Team Further Faster take on Wulong Mountain Quest in China!

What's it like to compete in China's Wulong Mountain Quest? 

Mikey Mitchell, 1/4 of the Adventure Racing Team, Further Faster AR, gives us a deep dive into what the race days looked like! 

I remember asking Sarah: ‘Why doesn’t everyone go to Wulong to race? It’s such a good deal!’

‘Because,’ she replied, ‘it is very hard.’ She was correct. It’s not really the type of race you rock up to with a couple of team missions and some base fitness under the belt. It’s fast, hot, humbling, and very competitive. I had some great advice from a friend prior to getting on the plane: ‘Lean into the experience, not just the race.’ So, while we focused on the race, we also took some time to acknowledge what a wonderful opportunity it was and soaked in the full experience. An adventure race in the central Chinese mountains - pretty random gig.

Preconceptions I had about China were along the lines of: overcrowded, polluted, everyone working 25 hours a day, lacking in natural beauty... Nope. None of that was what we experienced in Wulong. It is beautiful, clean, and the standard of living seems pretty high. 

Abseiling off a bridge to finish the stage!

Meet the team: Sarah Jenkins - good luck finding a tougher, more dedicated athlete. With many C2C longest days and two expeditions to China under her belt, Sarah is the one who brought the team together. Sam Fox: taking a break from the pro MTB scene, Sam generously donated his obscene wattage to the team. Chris Sanson: ex-pro for Ironman and Cycling, and pretty handy with a pair of runners. Michael Mitchell, that’s me, general Adventure Race battler, and pretty out of my depth trying to keep up with the other three. Ed Jenkins: Team media, all-around MVP, and married to Sarah. 

After a solid winter of training, I felt ready. The team felt well prepared, too. In fairness, Chris only had about 10 weeks’ notice, after Karati was ruled out following a face full of tarseal in a bike crash. For Chris, the previous 8 months had been boozing and cruising around Europe and Asia on his honeymoon. But with some aggressive dieting strategies and general savageness, he was at the start line at Wulong 15kg lighter (!) and ready to lead the team into the dungeon.

To get to Wulong, you fly into Chongqing. It is a city of 36 million people. Depending on how you count populations, that makes it the biggest city in the world, and I had never heard of it. Check it out on YouTube, it’s wild. From there, the race organisers collect you and your bikes and drive you through a fairly stunning landscape, connected by the biggest bridges and tunnels I’ve ever seen. And then you arrive in Wulong, which would be a bit like if Christchurch were built at the source of the Waimak instead of the mouth. You’re then dropped off at the hotel, which is also race HQ, and where all the teams stay. As part of the $270 entry fee, there is a full buffet for every meal and 4-star accommodation. Like I said, it’s a bloody bargain. I guess the race organisers (The Chinese Government) have a fairly generous budget. 

 

The race itself: 4 days total. Each day was between 4 and 8 hours of racing. 200ish km in total across the week. Disciplines were running, MTB, kayaking, rafting, abseiling, caving, zipline, orienteering, chair carry, and the controversial fire starting. Hilly terrain, minimal nav, all on trails/road. Athletes were from China, Russia, NZ, France, and a sprinkling of Australians. All of the 40-odd teams have four people, and they are mixed gender teams. 

When you compare this event to the likes of The Magnificent or Godzone, the untrained assumption would be that it’s easier because you return to your hotel at night to recover and then go again the next day. Personally, I found this version of racing harder. There’s no ‘better conserve ourselves for later’ or ‘don’t want to blow up too early’. It’s just as fast as you can possibly go, the entire time. As one quote went, ‘Unless you’re lying in the gutter, you can go harder’. In theory, I knew that going into Wulong, and being prepared accordingly… But I learnt a few lessons about what that type of intensity really feels like. You know that feeling you get at cross country day when you’re 7 years old, and there’s that kind of metallic taste in your mouth, and your little lungs are screaming for the whole 2 km? It’s like that for four days.

The scale of the event is large. An opening ceremony where the mayor and his entourage address the event, a mini music festival, drones, fireworks, and maybe 1000 or so locals coming to have a gander. Then stage 1 begins with a 5km run. 3:45 minutes per kilometer. So into the box we went. The next leg was a hilly 20km ride and then a run through the bottom of a gorge, which was absolutely mind blowing. Herding tourists out of the way as we whizzed across the boardwalk, skirting around waterfalls, 500m high rock walls on either side, large rock caves big enough to fit a suburb, all while you are full send trading places with the teams around you. It’s an overused term these days, but it really was epic (it’s worth googling ‘Wulong Karst Chongqing’). Next up was a zip line where Sam drew the straw to pull himself along a few hundred metres of cable suspended 500m above the ground. With only a couple of carabiners to slide on, it was a bit of squeaky bum, big bicep exercise. Thanks, Sam, you da man. Another few k’s of running into the finish, and we finished 16th for the day. Room for improvement, but overall, a pretty good day. 

