BOH ECO TRAIL 2016

28-May-2016
BOH Plantations 
Bukit Cheeding, Selangor D.E.

8km Trail - Non Competitive



My first (ever) official trail run. Oh....my . . its 8km! I got no clue at all about this trail and I was quite nervous.

But firstly gotta thank Benz Azurie Malik, The Race Director of The Marathon Company for the invite. And of course to Evelyn Ang Loo & her hubby Dennis Loo for so ever generous in offering me the ride to Bukit Cheeding. Ohhh. .  and Marlina for putting my name in the list.

Come Friday and I'm kind of regret accepting the invite. At 2am I was still wondering if I can actually complete the run. OK. Evelyn and Dennis will be picking me up at 4.30am. So, at 3.00am I took a quick bath and change. Packed a bottle of Lucozade sport drinks and some sweets (yaaaa .. . I am taking this as just another makanthon) just in case (just in case...) they run out of water or there is lack of food to take me through the course.

Fast forward . . . . it was quite a long ride. Took us more than an hour passing through some winding road, industrial area and unknown housing area. At about 6.30am, we arrived at the destination. It's still a little cold out there. Looking at the crowd .. . probably slightly more than 500 runners turned up. Set amidst tea bushes interspersed with tall coconut and palm trees, this is a rare opportunity for the public to run through the BOH's Tea Garden and the restricted section of the adjacent Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve.

All proceeds from the registration fee totalling RM28,000 were channeled to Global Environment Centre (GEC), a regional non-profit organisation in support of their Peatland Forest Ranger Programme to raise awareness of peat swarm forest conservation among younger generation.

The Run
The run was flagged off at about 7.45am. It was
a cold gloomy morning and the sky threatened to pour down earlier but fortunately weather was just perfect for the morning till the end. Love the greens surrounding. Mild elevations and later part of the route we get to run into the forest reserve.

There were sufficient signages along the route. Volunteers made up of runners, plantations workers and rangers from the forestry were friendly and cheerful. Love that positive energy in them that make your run seems so easy and fun.

The Crews
Crews are the backbone of an event. The photos below speak a thousand words. Well done!

                                                                                                                       
The Special Station
The best was the Coconut drink station. Coconuts fresh from the plantation were served to all runners.

The Orang Asli
The orang asli were given a part in the program to showcase their products and made a short

performance. I wish they were given a more significant role to play in the future than just to
showcase some very basic orang asli produce. A bigger pavilion should be allocated to give the general public an in depth existence of the orang asli, the rightful people of this land who has been sidelined and marginalised for a very long time. It would have been even more meaningful if each runners is given a headwear to put on while running the course. I would be more than happy to part with a few more ringgit to put that on and all the collections being channeled to them (the maker).


Wish the safety tape (candy tape) be replaced by some of the handy works made by the orang asli to retain the nature outlook.

Just a little disappointment in not having a hot cup of BOH tea at the race village. Was expecting that as part of the refreshment be it before the start of the race and after the race. Iced drinks is good to cool down the body but a hot cup of tea is great to get the taste on the freshness of the tea.

Overall, the run is well managed. I'll rate the run 9/10. Kudos to the Race Director and the team for their great effort and I'll definitely run it again.