Day 05

Apr 5th, 2008 by Alice in Daily Marathon

Jhu-An to 10km along Highway 9 past Suao.

Starting from the small house in the midst of paddy fields and mountains, Tim, Wes, Maggie and Neil refused the sprint start and set off in the blazing heat. At 8km we stop at a shrimp fishing pool in no-man’s-land and I’m delighted to see the only local in there catching a shrimp with well-practiced panache. Besides shrimp fishing, the Taiwanese love basketball, and the Kiwi beat the Pom (Alex) in an exciting game of shoot the balls into the net as quickly as possible. Tim, Wes and Neil catch up and have a remarkably relevant conversation about Paula Radcliffe and someone called Solassi. However, I’m told that the running topic of conversation (while running, that is), is how one should unlatch one’s arm from the grips of a Rottweiler’s jaws. Answers on a postcard please.

The road is straight and long, and there’s no shelter. My motorbike must accommodate six rucksacks today, two helmets, myself, Non-French Kiwi Chris (who wisely decided to ride rather than run again) and half a Maggie, who is running parts of each 5km stretch. At 19.5km, nearly half-way, we all stop for a snack. Wes calls Tim the Elephant Man. Wes says he wants to stay where he is and eat the 7eleven. Wes announced that he needed a massage, but Chris declined.

We accidentally take a 5km detour through a fishing village called Nanfang-Ao. The lads are not impressed as they are almost sick from the stench of the fish market they are running through, which my guide book describes as follows: “Nanfang-Ao’s smelliest attraction… The smell and gore are certainly not for the faint-hearted.” However, Neil was brave enough to try an oyster for the first time later that day so maybe the smell of fish worked on him subconsciously. Still a little delirious from the fish market, we are stopped at a junction. A motorcycle drives towards us, without looking like coming to halt and we are all about to jump away from the demented vehicle when we realise it’s Kevin of the Shire. He announces that he covered the distance from Keelung to here in 90 minutes. It has taken Neil and I five days.

Unbeknownst to Tim, Wes and Neil, the final (and most challenging) 12km of this marathon will lead them from the quaint harbour to the very top of the mountain that looms above us. After 5km, we meet the lads at a lay-by. They have been running uphill the entire time, without the sanctuary of a downhill stretch at all, the only solace being taken from the fabulous view of the town and Suao harbour shrinking beneath them. In the blazing sun Chris, Kevin, Maggie and I chat happily, the way that people do when they are not running up a mountain, before realising we are out of water. In fear of being thrown over the ledge on their arrival, Kevin shoots off to the nearest shop (5km away) in an attempt to rectify the situation. A passing taxi driver feels the need to pull up and give me what I later to learn is a custard apple. As the boys approach, I beg the driver for water too. He happily gives them a bottle and taking a petrol-can of water from his boot, proceeds to pour it over Neil’s head. By coincidence, another car pulls up and Neil’s friend Michael gets out. They chat a while. We realise Taiwan is, in some ways, very small.

Some time later, in darkness, we wait for the boys 7km on. All steep and winding again, this really is an incredibly difficult end to the day. But all three finish in style, even making a few jokes.

We fail to find a taxi rank on top of this deserted mountain and with seven of us and only two bikes, we try our hands at hitch-hiking. Before too long, a betel nut chewing angel stops and drives Tim, Wes and Maggie down to Suao town. Some of us are more thrilled than others to find a seven-bedroom hotel room for only 200NT each. But some local cuisine of oysters, beef, fried rice and the like, and an immense amount of tiredness, mean we all slept wonderfully, despite the sweat dripping from the ceiling of our packed-out, unairconditioned room.