Fadhil Yunus
Brunei Darussalam’s obstacle course racing competitor Shahril Haji Abdul Muin impressed in the regional scene after bagging one silver and one bronze medal in the 45-49 years age group of the Spartan Ultra Trifecta Weekend at the Timberland Heights in the Philippines recently.
The local athlete clocked a time of 5:23:26s in the Beast event (21km with 30 obstacles) behind home favourite and gold medallist Thumbie Remigio and ahead of bronze medallist South Korea’s Taewoo Kim.
Shahril ensured a double podium finish after recording a time of 2:38:14s in the Super event (10km with 25 obstacles), with Thumbie winning his second gold medal while his compatriot Telesteophil Morales took silver.
It marked the Bruneian’s first podium finish in his illustrious Spartan racing career having previously finished fourth in Kuching, Sarawak in June and managed a top 10 finish in Chiang Mai, Thailand two months later.
He also became the latest member in a line of podium finishers this year including Muhd Adid Kadir and Zulkernean Haji Tohara both of whom struck gold, and bronze medallists Afiqah Hanapi and Hajah Sophinawati Haji Suhaili.
The multi-medallist said, “The course was very brutal and a real challenge but the hard work, perseverance, my strong support team including Team Aroo, as well as all the trail, running, workouts and strength training, all paid off.”
In preparation of the meet, Shahril, who is part of the country’s growing OCR community and a seasoned Spartan racer with 18 appearances thus far since 2018, trained at the Bukit Beruang Trail and Bukit Silat, whereas his strength training was conducted mostly outdoors with his team and at home.
Seven other Bruneians also joined the Spartan race with Haji Khairul Firdauz, Glen Chong and Zainal Arif Zainal Abidin completing the Trifecta weekend (competing in all three category races in the Beast 21km, Super 10km and Sprint 5km events).
The country’s representatives also included Muhd Badrul Nurehsan who joined the Super and Sprint categories, seasoned Spartan racer Ariff Majid in the Beast and Sprint events, and Spartan race debutant Aki Yahya in the sprint category.
The Spartan Philippines is known as one of the toughest among the Asian community and the race at Timberland Heights certainly did not disappoint as several Ultra (50km with 60 obstacle) and Beast participants did not finish.
Nearly 2000 racers took part mostly from the hosts Philippines as well as international participants from Brunei Darussalam South Korea, USA, Japan and Thailand.
