With only 1 week frame of preparation, we decided to challenge ourselves in setting this FKT at Mt. Kalatungan. The whole run was a 2 man team effort. We both shared our individual strengths in the trails to run the best time possible on this course. We arrived at Mendis village friday afternoon to do the customary rituals required by the tribes to climb the mountain. This ritual is a usual practice to ask permission to the mountain spirits to enter its grounds, also for requesting good weather and safety during the run.
We started the run at exactly 5:02 am (Saturday). I (Kirk Gapulan) did the first pacemaking duties... We started out a lil fast going up to view deck basecamp. We reached view deck base camp with a time of 32 minutes. It's all uphill climb from then on up to the summit. Godwin did the majority of pacemaking during the uphill climbs given that he is stronger on climbs.
We reached the buko buko sa anay ridge section a little over an hour.(around 40 mins from viewdeck basecamp) It is the most scenic point of the route with the view of kalatungan peak and muleta falls.
Kalatungan Summit: We clocked exactly 2 hours and 27 minutes upon reaching the summit.
Mt. Lumpanag (wiji): Traversing from Kalatungan to Lumpanag is the most techincal and challenging part of the course. We managed to navigate through exposed roots, mossy forest trails, and the last major climb of the day(lumpanag summit push ) at exactly an hour from Kalatungan summit. We reached Mt. Lumpanag peak with an overall time of 3 hours and 27 mins.
Final push: Our goal for this FKT was to run the best possible time for this loop. We didn't have an exact target time to beat but unofficially by mouth, the best time done on this loop was 5 hrs 20mins, so we were hoping a sub 5 hour run atleast.
From Lumpanag summit, we knew a sub 5 would be possible based on our time, but we also knew its going to be a close one! I paced the first downhill section running down from wiji summit. It was a battle against time for a sub 5, and Godwin did the last major downhill stretch and picked up the pace pushing us both to the finish. My leg was a little bit done in the last downhill stretch, but big props to Godwin by pushing us both for a sub 5.
Yayyy!! (4:56)
Kirk Gapulan
Godwin Mirar