Nathan Ridge Run 2011 - Breath Taking Run

Nathan Ridge Run 2011 was held at Tagaytay Highlands on 20Nov11. As planned by the sponsor and race organizer, the event met the number limit of of its participants at 1000 inclusive of the three categories 21k/10k/5k.

There had been more than a couple of races held this year at Tagaytay Highlands, but all of them are trail runs. The Nathan Ridge Run was a road race along the access roads of Tagaytay Highlands, Midlands and surrounding exclusive housings of the Tagaytay Highlands estate.

At 5:00 I with my sons Dax, Dennis and daughter-in-law Pamela arrived at the starting venue at the Sports Club Center with most of the parking already taken giving us no other alternative but take the furthest parking lot just beyond the go-kart track and just before the open arena. It was maybe a good sign as to find ourselves in the starting line required us to walk a good distance of 300 meters of uphill climb getting ourselves warmed up and familiar of what to expect during the race.

Gun time was 5:30am fro the 21k, 5:45am for the 10k and 6:00am for the 5k. As I was entered on the 10k event, I took the opportunity to watch the gun start for the 21k event participants and just watching these guys makes me envy their determination and drive not because of the distance but the elevation for the whole length of the race that is definitely the touhest there is for a road race in the country.

At 5:45am 10k was let go on an uphill climb starting at elevation 410 meters to elevation 625 meters or a climb of 215 meters in 3.3k distance all the way to the Peak Bar. From the Peak Bar it was a down hill run to elevation 320 meters or descent of 305 meters in a distance of 4.0 kilometers. While this segment was a descent it was not as easy as it looks like as running down hill was risky and dangerous. Then it was the back breaking climb from elevation 320 to elevation 500 or a climb of 180 meters in 1.7 kilometers that would make you ask “why am I doing this”? Finally the last segment was a downhill run a descent of 90 meters in a distance of 1 kilometer before hitting the finish line.

My 10k was timed at 01h 34m 01s which was a mixture of run, race walk, walk and even a snail’s walk.

My official timing as posted by Nathan is as follows;

Congratulations to Nathan for a very innovative race event. 

The Nathan Ridge Run 2011 was “breath taking” with views and scenery and with stiff elevation clim you need to tackle during the run. Breath taking indeed!