CTR Dirtbag Of The Week (W2): Meux Cordova

This is Laz... half of his soul resides in Cebu, and is lodged in Muex's brain.

There are masters and then there are Masters with a gift of bloodhound-like terrestrial navigation, and an insatiable thirst for pain - usually directed to himself. "Usually" because we get dragged to his hellhole sometimes. His name is Romeo III Cordova AKA Master Meux. IT Dev Manager by trade, a slightly mad trail overlord by choice.

He first tried trail running in 2010, and he never looked back since. He says the thrill of the trails got him hooked. Like most of us he craved for more and locked his sights on longer trail races. Two years after his first trail run, he joined TNF Philippines 100K in Baguio City in 2012, his first trail ultra, and his favorite race. He was surrounded by like-minded people and he learned a lot. That was the exact date when his brain started morphing, slowly gaining resemblance to Mr. Lake's. Warning: it's best for us to avoid encouraging him, or else we might be opening a can of worms (Fatass trail run - exhibit A). Meux is the first Cebuano to complete the K400 series (Mt. Pack Ultra [50K] + Four Lakes 100K + Pulag 100K + H1 [100 miles]). KOTM's brutal series of trail races summing up to over 400 kilometers of beautiful trails in the Cordillera region.  

Master Meux might not be the pioneer of the sport in Cebu but a great number of trail addicts already regard him as Cebu's Father of Trail Running. He is the man behind Cebu Trail Challenge Series, the first race director and the person responsible for the nasty but beautiful routes of what is now known as the Pamutan Trailfest. He is also the brain behind that sadistic ego-provoking monster of a trail run called Cebu Fatass Trail Run, a free race designed to, well, break you and make you quit just moments after the start. He is obviously used to challenges but he says none compares to the demon he faced called H1 or the Hardcore 100 Miles. He loaded himself with more than enough physical and mental strength to defeat this beast. And defeat it, he did... twice!

Unlike most of us, he doesn't have a specific trail running idol. Although one can tell from his off-season activity, gravel biking, that he is a Krupicka fan - he still wont admit it. Meux is also strict on his gear preference. He only wears shoes with Vibram outsole and only uses headlamps with brightness index of over 300 lumens. 

Asked about his Strava log, he says it's very erratic, but he always  sticks to his training rule - distance is important but time-on-feet is important-er. Meux's raceday nutrition is quite hard to do as he is fat-fueled. He follows a specific diet plan months leading up to raceday to get himself adapted to fat.

His second H1 buckle

Meux is currently preparing for two races, DaSal 2019 in Davao this coming November and MGU - Gaoligong by UTMB in China in Feb 2020. How he decided to sign up for these races surely involved alcohol, Cervesa Negra to be specific.

Lazarus Cordova, born and raised in the Queen City of the South, an accomplished trail runner, mildly sadistic race director, and an awesome outdoorsman who never fails to remind us to always have fun and enjoy the thrill... although he has a different definition of thrill.     

CTR Dirtbag Of The Week (W1): Rowell Paner

Rowell Paner - Lutopan, Toledo City, Cebu

This Abu Dhabi-based bisdak recently completed one of the [adjective, adjective, adjective] trail races in the world, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc - TDS! Tough race, but Ruh-well (Rowell) is tougher, four adjectives in fact - he's a bisdak, what do you expect? He qualified for TDS by completing Oman by UTMB - another super technical off-road ultra, which also turned out to be his favorite race so far. 

Although his impressive CV says otherwise, Rowell does not consider himself a veteran of the sport since he only started trail running in 2016, and his first trail race was, you guessed it, Pamutan Marathon. He was one of those who only wanted to try trail running but eventually dropped everything else and shifted the crosshairs to even bigger trail races. 

Asked about his training plan, he says he is not really as strava-religious as many of us but he makes sure he does quality road runs every other day and on weekends, he travels 3-4 hours to the nearest trails and spend quality vert and mileage out in the wild. And he consistently follows this routine even if he is not preparing for a race. (It is wise to take note of that part, but first you have to get out of bed and lace up!) We know he is a Lutopan, Toledo City native, that's already a pedigree as it is the home of many Cebuano ultra champs, but the work he puts in despite being a busy OFW is nothing short of amazing. 

His raceday nutrition plan is simple. He eats. A lot. His go-to food in the pack is actually anything GU-branded. Chews, gels, tabs, cookies. But he only grabs them in between stations, if at all... and he's not really a gel guy - he prefers bringing a ziplock bag and grab some food from the station than carrying a lot of these stuff. Big climb require big calories, he says. His weapons of choice are nothing fancy. He wears Saucony trail shoes and Salomon GTX Ultra. He goes for anything that actually works for him. It's not the pana, it's the injan!

Rowell is now setting his eyes on Salomon Cappadocia Ultra Trail (119K), part of the Ultra Trail World Tour series, which will take place on Oct 19-20, 2019 in Turkey, and Oman by UTMB in November 2019. 

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