The Last Secret Ultra - Day Six, Drukyal Dzong to the Tiger's Nest

Day Six Road Book (Credit: Global Limits)

 So this was it - we had finally reached the last day of the 2017 Global Limits Last Secret Ultra! On paper this looked like more or less a formality, it was the shortest stage at 14.6km. The climb and descent was also the smallest, 1205m of up and 691m of down. There was only one checkpoint 10.7km at the start of the final climb to the Tiger's Nest. In order to get everyone to the Tiger's Nest reasonably early in the day most of those outside the overall classification would leave at 5:30am and be driven to the first checkpoint. from where they would walk up to the finish. The majority would leave at 6am and the top 20 would leave at 7am. Currently I was seventh and Sharon was eighteenth so we both left on the last start.

Although I knew this should be a formality I wasn't taking anything for granted and sure enough this stage would present some challenges that I was going to find very hard to overcome.

The start was quite straightforward, big wide tracks that undulated without any major climbing and so I set off at a reasonable pace feeling quite confident. 

Easy running!

Still quite straightforward...

...getting trickier but still OK

  As I've mentioned before I'm not great at the tricky technical descent, however what really, really scares me is narrow ledges and sheer drops. I'd had to cope with a few of those yesterday but today I was so far out of my comfort zone that it felt like my comfort zone had flown home early and left me behind. There are channels cut into the mountainside that collect the water from the mountains. I'm not sure of the purpose of them - I would guess they are for irrigation but maybe not. Anyway the point is that these channels have a side maybe 30-50cm wide that also forms the path. fortunately Peter took a great picture of me causing a traffic jam whilst being utterly terrified on one of these which shows what I'm trying to describe. Don't be fooled by the trees to the left of the channel in the picture, that side is basically a sheer drop.

Probably the most scared I got all week ) (Photo credit: Peter Minicka)

 Once again Alison caught me up, this time with her husband Neil. Eventually we got to a point where I was happy to stand still frozen with terror while they passed me and I continued very slowly on. After a while I realised the water in the channel was only about calf deep and ran several sections in the gully rather than inching along the path. I know it's stupid, mark out a similar width path on the ground and I could run along it all day long without even thinking about it but stick it on the side of a mountain and I'm in bits!

After what seemed like several days the path became more normal and I was able to make up the ground I had lost by striding purposefully rather than petrifiedly as previously.

I probably should have spun these to give thanks for the fact I didn't fall off a mountain

 Soon I reached the only checkpoint of the day. Just after the checkpoint was the place you could hire a horse to take you half way up the mountain. We were also among the tourists walking up to the Tiger's Nest which gave me a boost. I was a finely honed athlete and these were just people. Of course in reality I had no way of knowing how fit these people were but I was fairly sure that none of them had run about 180km over the previous five days to get there so if they could do it surely I could?

Into he last part of the last day

  Soon the end was in sight - in the distance admittedly but it was in sight.

The Tiger's Nest, my Final Destination - still looks a very long way away though...

Through the forest

 Eventually I reached the final set of steps to the Tiger's Nest. There are actually more steps down than up but this isn't much of an advantage as the only way back is via the same steps. There are around 500-600 steps down and 100-200 back up again.

Sharon descending the steps

The very last ascent!

Could be worse - the finish could be up there! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

The finish was at the base of the Tiger's Nest and we had been warned not to sprint too hard as it was a small area with a sheer drop all around. I always try and at least end my races running and completely forgot this - fortunately Stefan managed to capture my moment of glory just before I kind of collided with him.

Finished! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

Sharon wasn't far behind me and made the most of the finish, coming in with upraised arms and enjoying every second. Kurt had completed his clean sweep of stage wins in 2:02:00. I was sixth in 2:33:55 and Sharon was 21st in 2:57:15.

Told you you could do it! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

Our final times and positions were 7th overall and 5th male in a total time of 30:01:08 for me; and 19th overall, 9th female in a total time of 35:12:47 for Sharon. Kurt's total time was 24:28:55.

Before I move on to the post race activities and discussions I must mention the last classified finisher, Kim. Kim had the worst possible start to the event when, due to a visa issue, she was unable to collect her luggage at Delhi Airport. Fortunately she was wearing her running shoes but everything else was either borrowed from her fellow competitors or bought in Thimphu. Despite this she kept smiling and finished every stage until she had her moment in front of the Tiger's Nest.

Kim finishing- not in the kit she imagined she would have but still with a smile (Photo credit:Global Limits)

As mentioned in a previous blog entry unfortunately Joey didn't finish but she was at the Tiger's Nest to meet everyone and we got a picture for our friends at XNRG.

Life being lived with Extreme Energy! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

 At this point I have to say a massive thank you to the simply amazing Global Limits Team that kept us safe and happy throughout the event - if you look very closely you can even see that Stefan is smiling!

The Best Team! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

However it seems appropriate go give the last word on the race to one of the dogs of Bhutan...

