10km Double Hills Loop Bukit Tunku

I meant to write about this for some time already. Having used this route for a lot of training and initiation of beginner runners to run in the open (i.e. not on treadmill), i never actually officially written about the route or posted map on it. Double Hills Bukit Tunku is a 12km loop that is challenging enough for any runners. Beginners will find them daunting with the name (HILLS!) and more experience runners will at time use it for interval training or for recovery run. Whatever the level of your running experience, this route is not strangers to runners in Klang Valley.

The run starts from Bukit Aman car park. It will be difficult to explain in writing which is the correct route/turn to take. If anyone need the GPS routing, please email to me at im at tristupe.com. If you do not have any GPS, Here is the rough guide to run Double Hills Loop.
1. Start from Bukit Aman Car Park and run out towards the main road, turning right and head down to Bank Negara, passing Padang Merbuk on your left. This first km is a slight slope downwards and gives good opportunity for a warm up.

2. Upon reaching Bank Negara, turn left and run along the road until you go under a flyover. That flyover is for KTM Komuter. You will then turn right into the road and run pass the KTM Komuter Station. Run pass the station and follow the uphill road, which will leads you to pass Sasana Kijang, the new Bank Negara Building. Admire the building if you want to. After all, it is build with some of your tax money. Run down towards the intersection and take a sharp right up, passing an Arab school on your left.

3. Running pass the Arab school, the real workout begin. You are now in Bukit Tunku area where the size of your house could be the size of a bedroom of these houses that belongs to the rich (not sure if they are famous). Just follow the winding road for about 2 1km(thank you Anon) until you reach a major intersection. You have to turn left immediately and not go straight ahead and down - or you will end up at The Mall and Legend Hotel.

4. After turning left, you will run passing a flyover with Lebhuraya Mahameru below you. You will also see two huge mansion on your left and a high end gated community on your right. Right in between these two is a small roundabout. Turn right and run down the small slope or use it for some active recovery before hitting about 1km of flat road passing more mansions and high end gated community.

5. Run along the road until you pass a bus stop on your left and right hand side. You will see Taman Tunku Apartment - an old settlement of quaint unpretentious gated community on your right, cross the 2-lane road after you pass the Taman Tunku Apartment and turn left into Jalan Pinggiran Tunku. Missing this turn, you will end up next to National Tennis Stadium and dangerously close to crossing the main road towards Hartamas ;-)

6. This is where the so called Double Hill starts. A short slope up Pinggiran Tunku, you will meet with a fork on the road. Turn right and and run in between more mansions. You can opt to count cars inside the two mansions on your right if you got bored of running. I last counted 12 cars in each mansion. Immediately after that, you will be facing a 8 degree climb for about 200m. This is the first "hill" of this run. Elevation gain over this short 300m is about 60meters. Decent enough for a good heart pump. Continue on the road and you will have an option to turn right into Simpangan Tunku and take the short 150m to Persiaran Bukit Tunku, before turning left down the road. The typical practice over here is that most runners will take the alternative route per below where Pinggiran Tunku and Jalan Girdle meet. Keep left and run down the hill and you will meet back with Persiaran Bukit Tunku. You only lose about 200m if you take the alternative route. Make it up with some hard running down the slope.

7. Run along the road and turn left at a T-junction towards a roundabout. Take the second exit at the roundabout and run about 1km before hitting Lebuhraya Mahameru. Make sure you exit Bukit Tunku and do not turn into Jalan Carruthers or Jalan Tunku Putra. One is a dead end and the other, a massive 10degree climb over 1km await! Carefully cross and run on the left side of the road. Run along the road that runs parallel to Lebuhraya Mahameru. You will reach an overhead pass and turn left, crossing the highway. Turn left again and run up the second hill (hence, Double Hill), flanking the Agricultural Ministry and the Department of Irrigation. The road is wide here, but careful of fast moving vehicles and always run against the traffic so you can see what is coming to you.

8. Once you clear the "hill", there is a turning on your right (first right actually) to a road called Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin. This road is winding and only about 1.5km long, but adequate flat and slight downhill to perform a fast interval. I managed (my fastest) a 4:45 pace here a hold it before the heart rate peaks at 169bpm (my 90% max). You will run past Tugu Negara (National Monument) before hitting the crossroad back to Bukit Aman Car Park. Cross the intersection carefully and sprint to your car to finish!

So, there you go. The 12km loop of Double Hill Bukit Tunku. This route has been ran by runners back in the 80's and still remain a favorite for many today. While there were news of runners being mugged by Mat Rempit (biker gang), they are isolated incident. Just remember to run in group and avoid running this loop too early in the morning or too late in the morning. Meanwhile, here are some photos to share from the Double Hill Escapade Saturday morning with wifey.

HR a low 48bpm at 6.30am...wow!

Wifey clearing first hill. Nice calves by the way!

Today's effort that translate to 65% - 90% of my HRmax. 12km covered in 1:10.