Views of an Amateur Birder, Photographer and Yoga Teacher
Trail runners rejoice as the most attended trail running event in the Philippines returns this 2018 for the 7th season. The Salomon X-Trail Run Pilipinas 2018 promises to be bigger, better and more challenging to inspire runners to go beyond their boundaries. Set to happen on July 22, 2018 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Salomon X-Trail Run hopes to surpass last year’s turn out of 1,200 participants to up to 1,500 this year.
Decade ago since it was originally released, the Flux quickly became a staple on trails all over the world. Mountain bike riders highly regard the Flux as the original Mountain Bike Trail helmet. It was FOX’s number one selling Mountain Bike product, which helped position the brand as a leader in the very competitive trail riding category. This year Fox Racing Philippines brings the Fox Flux 2.0 in the country. The growing local community of mountain bikers are excited to take a spin with this updated iconic trail helmet for their cross country or epic rides.
Europe’s number 1 sports retailer, Decathlon finally arrives in the Philippines. And why should you get excited? Decathlon Philippines aims to “Makes sports accessible to Every Juan” by bringing quality sports and outdoor products at very affordable prices. So think camping equipment, bikes, hiking, backpacks, training apparel and gear, fishing, aqua sports, cross training, yoga and more all for less than the popular brands.
Never underestimate the distance. That’s one of the few lessons I learned running the 11k trail run at the recently held The North Face 100 PH in Benguet. After running the 12k trail at the Salomon Xtrail in Subic a couple of weeks before, I thought it would be easier for me to get a better time here. My goal for this 11k run was to finish strong, at least on the upper half on the overall ranking. I never thought that this shorter would challenge me that much though.
I just realized that this is my 3rd participation in the Salomon Xtrail Pilipinas. This 2016, Salomon brings us to where they started the annual tradition sharing trail love which is at the mountain and hills of Subic Bay. I wasn’t there when they debuted the race so it was an amazing opportunity to see why they chose to go back at Subic, Zambales. I really liked the coastal trails and views of the previous trail runs at Hamilo Coast and Anvaya Cove so I was excited to see how the forest trails fare as I heard it’s quite technical. Four categories again for Salomon Xtrail Pilipinas 2016 – the 6km and 12km Road to Trail Run and the 24km and 32km Mountain Run. I decided to stick with the 12km Road to Trail Run as I wanted to get better time from last year and second I didn’t have a long preparation.
On its 5th year, Salomon Xtrail Pilipinas 2015, gathered as nearly 1,500 runners last April 25, 2015 as one of the most anticipated running events of the year, held in Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan. Keeping its tradition and reputation as having not only the most scenic trails in the past five years, they are also known as having technical trails that would challenge trail runners from beginners dipping their foot on the trails (the 6km and 12km Road to Trail) and to avid trail runners looking to test their skills and endurance (24km and 32km Mountain Trail). Like last year’s Xtrail in Hamilo Coast, I was able to join this year’s trail run as well, upping my ante a little on the 12km Road to Trail Category. And here I share my experience and photos from this run.