Given that this team is a new combination, we had yet to go through that ‘yeah, not our best work’ type of day. Day 2 was that day. On day one, I rolled my ankle on a curb while I was reaching for a gel (fool). Overnight, the bruising and swelling ramped up. Strapping wasn’t working, as it left my foot looking like roast pork tied in butcher's string. My shoe felt more like a foot prison than a Topo Mountain Racer 3. The team graciously agreed to start at a conservative pace to see how the hoof would handle the 20km trail run. On the start line, I was choking back tears while explaining that I was scared of letting the team down. The gun went off, and the only thing to do was run and see how it went. A bit of blood flow, adrenaline, and paracetamol were good enough to get us through the run. We were up high in the mountains where it was cool and misty. Horses in dangly cow bells wandered out of the fog, creating an eerie vibe.

Cooked as!

While it didn’t stop the show, the ankle slowly robbed us of momentum as we slid further back through the field. A debacle with a hole in the raft we were supplied slowed us down further, and our team stoke took a tumble. Our transitions became a bit sloppy, we were not riding efficiently, and we just didn’t move back into top gear. Ankle pain and faulty equipment are the kinds of things that happen pretty regularly. They are not an excuse to ease up, but rather an opportunity to press on. We finished back a few spots on day 1, and probably left 30 minutes on the course, which we didn’t need to. 23rd for the day. But my ankle felt much better than I expected it to, so it could have been worse. 

We did a bit of reflecting and regrouped at the start of day 3. We resolved to focus on a few fundamentals and find our momentum again. The day started with a 1.2km swim, which we splashed through as best as we could. Then onto a run where it was apparent that we all had our heads and hearts back in the race. A decent climb out of a small village left perched at the top of a long and windy descent back into the valley.

Sam picked impeccable lines while Sarah stuck to his wheel like a limpet. Chris steered the group from the back, and we roped in a couple of teams. Later, we described that section as ‘unity’. We then ran some trails that weaved through rice paddies and villages. The race in Wulong has been happening for over 20 years now, so it seems many of the locals are familiar with the idea of 200 skinny privileged people torturing themselves in the hills. It’s nice having families waiting on street corners, cheering you on. Even if their cheers are cheekily veiled with a tone of ‘you running people are pretty silly’. Fair point.

Then a 20km paddle down the Wu Jiang river, which is a tributary of the Yangtze. The volume of the water is hard to comprehend if you are from NZ, where rivers don’t get too long. Typical flow in the Wujiang is 1200 cumecs, and the flood gauge on the side of the river was about 50m higher than the level we were paddling. The paddle was not technical, but there was a standing wave and a few beefy boils that made the paddle a little bit interesting. To finish the day, there was a fun abseil off a bridge and a sprint across the line.  A much-improved team performance to finish about 15th. 

Warming up for the last day, the legs did not want to wake up for the 2km sprint off the start. Too slow. That’s a work on. Then onto a similar paddle where we paddled stronger than day 3, but lost time on the transition. Another work on.

The majority of this final day was a bike with a lot of vert. We back ourselves in that situation, especially because Sam rides bikes for a living. I do not ride bikes for a living. So between a tow rope and a fair few swear words, we made it to the top of the 1000m climb. As I write this, I am salivating with gentle anxiety as I recall the discomfort in that moment. I think that ride was the hardest I have ever pushed, and it’s good to bank that memory for the next time I have something hard to do. An orienteering leg and a very large wall that we all clambered over together. 11th for the day, strong improvement. 17th overall, and lucky enough to leave with enough prize money to cover a decent chunk of costs. 

Over the wall!

This was definitely an experience for the pool room. Many lessons learnt and a lot of fun amongst the suffering. Foxy summed it up best in our debrief: ‘a performance we can be proud of, but plenty of areas we can improve, which is right where you want to be’. 

Shout out to the other Kiwi teams Fear:Youth (ish), Topsport, and Kiwis can Fly (Flav squad). Inspiring to see you crushing it at the front of the race. 

Cooked Together! 

Next big outing: the Further Faster AR (Holly, Harvey, Adrian, Michael) team will reunite for the second edition of the Magnificent in March. I’m planning to squeeze in the Valley Ultra (24k), Rogaine Nationals, a Northwest Circuit FKT attempt, some fast 5km and 10km attempts, and work trips to Anchor and Auckland Islands. Gonna be a full summer. 

Thanks to Julz, Rocky, and the Further Faster crew, who have been supporting us for years now. Champs. 

More important than all of that - Sam Fox got married! Chur bro!

- Mikey Mitchell 

If you liked this blog, how about you check out another one of Mikey's adventures here: WTF 6: A Cracking Front Country Mission – Further Faster