Somehow I lost time at home and had only 15 minutes to catch the ferry at 7:30. When I called my friend he said the ferry was already undocking. OMG! Luckily, there was a special ferry 5 minutes later to bring most of the runners to Mui Wo.
Once I arrived, we waited for about an hour for the start of the race 9:20pm. Usually, I like to be close to the front, but for fun.. I thought I would try the back and video the crowd before it became pitch dark.
Unfortunately, my Garmin watch acted up in the race around 3km and I lost a 5km of history. Adding insult to injury, my light became dim 30 minutes into the race which gave me a very very low lumin (I'd say around 5-10). I tripped over a rock, did a barrel roll and hit my head on a small rock giving me a lump on right parietal ridge area. I think the light issue really became a significant crutch on my trail run. Well, that's part of the race! Unexpectedly, I came too close to the edge and actually fell again and my camelpack hose came off. Remind you my stinking light was on 'dim' mode and the spout became very difficult to find in the overgrown bush. I would say I easily spent 3-5 minutes searching for it. Ok, Chi Ma Wan pensisular was very friendly to this trailrunner that night.
Once out of the peninsular, the hike began. It was a relief to see the first checkpoint and refill water. I forgot to mention that the missing spout cause around 200ml of lost water :(. I had an extra battery, so I popped it in.. giving me another 30 minutes of bright light.
Once I arrived at Tung Chung Road (checkpoint 4), I felt pretty good and there was substainial incline for the next 5km. I was able to pass around a half dozen runners going up to Lantau Peak. I really felt I was cruising up the steep 400 incline at a decent rate. It took me around 23 minutes whereas when I first did Lantau back in April, it took me more than twice as long: 43 minutes. Once I arrived at the top, I somehow went down the wrong way and found myself slidding down from one ledge to another. Luckily, I criss-crossed to the left and was able to get back on the footpath.
While decending, the wind was quite strong and the rocks quite slippery. Given the fact that I had around 3km left to go, I took it real easy and slow. It took longer to go down the Lantau Peak than it did to go up.
My time was 6:21, Here is a video of the run from the starting point into Chi Ma Wan peninsular:
