Save Bukit Kiara : Bringing In Newbies Into The Trail

Two weeks in a row I brought in a colleague into the trail of Bukit Kiara. I believe the best way to let anyone appreciate the beauty and potential of Bukit Kiara as a great place for trail run is to bring them into the world class-built by hand trails. So, last two weekends, i gave a private tour to my colleague Kanthaa. It was his first time running in the trail, ever.

Kanthaa behind me in the Trail

To encourage him to run more, i gave him my trusty Cascadia5. Afterall, sharing is caring. :)

Looking Good

I shared a few pointers on running trails, like how to run down inclines in safest fastest manner - things that were not told to me when I first ran trails.

Quickstep and confident landing

For starter, he did really well. We covered about 7km that morning. A good run-walk workout.
A week later, the opportunity came to bring another colleague into the trail. He is an avid runner and has a strong fitness base. We were there primarily for the Walk To Save Bukit Kiara.
Suggested Route For First Timer In Kiara
After much running in Kiara, I've found the good combo of trail running that cover between 7 to 9km to be running through these route.

Start from Taman Lembah Kiara and head towards "Park Connector". Upon reaching the 4-way junction, take the right most trail and enter "The Office". This will cover the first 1.2km and serves as a good warm up. Then turn left and head towards "Coronary Bypass" - a short 400m up through zigzag terrace before joining 'Lung Buster". You will join "Upper Carnival" before racing up "Shriner's Convention".

Running up Twin Peak

From there, you will join "Twin Peak". Distance from "Bypass" to top of "Twin Peak" is 2km. From the peak, there is only one way down - "T'n'T".

Up Twin Peak. PC Pushing it.

Bumped into Puh Heng and wifey Keng Ping heading towards Mont' Kiara from Bukit Kiara

Here is a video of PC running down "T'n'T". Pretty good for a first timer. He almost missed the first hairpin as he underestimated the sharpness of the turn.

You will then reach clearing with a few junctions. Take the second right turn and run down "Dirty Deeds" all the way to the gravel run and immediately turn right towards Snake n' Ladder. 

Bumped into Mark at Twin Peak and we ran together. 

The trail will meet back at the lower part of "Twin Peaks". Head down towards the tarmac and you will end up at the tarmac 4-junctions. Walk to the Pondok and head towards "2K". Take the left tail and run down "2K", fast. :D

2K loop will lead you to the "Triple Terrace" and you run down this part to reach "Apollo". The trail will then go up "Mission". Your heart-rate is estimated to be hitting the roof now.

Obstacle - JUMP. Mark showing how it is done.

Keep running and you will be back to the Pondok. Turn left and head down 4K and join at Magic Carpet before exiting at the tarmac. Then you run up about 100m and enter Upper Carnival and run down back to the park.

Feeling the burn

There are no less than 32km worth of trails in Bukit Kiara. But sadly all these will only be in writing. If we do not work to raise awareness of the destruction of Bukit Kiara, all these runs will only be a "I used to run..." statement.
If you do not know where to run in Kiara, download this trail map done by Pat  and Joe Adnan, the trail names are all inside and you can co-relate it to my blog entry here.
Otherwise, I will try to run trail once a week - and if the timing and opportunity is right, you are more than welcome to join me. Only catch is the timing could be a bit last minute, as I would have to work around my schedule with wifey.