Malnad Ultra 2025 - a volunteer's story

 

The Malnad Ultra is a volunteer-driven trail race hosted in the Malnadu region of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, India. It offers a unique trail running experience among the lush green coffee estates of the region.

 

My friends, Brijesh and John, have been volunteering during the race for last few years. In fact, Brijesh has been doing the volunteering duties every year, since the inception of the race, about 9 years ago. They had had been encouraging me to be part of the volunteering experience since quite some time. Last year, I did volunteer for a few days and with that experience, I had decided that, for this year’s edition, I would be part of the team right from day one

 

Brijesh, John and I started for Chikamagaluru on the morning of Monday 17^th  Nov from Bangalore.  Shyam and Anand (who are the founders and race directors), met us at Kadamba (beyond Nelamangla on the outskirts of Bangalore) 

 

The journey to Coffee Bean, our homestay at Malandur was smooth. John and I took some official meetings on phone and by the time we reached, the lunch was already ready. 

 

This year a couple of key members of our volunteers team had to drop out because of some personal medical emergencies, and we all were a little anxious as we had a lot of tasks on our plate

 

After lunch, we divided ourselves in two teams and went out for our first important task, i.e. starting the marking of the course. I remembered that the year before, I could join only for a few days and so could visit only a smaller section of the route, but this year, it seemed that I would have to cover a lot of it and that too multiple times. 

The Malnad Ultra is an ultra-run which happens in and around on the trails of the local coffee estates. More than 80% of of the run happens on dirt trails. The route goes from one coffee estate to another and sometimes, outside of these estates there are some pucca roads too. So this was the route that we had started out to mark where we would have to take the vehicle at certain points, after which there would be a lot of walking on mud trails.

As Anand and I headed out, I was very excited as I would be getting to know some more sections of the route as well. There were a couple of guests, staying in the same homestay from New Zealand and as Anand spoke to them about MU, they too got excited and wanted to join us for marking the course. So, the plan post lunch was to mark from Bhairathy Gate to Coffee Bean where we were staying (yes, our home stay was also a part of the course).The marking of the course involves tying colored ribbons on the tree branches (blue/yellow to be spotted at the daytime and then reflective ribbons for the night).

 

 

We reached Chandrakan Gate in a vehicle and as we entered the coffee estate from the road, we saw that there was a lot of overgrowth which needed to be cleared. This required clearing large swathes of grass. We marked this section well but immediately realized that we had missed the reflectors back at our home stay. So, another visit was required for this section. The other guests hung around with us for some time and left.

 

The next couple of days were spent in marking the entire course. The plan was very simple; get the marking done as much as possible before Wednesday so that when other volunteers arrive, they could “audit” our work. I realized that we would still need a second and third round of inspection of the course.

 

 

The Tottlapan Gudda is a very famous and notorious section on the entire 50km. It is actually a very strenuous climb of about four kilometers, which starts at around the 30^th km mark and then follows it up with some really steep downhill sections back to the same marker. John and Brijesh had the responsibility to mark the route on this section. John was planning to re-visit this section and I wanted to pay my homage to Totlapanguda as well. I requested Anand and Brijesh if I could accompany John during his second visit, for which they agreed.  The 8 km section is indeed challenging and it took around 3 hours for us to complete the markings and then revisit the section and look at the markings again from the perspective of both the day and night runners.

 

During the marking exercise, we realized that the section between the 38^th and the 45^th km was dug up and unsuitable for running due to some construction activity. So, Anand with his local contacts had to work out on figuring out an alternative route. Although some of us were a little wary, but it didn’t take much time for Anand and he figured out and designed an alternative section on an adjoining trail. Later, I was thinking about all such unknown and unwanted challenges which sprout up last minute. This was a great learning for me, looking at Anand and how he calmly addressed such issues. 

Anyways, on Wednesday, most of the other volunteers joined us. We had good number of first timers this time.  They were all very enthusiastic being part of MU. Anand and Brijesh made sure all of them were involved in some kind of activities, kept busy and on their toes always.

