of the bike  ensued which by the end of the day would see the retirement of 3 of the 4 international athletes.

After negotiating the 600m descent from Lukla, the competitors were greeted with a severe 700m rocky and totally unrideable ascent upto the pass of Chutok La at over 2900m,  where any expectations of an easy passage were quashed by the sight of a technical downhill that would have required the combined skills of Hans Rey and Steve Peat to complete unscathed.

By this stage the more "mountain adept" Nepali athletes were able to build an even greater lead of their toiling foreign counterparts, who's troubles were far from over.

After a small, relatively flat and rideable section through the river side village of Kari Khola, the trail continued to drop on an extremely bouldered trail before finally crossing a 100m suspension bridge at the trails lowest point of just over 1500m.

To continue from here involved an arduos, approx 4 hour  carry of the bikes to the top of the first 3000m+ pass since Lukla, Taksindu La.

By the time the international athletes had arrived at Day 3's finish point of Nunthala, 2300m, and only half way up the pass,having climbed  1388m over 17 miles and some coming in after dark, 3 out of the 4 starters made the decision to call it a day and withdraw from the race, either from sheer exhaustion or total frustation from the lack of riding opportunities. This would leave only 4 remaining contestants to battle it out over the final 2 days, but with Dipak Rai(Heatmax) once again taking the stage victory by over 30mins it was becoming a one yak race!

Results on Day 3

1 Dipak Raj Rai(HeatmaxUK) 6hr 18
2 Jobir Rai 6hr 51
3 Chandra Chhetri 8hr 09
4 Ian Sharman 8hr 43
5 Phil Evans 8.49
6 Joel Watson 10.14
7 Ian Jones 10.51

Overall standing

1 Dipak Raj Rai (HeatmaxUk) 11.13
2 Jobir Rai 12.23
3 Ian Sharman 15.09
4 Phil Evans 18.08
5 Chandra Chhetri 19.23
6 Joel Watson 20.34

Day 4 - From Dawn till Dusk

As this was, on paper, the toughest stage of the race, with 2 high passes to traverse and a total cumulative climb of 2078m, an early start was necessary to ensure the remaining competitors finished in day light.

So in the dark of dawn the race continued in the same vein as it finished yesterday, with a 700m climb, carrying the bikes to the top of Taksindu la, the second highest point between Lukla and Jiri at 3071m.

The descent from there, although rough and rocky, was for a high percentage, rideable and the altitude gained was soon again lost as the trail dropped down to yet another suspension bridge spanning one of the many rivers cascading down from the high peaks. The trail then crossed through rhododendron forests and undulated along the mountainside, with some pleasantly rideable sections, as it made its way to the remote village of Junbesi.

Chnadra Chhetri was able to utilise his superior bike handling skills to finally take the lead during this part of the stage, and he was able to hold onto that lead even up the arduous 900m climb to the top of Lamjura La, the highest point along the trail at 3540m

From the top of the pass a 1900m descent snaked is ts way down the mountainside to the days final destination of Kinja. This would normally have mountain bikers jumping for joy and should have given Chandra his first stage victory, but this was no ordinary descent. Strewn with rocks, boulders, clay, roots and near vertical sections, it was nigh on impossible to ride, and Dipak, not even stopping to fix a a puncture, with bike on shoulder descended the section over 1 hour quicker than his mountain biking friend, to take yet another stage victory.

 
Having held Jobir at bay for the majority of the day Phil Evans, the only remaining non Nepalese competitor, took a wrong turn  in 1 of the villages along the descent and saw Jobir slip past below him on the trail proper! Finally arriving in Kinja, just before dark, nearly 12 hours after leaving Nunthala, he quipped that this could possibly be a new record for a slowest ever 22 mile stage!

Results for Day 4

1 Dipak Raj Rai(HeatmaxUK) 7.54
2 Chandra Chhetri 9.08
3 Jobir Rai 11.23
4 Phil Evans 11.46

Overall standings

1 Dipak Raj Rai (HeatmaxUK) 19.07
2 Jobir Rai 23.16
3 Chandra Chhetri 28.31
4 Phil Evans 29.54

THE END IN SIGHT The Final Day - Day 5

By the time the duathletes left Kinja, the Nepali sun was already beating down. Although the day was down as mainly rideable, it commenced with a 5km 600m carry climb upto Bhandar.

From here chaos ensued as there were a number of options for which trail to take and each rider had their own tactic. The field was spread wide apart with some taking a high route to the north of the main trekking trail, some taking a newly formed jeep track to the south of the trail and some taking the more direct but less rideable trekking trail.

The new jeep track to the south wound its way back up from fertile fields, up through pine forest, offering a brief respite from the beating sun and over a remote pass at nearly 3000m. It was rough and sometimes sandy, often dissected by flowing waterfalls, but was on the whole, had it not been for the weary legs, totally ride able.

Once over the top of the pass the track descended switchback after switchback over exciting terrain for close to 2 hours before finally bottoming out at the riverside village of Those. From here there was another hot sandy climb away from the river, followed by a final 5km undulating track to the final destination of the bustling market town of Jiri

Had the race been closer it may have mattered that the rider's hadn't followed the same route. But as maps of the area are highly inaccurate and even the locals seem undecided as to which is the most convenient route it still would have been hard to police. As it was Dipak was already over 4 hours ahead of his closest rival and as the form suggested he was odds on favorite to make a clean sweep of all the stages and overall victory.

He didn't disappoint. Even with only 1 month of bike training in his legs, he managed to complete this 33 mile stage over 1 hour faster than mountain bike guide Chandra, and nearly 3 hours faster than his closest overall rival, Jobir.

Chandra had put in a valiant effort to try and thwart Dipaks clean sweep of the stage prizes, pushing himself to the limit and tumbling off his new, but now rathered battered looking Felt on numerous occasions, but the mountain runners desire to win was too strong.

Over the 5 stages from Gorak Shep, some 100 miles and 6828m of cumulative climb away from the finish, Dipak had been consistently faster. Had he had to push himself harder to keep his lead, he may of gone well under 24 hours for the distance, but as it was he finished most stages looking as fresh as when he started.

The Kona "Land of the Yeti" duathlon was one tough event. It didn't live upto the expectations of the mountain bikers and at times was downright unenjoyable (noboby enjoys carring a 12kg bike and pack over mountain passes, right?), but it was certainly a great acheivement for all those involved and definately tested the mettle, stamina and fitness of all the finishers to the max.

The Nepalese athletes were awe inspiring to see, even in the knowlegde of their altitude adept gemetic makeup, it sometimes defied belief at the incredible times they would cover the terrain.

It now remains to be seen if Dipak Raj Rai (already 3 times winner of the Tenzing Hillary Everest marathon), now winner of the Kona "Land of the Yeti" duathlon and armed with a brand new Kona Kula MTB can take the Nepali mountain bike scene by storm. One thing is for sure, he won't be settling for second place.

Day 5 results

1 Dipak Raj Rai (HeatmaxUK) 4.53
2 Chandra Chhetri 6.08
3 Jobir Rai 7.31
4 Phil Evans 8.06

Final Results for Kona "Land of the Yeti" duathlon

1 Dipak Raj Rai 24.05
2 Jobir Rai 30.47
3 Chandra Chhetri 34.40
4 Phil Evans 38.00