The Last Secret Ultra - Getting there and getting ready to run!

When I first looked at the Last secret Ultra in Bhutan I could see a number of challenges. On paper the distance didn’t look to be too much of an issue – however an average amount of ascent of one mile per day did. I should point out in case anyone is confused this does not mean that each day I would finish a mile higher than we started –only if I got terribly lost and climbed Everest by mistake could that happen. Each day consisted of some ups and some downs. Most days had more ups than downs, in every way as it happened which was good in at least some respects.

One of the significant challenges was just getting to Bhutan. Only two airlines fly into Bhutan, they don’t fly anywhere else and they don’t connect to the rest of the airline network. For reasons of cost, visas and a short flight into Bhutan we (Sharon and myself) decided to fly via Nepal. Given that Tribhuvan (Kathmandu) Airport appears to apologise for being terrible on its official web page I wasn’t expecting much but actually it wasn’t too bad. To enter Nepal requires a visa which can be bought at the airport. The process went as follows: land, take a bus ride around the airport and get to Arrivals. At Arrivals join everyone else in filling in a landing card making up such details as the address and phone number of the hotel you are a staying at. Fail to find anyone to give the card to. Spot the electronic machines and optimistically put your passport in the passport reader. It won’t read your passport so type in all the details you previously wrote on the card. Take the small receipt it issues you and exchange it and $25 for a 15 day multiple entry visa. Great result – we are returning to Kathmandu for a few days after the race and the visa expires the day after we leave. In theory all Nepal visa issues are now dealt with.

We would be spending 12 hours in a hotel in Kathmandu as the flights to Bhutan can be rescheduled and delayed so we allowed plenty of time between our flights. It was as well we did as our flight was rescheduled for several hours earlier than when we originally booked it.

The hotel was very nice and offered us a room upgrade. The slight downside was that the upgraded room was on the fifth floor and there was no lift. We took it anyway and considered it as an opportunity to do some last minute training and acclimatisation.

The next morning saw us back at Tribhuvan Airport and more excitingly, our first contact with others that would be in the race. I should say at this point that this account is based entirely on my (notoriously poor) memory. I didn’t make notes and so if anyone from the race is reading this and I don’t mention your presence at any particular point or event it is no reflection on how interesting I found you or what sort of impression you made, it is purely down to my bad memory. Anyway the first people we met were Melanie and Bob from the USA and Rodrigo, who was one of the volunteers.  Rodrigo was easy to remember as he had the most magnificent beard of any of the Global Limits team. We also discovered later he had gone to Glasgow to improve his English and then moved to Sheffield for better weather. Possibly only British readers of the blog will understand how funny those two things are.

We had obtained seats on the left hand side of the aircraft as per the Global Limits recommendation in order to get a good view of the Himalayas.  If anyone is familiar with the Father Ted ‘Small….far away’ episode with Dougal and the cows they will understand the conversation around trying to identify Everest. I photographed everything with the intention of working out which mountain it really was later.

Fairly sure this is Everest...

At Bhutan Stefan, the race director and head of Global limits, was waiting to take us to the hotel in Thimphu where we would be spending our last couple of nights before the adventure began. At the hotel I met the only person whose name I had recognised on the entry list, Joey Sharma. I didn’t know Joey very well but we had met at various XNRG events in the past. We almost formed Team XNRG for the race but due to Joey, Sharon and myself all being 5’ 6” or under it became ‘Team Dwarf’. I also met several other runners I ‘knew’ from Facebook as well as others that I hadn’t had any contact with and many rounds of introductions did absolutely nothing to cement anyone’s names in my mind. 

When we walked round Thimphu we saw a huge number of dogs sleeping in the streets. There is a reason the dogs sleep all day, it’s so they can bark all night. I took earplugs as per the race director’s instructions - they are pretty good ear plugs - but they were little defence against the barking and howling of a pack of Bhutanese dogs. Anyway apart from that I slept well on my first night in Bhutan.

As well as being a race, the Last Secret gives many opportunities to see Bhutan and its culture. On Friday morning we were taken on a cultural tour of Thimphu. The first highlight was the National Memorial Chorten, a huge Buddhist Stupa built in 1974 to honour the third Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King), Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1928–1972). It is a massive structure and was being turned into a flower garden ready for a visit by the Japanese Princess Mako.

Nation Memorial Chorten

Great Buddha Dordenma is a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the mountains of Bhutan celebrating the 60th anniversary of fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The statue houses over one hundred thousand smaller Buddha statues. The Great Buddha Dordenma is sited amidst the ruins of Kuensel Phodrang, the palace of Sherab Wangchuck, the thirteenth Desi Druk, overlooking the southern approach to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Construction began in 2006 and was planned to finish in October 2010, however construction did not conclude until 25 September 2015. The completed work is one of the largest Buddha rupas in the world, at 169 feet and contains 100,000 8-inch-tall and 25,000 12-inch-tall gilded bronze Buddhas. At least that’s what Wikipedia says about it. Construction of the Buddha has certainly finished and it is a magnificent and awe inspiring sight. However the square in front of it was still being paved and there were one or two other things not quite completed - like some of the safety rails around the edge.

Very imposing...

...especially close up!

The city tour finished with a visit to the Tango Monastery and a stop at a view point to take in the city and particularly the enormous Tashichhoe Dzong, the most prominent landmark in Thimphu and the offices and throne room of the King of Bhutan.

