Simpur 50k much tougher than expected
Chun Kwei Ming was the great winner of last weekend’s Simpur Ultra 50, as pre-race favourite Sefli Ahar pulled out just over halfway following an injury sustained in a fall early on in the race. Just like the earlier BBTC event in 2016-2018, Brunei’s trails once again proved to be very treacherous despite what some would call a lack of elevation gain. The forest trails around the city of Bandar Seri Begawan are very technical and slow even the quickest runners down so much that we had a very solid and proven competitor as Chun Kwei Fung winning in just over 10 hours for 50k. It’s easy to deduct his average speed. The local Bruneian was 6th in Borneo TMBT 100 in 2019, for instance. He was one -and-a-half hours ahead of 2nd placed Haji Ibni Bin Haji Nudin, and over three hours ahead of Junaidi in third place.
Nur Ainulhakimah Mahmud was the fastest woman in the race in a time of 15:44:12, after a long and exciting competition with Norazimah Mohd Zin, who ultimately finished just six minutes later in second. Tellingly, only two women managed to beat the cut-off time. Overall, Simpur Ultra was clearly a killer, with just 23% of the starters in the finish.
Despite these dramatic numbers, people agreed the event has a bright future ahead and with some fine-tuning can become a Bruneian classic.
