Hung Jin Chuan finished seventh in the Men Open (18 – 39) category and 10th overall in the 30km at the Malaysia Taman Negara Ultra 2026, holding his place after cramps in both his thighs and calves at km 20.

The event was held at Taman Negara Kuala Tahan in Jerantut, Pahang, from 23 to 25 October, with the 30km on 25 October. Hung, wearing bib 4070, finished in 5:09:00 and was 10th of 334 overall, seventh of 165 in Men Open (18 – 39) and ninth of 234 men, according to the official results.

A top-10 finish was not his target, he told ToughASIA.

“I just wanted to finish without dying. The 7th place was a bonus. Pleasantly surprised, honestly,” he said.

In his race report, he described the course as a “mud festival”, even muddier and more slippery than MUT 2024 in Taiping.

His original plan was to run the flats and hike the climbs, but the mud changed that, and he slowed down on every wet section.

“Every step was a gamble. You never knew if your foot would stick or slide. So I just adjusted on the fly: slow down on anything wet, which was basically everything,” he said.

His race report recorded nearly 1,800m of elevation gain over 28km, and he found the climbing far steeper and more relentless than what he is used to in training.

“Back home I always train at Apek hill, but nothing that keeps coming at you like this. Taman Negara just doesn’t let up: climb, descend, climb again, all on slippery ground,” he said.

“The humidity was brutal, like running in a sauna that someone forgot to ventilate,” he said.

He was soaked within the first hour and never dried out, but said the jungle scenery made up for it, and that running through one of the oldest rainforests in the world was “pretty special”.

He said the clear course markers meant he could focus on the effort rather than on navigation. Even so, at km 17, focused on his race, he missed a turn and went onto the 50km and 100km route, and he was more than 400m off course by the time he realised.

At km 20, cramps hit both his thighs and calves, with 10km still to go.

“Honestly? ‘Oh no. Not now.’ Both legs locked up at the same time, and for a second I just stood there laughing at how ridiculous it was,” he said.

He spent the last 8km negotiating with his legs, walking, stretching and shuffling in turns. He broke the rest of the course down one marker at a time, telling himself to think about the next 500m rather than the finish.

“And honestly, the fear of losing my position kept me honest. Pride is a pretty good painkiller,” he said.

He did most of his long, slow distance training with Wind Runners, a running community group, and said their cheering and check-ins keep him going when his legs are screaming.

“The trail community here is small but super supportive. #windrunners is basically family at this point,” he said.

He did not know he was seventh until after he finished, when he was just happy to stop moving.

“Then someone told me the position, and I was like ‘wait, seriously?’ Best feeling ever,” he said.

As for what comes next, he said to ask him again in a week, when his legs have forgiven him.

“Right now I’d say ‘never again,’ but I know myself. I’ll probably sign up for another mudfest soon. Maybe something with less mud next time? Or maybe I’m just lying to myself. We’ll see,” he said.