An interview with Julie Ong and Sim Phei Sunn – The North Face 100K trailblazers

By Les Tan/Red Sports

Julie Ong and Sim Phei Sunn are two endurance athletes who recently took part in The North Face 100 Singapore race. Julie, a Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) and local-born Phei Sunn were first-timers in this race, having met each other through the Safra Mount Faber Running Club.

Phei Sunn and Julie competed in the 100km Duo Women’s Category and came in second. They were the only Singapore team on the podium.

Red Sports: Why did you take part?
Julie: I wanted a new challenge. I’ve always done road-running and this trail race was my first. It’s also my first time attempting an ultra distance (more than 42km).

Phei Sunn: I've always loved trail runs. This is not my first trail-ultra, but it's the first time I took part in this North Face race. When Julie called me to ask if we wanted to team up, I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up because she's faster than me. We initially signed up for the 50k duo, but decided to upgrade to the 100k duo category. I'm glad we did.

Then we had to name our team, and on a spur decided to call ourselves Chilli Padi, because we are both petite runners. Especially Julie, who is small but fast.

How did you prepare for the race?
Julie: Specificity is important. We trained at MacRitchie and Bukit Timah trail areas for our weekend long runs, to adapt to the racing terrain and conditions. We continued our weekday runs at the club, mainly speed workouts on Tuesdays and tempo workouts on Thursday.

PS: Like Julie, we continued with our usual club's weekly trainings. However, we replaced the long road runs with trails on weekends to familiarise ourselves with the race route and get used to our race condition (e.g. shoes, hydration packs, pace). There were many runners from our club who were taking part in this race, including both our partners. Some runners had completed last year's event and could show us the route. So there was a good community to train with.

What was the field of competition like?
PS: I think there were 1,200 participants in total across the various categories. This year, the organisers had new categories like 50k Duo and mixed teams, which allowed more runners to experience the race. In Singapore, there are many more road runners than trail. So I'm really happy that the expanded race can introduce people to the joys of trails. The event attracted many strong runners from the region too.

How did you expect to do?
Julie: Aiming to complete the race in 7 hours and without injuries!

PS: Same, hoping to finish the race within 7 hours.

How did you and your partner complement each other/work together?
Julie: Phei Sunn started off the race with a good pace and kept me going through the first half of the race till we reached the Lorong Asrama entrance. Within the Lorong Asrama region, we stayed close together and helped to motivate each other to walk the up-slopes and run the down-slopes. The aim was to keep moving. After we exited from Lorong Asrama, I was motivated to keep going especially after Phei Sunn reminded me that we were very likely to make it within 7 hours, given our progress so far.

We managed to keep each other within sight during the second half of the race and only after Kampong Trail, when Phei Sunn told me to go ahead and run in front, did we leave each other to complete the race at our own pace.

PS: As Julie is a faster runner, I was not expecting to be running with her. But I tried my best to keep her in sight. As it turned out, we took turns to lead and sort of ran together. In the first 20km, I was slightly ahead, and Julie took the lead for the next 20km. The last 10km was basically us going at our own best pace and completing the run.

I think running together kept us going because you don't want to be left too far behind (that would usually be me). We agreed to walk up slopes and run down. Being able to see each other kept our rhythm going, or we might have ended up walking a lot more alone.

What were the highlights? What was easiest and hardest?
Julie: The yellow muddy hill in Lorong Asrama was definitely the highlight! We had to figure out the easiest way to scramble up the steep hill. Scramble up, we did… on our hands and feet to reach the summit.

I expected the North View stretch to be the hardest on the knees, since there were a continuous stretch of steep steps to descend. The hardest part was the numerous up-slopes within the Lorong Asrama area. It helps when there is a partner to motivate you to keep moving on (i.e. keep walking). The steep high steps along the North View path were also particularly treacherous, as I had to take care not to slip on the wooden steps.

I didn’t expect anything to be easy about the race! But it would be the down-slopes that came after the up-slopes when I could let gravity do the work, open up my strides and just “fly” downhill albeit in a controlled manner.