Prayer Wheels at the Tango Monastery

Tashichhoe Dzong - slightly misty as it had started to rain

So far we were having a great time on holiday but of course the main purpose of the trip was to do some running. The first race related activity started on our return to the hotel - kit check and baggage weighing. For reasons of safety everyone is required to carry a certain amount of equipment on the race. None of this is complicated and is mainly the sort of stuff most people would carry anyway such as a rain jacket, first aid kit etc. Spare equipment, food, sleeping bag etc. is transported from camp to camp and each competitor is allowed up to 10kg of stuff. My bag was right on the 10kg limit, although there were a few non-essentials I could leave behind if it turned out to be overweight. Apart from having to run back to my room to get my head torch (a mandatory kit item) which I’d forgotten to pack, kit check was passed with no problems and I moved on to the medical check (no issues) and number collection. For this race you don’t actually get a number, everyone has their name on their identification plates, one for the front, one for the back. We were also all given Global Limits caps to wear at least for the start, and a couple of iron-on patches to wear on our race clothes. As I had three sets of race clothes I pinned the patches to my hydration vest instead. 

Kit checked and approved to run! (Photo credit: Global Limits)

Most of the other competitors arrived through the day and I couldn’t help but notice that many of them looked as if they could be quite fast. This would be my last night in a real bed for nearly a week and possibly as a result of knowing this the dogs didn’t seem nearly as noisy that night. Tomorrow we would transfer to the first camp in preparation for the race start on Sunday...

The night before the start of the race was to be spent at a campsite in Punakha, a couple fo kilometres from the start line at Punakha Dzong (Dzong is Bhutanese for fortress).To get there was a few hours drive from Thimphu and we would visit some more cultural highlights including a chance to look round the Dzong and see where we would be starting from.

To get there we needed to cross the 3100m high Dochula Pass. At the top of the pass there are  108 memorial chortens or stupas known as "Druk Wangyal Chortens", built by Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk, the eldest Queen Mother. Again this is according to Wikipedia - personally I suspect she didn't build them all herself, I'm sure she would have had some help.

The 108 Druk Wangyal Chortens

Apart from the chortens there is a monastery called the Druk Wangyal Lhakhang (temple), built in honour of the fourth Druk Gyalpo (head of the state of Bhutan), Jigme Singye Wangchuck.The pass is adjacent to the country's first Royal Botanical Park.

The Druk Wangyal Lhakhang - about to vanish into a cloud

There is one particular man who's influence on Bhutan can be seen all around the country. Drukpa Kunley - aka the 'Mad Saint' or 'Divine Madman' after his unorthodox ways of teaching Buddhism. He was known for his crazy methods of enlightening other beings, mostly women, which earned him the title "The Saint of 5,000 Women". Among other things, women would seek his blessing in the form of sex. His intention was to show that it is possible to be enlightened, impart enlightenment, and still lead a very healthy sex life. He demonstrated that celibacy was not necessary for being enlightened. In addition, he wanted to expand the range of means by which enlightenment could be imparted, while adding new evolutionary prospects to the overarching tradition. He is credited with introducing the practice of phallus paintings in Bhutan and placing statues of them on rooftops to drive away evil spirits. Because of this power to awaken unenlightened beings, Kunley's penis is referred to as the "Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom" and he himself is known as the "fertility saint". For this reason women from all around the world visited his monastery to seek his blessing. He would not bless anyone who came to seek his guidance and help unless they brought a beautiful woman and a bottle of wine.

His 'influence' can be seen on buildings....

On businesses....

And even on direction signs....

After leaving our somewhat obsessed lunch stop, we continued towards Punakha until we got our first view of the very impressive Punakha Dzong, and the bridge into on which our race would start the next day.

Punakha Dzong - the race starts on the bridge

Inside the Dzong

The Courtyard of the Dzong

 We were then transferred to our first camp - which was a nice location by the river but not quite as spectacular as the Dzong!

Our first camp site

Before we start on the 'running' part of this adventure this might be a good time to introduce the Global Limits team. I've already mentioned Rodrigo and his beard, our other 'volunteers without portfolio' were Harri Washington - who had come from Cambodia to volunteer and hence was mostly cold and often wearing a surprisingly large number of coats, Meese Geert from Belgium and Kinzang Wangdi from Bhutan. In addition we had two doctors from the USA, Ryan Paterson and Tatiana Havryliuk who looked after our medical needs for the week.

Medical Briefing from Ryan and Tatiana (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

All of the team are equally important but it's probably fair to say that if Manu Pastor messed up it would have the biggest effect on the race as he was the course marker. I went wrong several times during the week but I could never blame the course marking. Every time I returned to the course it was difficult to work out how I could have missed the markings - except that I have shown in the past that even a GPS watch buzzing away when I leave the course isn't necessarily enough to keep me on the straight and narrow so what chance did orange flags/paint/ribbons have?

One of the orange marker flags. Paint and ribbons also marked the route

Last but certainly not least is Stefan Betzelt, the Race Director and the heart of the race. Stefan can seem a bit aloof as he doesn't spend all his time chatting to competitors and asking how it's going. What he does do is invest a huge amount of time and effort in making sure that the race runs as well as he can possibly make it. Every day pictures and race reports are uploaded to the internet so that friends and family can follow the race, camp organisation and support is checked, nothing is left to chance and if something hasn't been done Stefan is the one that makes it happen. He also cares enormously about his runners and does everything he can to get everyone to the finish line, he does have a sense of humour and the 'Stern German' persona certainly gets things done.

After our first 'camp meal' and the race briefing we all retired to our tents to try and get some sleep before the next morning when the race would begin...