DOT Desk: The route was through a series of mountains, uncountable, on and off the road. Flat surfaces appeared at times but most of the tracts were hilly,reports Dhaka Tribune.
The beautiful nature called all the time, albeit there was no leisure to cherish.
One has to walk and run for 70 kilometers through this adventurous trail to touch the finishing line. R A Eahsan and Imamur Rahman, both in their 30s, described an unforgettable journey after returning home as the only Bangladeshi finishers with participants from 35 countries taking part.
The two runners claimed that they are the first from Bangladesh to finish such race (70km+ ultra-trail) which is different from half and full marathon for the distance it covers and trail it offers.
The trail that was
It was an ultra-trail marathon event at Vietnam Trail Marathon held in Moc Chau, northwest region of Vietnam, some 200kms away from the capital Hanoi and 1,200 meters above sea level.
The cutout time was 20 hours but the duo took 17 hours and 35 minutes to complete the track.
It was January 7 at 4am when they had started off with the temperature being nine degrees Celsius.They had to find the marks at turning points and follow accordingly, no matter how difficult the path is, and it was something that they had never experienced before.
At one point, after crossing 52 kilometers, one of them thought he couldn’t compete anymore and was considering giving up. “I received an injury. It was muscle cramp. Then I thought I should quit. It was around 5:30pm in the evening. I got the mental support from Eahsan and representing Bangladesh was also in my mind which boosted me up to carry on,” Imamur told Dhaka Tribune.
The joy of nature also amazed and inspired them.“The nature was striking. Everything suddenly became green when the sun rose. The birds were singing. Mountains one after another. We climbed one, then another. There was also lake. If the views were not so beautiful it would have been tougher to finish,” Imamur added.The most difficult part began after the sun went off.