 

Since our key volunteer who manages the aid station logistics on the race day had to drop out, we were speculating who were all going to take this responsibility as it was an extremely important role. Anand informed that Nitin and Sunny would be responsible for the aid station logistics. Bala, Ram and Visesh would also be contributing and help at all possible places. 

Also, since we had to change the route, although for a smaller section, it was important to communicate the same to all the 50km/100km runners as we knew that some of the runners use the gpx file during the race. Once we marked the new section, Anand created the new gpx file for the entire route and it was uploaded on the website. Through social media, it was communicated to the runners as well. Smayana, Nithya and Sindhoora displayed their artistic talent and drew beautifully on paper sheets about the route change which would be get displayed on the day of the bib distribution as well.

 

Apart from the photography team, this year we had a drone team as well. Brijesh took the responsibility to show them some beautiful sections of the route.

 

Fast forward: Friday – the day of the bib distribution. It is always exciting as well as an equally tiring day. We had a good number of participants this year as a new 50k night run was introduced as well.Each one of on us knew our roles and responsibilities and took to manning the stations. I was also excited to meet Sandeep (my husband) whom I had left alone for a week on his own. He and a few other friends were participating in MU this year . I was given the responsibility of distributing the bibs for the 100k and 50k night run. To my understanding, this bib distribution went on well and I was glad to see the horde of runners. They all look geared up as there was a lot of chatter and back slapping happening all around.

 

While most of us were at the bib distribution, Brijesh, John and Shashank were doing the final route check. Nitin, Sunny, Bala and Ram were doing final check on the inventory supply. Vishesh with few others was managing the parking area. The day passed very quickly. In the evening, we had a volunteers group photo session in the guidance of our photography lead Namratha and Dhinesh.

Anand gave a final briefing before the race day. We hit the sack early as most of us knew that next day was going to be very strenuous and we were also going to pull an all-nighter.

 

The D-day had arrived. Most of the volunteers were ready by 4:30 am and we headed to start point of the race, which was close to our home stay. Some of us would be on the course/aid station and some of us would be at the start/finish line. John and I were supposed to be at the 2^nd km junction until all the runners including the 30k, 50k and 100k, cross that point. (which is the Gowan khan estate).

Namratha also joined us to capture the fresh mood of the runners at this point.

 

I met Sandeep at 2^nd km who was running 50km, he already looked tired (or he was acting  tired seeing me  ) which gave me some worry, but I brushed the thought as I had a much bigger task at hand.

 

Namrata dropped me at 25^th km (this was the AS3 or the Aid Station number 3) where I was going to be stationed till the last runners in the night pass through. There was very critical section in my area; this is where the diversion for the 50km and 30km runners was setup and it required clear marking and instructions so that runners don’t go the other way. We had a lot of feedback from the previous edition, and we did lot of brainstorming on how to go about marking this section.  I was supposed to put the marker board in the morning. Shashank, who was planning to leave for his station, helped me to put the marker 50km and 30km. I was confident that this time there should not be any confusion at the diversion.

By the time I reached at my aid station, the first 100km runner already arrived (which was a record time). As he went past, I wanted to make sure that he followed the markings and took the correct 50k turn.

I followed him in a vehicle. By time I reached I saw the 50km marker board had fallen on the ground because of heavy winds.I panicked and hoped the runner had taken the correct turn. With the help of my driver, I fixed the board again. Later on that board did see heavy rains/winds, but it survived all the stress tests.

 

 

 

The whole day was very exciting with seeing runners passing through the aid station. Every time runners passed through, I did shout about the diversion for 50k and 30k.

During the afternoon, I got a call from Anand that few of the 30km runners complained about the marking at the diversion. I didn’t want to leave my position because I was at position where I was making sure the runners pass through the timing mat. Chida from the Drone team was with me, and he said we could check using drone whether the markers were fine.