PS: Seeing the infamous and mysterious Lorong Asmara region and Hill 265 was definitely it. When we reached the Hill, I asked Julie if she was sure we were on the right route. Fortunately we saw a guy ahead going up, so we followed. It was so steep with no grip that we actually slipped backwards. So we had to find roots, whatever, to pull ourselves up.

Noticing that there were not many female runners along the way gave me a morale boost that we were making good time progress. I felt like we had a chance to make good timing and complete below our target of 7 hours.

Seeing runner-friends who were at various support stations along the route was motivating as well. They were taking photos, dishing out muscle cream and cold 100-Plus. Their presence was good cheer.

The Bukit Timah trail steps were familiar grounds to me because I train there often for my climbs. Julie was pretty steady there as well. So it was a section that we could open our gap with the next team, just by going down the steps quickly and confidently.

Going down slopes, skipping on the stones and balancing that momentum kept me focused, away from the monotony of running. One can't be “switched off” or risk falling.

I was initially stunned when we went to Bukit Timah and the Rengas & North View trails during one training run. Those trails had really high steps and were meant for hiking, not running. I kept asking my friends if that was really part of the race route.

During the race, the mentally toughest part had to be the Lorong Asmara training grounds and Hill 265. It was an area of never-ending rolling slopes, culminating in a 60-70 degree red-mud hill that soldiers scrambled up in army packs. We had to tackle that. It was totally unexpected because the training grounds were only opened to us during race day, so it was a fresh experience.

I thought I had a chance to hit 6 hours 30 minutes based on the pace for the past 30km. Unfortunately, I had bad abductor cramps on the last stretch back. I wasted about 10 minutes digging out my salt tablets, applying muscle cream and walking the stretch of Rifle Range Road. I only resumed jogging near MacRitchie. But because that section was such familiar grounds, I lost that sense of exploration and there was a mental fatigue to finishing that last 10km.

I was happy though that I could not see Julie because that meant she had gone ahead and hopefully clocked a good time.

What was the organisation of the race like?
Julie: The organisation of the race was decent but could be better. There were sufficient aid stations throughout the race, offering a good variety of “real” food and gels and energy bars. However the isotonic drinks and water were not sufficiently chilled, especially in the hot, humid weather. There was a good spread of food for the runners at the finish point, with different varieties of Subway sandwiches, cookies and muffins, yoghurt and fruits! Yummy!

The finishing point could have been livelier. As we ran towards the finish point from the trail, we couldn’t really hear much inspiring music to cheer us towards the end.

PS: I've participated in trail and marathon events in the USA and Europe. For a local event, I'm satisfied with the aid stations that were all well-stocked with a selection of energy food options. The route directional signs were largely accurate and intact, and checkpoints working. The post-race spread was comparable to the overseas ones, and definitely the only local major race that gave out free substantial food like Subway sandwiches, fruits and more.

That said, I hope the organizers can find a better way next year to schedule the 100k solo event so that more people are able to support those runners. Their event ended about 9pm and very few people would have stayed. But it would have been nice if there was a way to cheer them at the finishing.

How did you feel coming across the finish line? Physically, mentally, emotionally?
Julie: Physically drained. My thighs were so burned out from all the slopes. Emotionally, it felt so rewarding and fulfilling as I ran towards the finish line. I felt this rise of emotions bringing tears [to my eyes] as I realised that I had completed the trail race and further more, in a decent timing.

PS: I was very pleased that I managed to go below my 7-hour target. That was probably my fastest trail run and I'm not sure if I could repeat that. My friends commented that I still looked very fresh after the run. Indeed, I was still feeling very cheery and hyper after the race, perhaps a result of too much adrenaline and caffeine in my system!

How did you feel when you found out you finished in second place?
Julie: We were initially in third place and even finding out we were in third place was pretty amazing to us. Then later on, we were “upgraded” to second place as the original first-placed team was disqualified.

PS: When we finished the run, I felt that we had a good chance of being placed in the top 10. But it was really a surprise to be on the podium. It's the first time that I have won anything in a local running event. The first and third teams were foreign teams.

How did you celebrate?
Julie: Went home to rest and snooze!

PS: We didn't! We took many pictures with our prizes, and went home to rest those legs.

Editor's note: Do you have a running experience that you would like to share with readers? Feel free to share it by emailing me at lesATredsportsDOTsg.