I'm just going to sit here...

Of course this isn't quite the end of the story. Obviously we visited the Tiger's nest Monastery. Well, we'd run nearly 200km to get there so it would have been a shame not to go in. Then there was the small matter of getting back down the mountain. However this time I could spend some time really taking in the scenery.

The view from the Tiger's Nest

Looking back to the Tiger's Nest

I worked hard to get here - I'm going to take a few photos!

Picture says it all really

The descent was made a little easier by a stop at the cafeteria half way down the mountain.

Food! (and beer)

This provided the perfect opportunity to get a last group photo.

2017 Global Limits Last secret Ultra Cast and Crew! (Photo credit:Global Limits)

 The walk back down the mountain wasn't quite without incident. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I suddenly saw Dave hanging onto the side of the mountain having slipped off the path. He was quickly grabbed and pulled to safety but it showed that just because the race was over we couldn't fully relax quite yet.

Fortunately there were no other incidents. Also fortunately those of us that split off and took 'the path less travelled' down the mountain did arrive at the same place as those that took the route we had come up by. Buses were waiting to take us to our hotel and well...even if I hadn't spent most of the last week sleeping on various versions of things that weren't entirely flat I would still have been stunned by the room we had. For a start in had a proper super-mega-massive-king size bed in it. I hadn't seen any sort of bed since the end of Day Two but this was just my idea of heaven in bed form.

A bed! I know that's obvious but words can't express how good it looked at that moment

The rest of the room was quite nice too!

After a much needed shower and bath and some clean clothes we retired to the bar until it was time for our Cultural Show.

Traditional Bhutanese Dance - women...

...and men

After the show it was time for food and prizes. Our Guest of Honour was The former Chief Justice of Bhutan, His Excellency Mr Sonam Topgay. He was the architect of the Constitution of Bhutan, of which we were all given a copy, some in English, some in Bhutanese. This is one of the more unusual gifts I've been given at a race but this was such a unique race it didn't seem all that unusual.

Stefan had changed into a Bhutanese robe. He kept complaining it was tight but no-one dare ask if that was just because he is somewhat larger than the average Bhutanese male or if it was because he'd put weight on since he bought it.

His Excellency Mr Sonam Topgay, Stefan's wife Teresa and of course the man himself
(Photo credit:Global Limits)

Eagerly awating our turn to collect or prizes - or perhaps we were just eagerly awaiting food
 (Photo credit:Global Limits)

As I said, this race was unique. As a result I suppose it would have been stupid to expect to be rewarded with anything as mainstream as a medal. We did get a nice t-shirt but the main memento for completing the race was a Bhutanese Prayer Wheel.

His 'n' Hers Prayer Wheels

The first three men and women got much bigger Prayer Wheels naturally.

Loz, Kurt and Michael - 3rd, 1st and 2nd males (Photo credit:Global Limits)

Wiwin, Sabina and Ruthann 3rd, 1st and 2nd Females (Photo credit:Global Limits)

After the meal we went to the bar from where some of our number hit the clubs in Paro. Me? I had a date with that particularly enticing bed...

So that's it, the end of my story. I hope those of you that have stuck with it until now found it reasonably entertaining - or at least liked the pictures. It has all been written in a bit of a hurry as I was trying to capture my thoughts while I still remembered them so there are probably a few errors or 'alternative facts' as we now call them. As a result I know many incidents have been left out, Karl and Aaron's late night frog herding, Ralf having his phone washed, and although I took a few wrong turns at least I never got so far off course the Race Director had to pick me up in his car and put me back on the route (if you are reading this you know who you are).

There are also a lot of people I didn't mention. Firstly our local Bhutanese support. The food wasn't exactly Michelin restaurant quality but there was plenty of it and it was always served with a smile, as were the vast number of cups of tea I drank at the end of each day. I've also not mentioned many of my fellow runners, in some ways this has made this blog poorer as I'm sure many of them have more exciting stories than mine. However the only story I feel qualified to tell is mine and this was it. To every one of my fellow runners I say thank you, all of you made the event richer by being there, I just wish there had been time to get to know you all. There was absolutely no point in the race when I wanted to push any of you off a mountain and I hope you all felt the same way about me. If you didn't I'm very, very, sorry. I know, I can be very annoying...

The penultimate thank you goes to Ed Chapman and XNRG. If Ed hadn't done a presentation on this race at the XNRG Pony Express race we would probably never have entered so a massive thank you for that.

Obviously the last thank you goes to all at Global Limits, especially Stefan Betzelt. This race worked on so many levels, as a run, a cultural experience and as a way to make some new friends. Basically this was down to an awesome team which looked after all the tricky bits so we could get on with the easy bit - running 192km, climbing 10800m...sorry, did I say easy? Anyway it was a hugely enjoyable experience, if you like the look of it then go and do it, you won't regret it.

We are currently planning to meet up with Stefan again in Cambodia in 2018 - he doesn't know it yet though...