Around 9.45am I saw Sandeep reaching AS3 and I had sigh of relief. He was running strong.

Rest of the afternoon passed without any major events. Sunny was managing the Aid station supplies very well. Shashank joined us at around 3pm.

I had couple of 30km DNFs at my aid station and we helped to get them transported to the start point. 

 

 

We had lunch after all the 100k/50k and 30k runners passed and we thought 100k runners for their second loop will take time, but we got a message from Brijesh, who was manning the aid station at the 17^th km that the first 100k runner had passed his point. We were alert and started waiting for him.

 

Sometime in the afternoon I got a call from Sandeep that he completed the race in around 7hr 36min. I was happy that he really finished strong.

 

 The night 50k race also got flagged off at 4.30PM. I was excited to see how the night runners would perform.

We received first 100km runner for the second loop very early, he was running extremely well. The second and third 100km runners also running strong, one of them had dropped his head torch and I had to give my head torch to him.

 

We started seeing few 50km night runners around 8pm at my aid station. Just when I was thinking on how relatively smoothly things were progressing, it started raining heavily which was not a good sign. There were runners enroute in the dark and rain would add additional challenges as the temperature suddenly drops.

Because of the rain, we saw few 100km dropouts at my aid station. A few runners, wanted us to terminate the race because of rain and did start arguing with me on that. However, our instructions were very clear from our race director. The race must go on – is the message I got from my team. if the runners feel it is unsafe for them, they can stop. This was very clear in my head.

The rain stopped for some time and by the time all the 50km runners had passed AS3. We waited until for all the dropouts were safely transported back to start line.

 

The next plan was Shashank, and I would go to AS6 (at Sirgur ) after helping Sunny to wind up AS3.  Around 11pm we left for Sirgur (to join Rishab and Ram) that’s when it started raining heavily again. This was the time when most of the runners would be on top of the hill at Totlapanguda, this thought itself was a little worrying for me. I was hoping they all cross that tricky section, safely.  

 

When we got the information from John, who was at AS4/AS5 that all the runners had passed his aid station, we exactly knew the bib numbers of the runners whom we would be expecting. Ram started winding up the aid station as most of the runners passed AS6 (which is around 2.30 AM). The last 3 runners for the 100k ,was a group of friends who were running together(we called them 3 musketeers), passed our aid station by 2.35 AM and they had exactly less than 1hr to reach finish point. We all encouraged them to move fast as they were running against the clock.

 

As we closed AS6 and started driving towards the finish line,I  could feel the tension as I saw the last few runners on the course. I knew it was going to be nail biting to see them finish before the cutoff. We reached finish line and waited for the 3 musketeers. They did finish with around 8mins to spare.

It was grit and determination of all the runners specially 100k and the 50k night to finish the race despite harsh weather conditions.

 

All the volunteers were happy and relaxed as the clocked ticked towards 3.30 AM with no runners left alone on the course.

 

What a day it had been.Anand had mentioned in his briefing before start of the race that it was our primary duty to bring all the runners safely home and we all followed the same.

 

As we drove back to our home stay from the finish line, I was reliving all the past seven days, all of which I enjoyed thoroughly. The morning routine to go for marking the course in the wilderness, the evening discussion on how the day went and re-looking at our tasks, the ribbon cutting activities (for marking the course ) where we involved who ever we came across, all of the discussions sometimes a little loud that we had while marking the route, and on the race day seeing runners perform so well in tough conditions.

 

When Anand and I were marking the trail, I loved one thing he mentioned to me. He mentioned what he liked about trail running was that one has to be “in the moment” always. You need complete focus, otherwise you lose your way or you fall, which is true with life in general.

I am very grateful to Anand, our race director and to Shyam the co-founder of MU for giving me the opportunity to be part of volunteers’ team. I had the great privilege to work with some amazing people.  I also have had a lot of learning while enjoying the outdoors.