Race Media

Riche and Williams rock to win in Sai Kung sizzler Sprint

Hong Kong – May 31, 2014 – Frenchman Romain Riche and British Zein Williams each took the overall win at race 3 of the Bonaqua Action Sprint series at Sai Kung Saturday in sapping hot conditions in the best 2 out of 3 race solo series.

The race was sold out at 500 capacity in the final 3rd leg of the series with adventure trail runners hiked and ran up the 408m Tai Cham Koi using steep single track trails for over 3km, then descended 3 km straight down clay and rocky trails to the Lok Wu gorge where the real fun started, with river rock scrambling up 7 waterfalls rigged with fixed rope hand lines for 2 km. With high rains in the last few weeks water levels were high with many pools to swim in to cool down temporary. Then out on the Lok Wu hiking trail for 1 km before repeating the same Tai Cham Koi hike up to 408m a second time, then descending technical single track 3 km back to Pak Tam Chung for 13km.

“HK Trail runner Romain –“Today was more about handling the heat then running as that was the key today trying to take advantage of the water in the pools in the gorge and trying to cool down was good and the key as that helped me finish. Of course the pools in the gorge were my favorite as on a day like today you needed them especially the last one swimming across before the final climb out up the ropes was great” said overall Bonaqua Sprint series and race winner Frenchman Romain Riche winning in 1 hour 32 minutes 06 seconds.

Just over 1 minute behind, a trail runner or more a long distance walker he calls himself and someone who has improved considerably over the past few years was Nepalese Santosh Tamang. “I’ve been living in Hong Kong 4 years but don’t really run as do more long hikes and walks for my training. Today was so hot, but I enjoyed the water in the gorge a lot. This year I only wanted to enter the sprint series which was my goal” said 2nd overall Nepalese runner Santosh Tamang finishing very close to Riche in 1 hour 33 minutes 17 seconds a big inspiration to the Nepalese community in Hong Kong.

3rd overall and the top local Chinese male finisher and 2nd place in the last Discovery Bay Sprint Cheung Hing Hung had a great race. “Last race injured my arm and knee, but this time everyone went smooth and this time wore correct trail shoes as last time wore road running shoes which were not so good. Also had better sunglasses to stop the glare which helped and the equipment helped much better. I have a group of team club runners from Chinese Hong Kong University that has helped me in my training to prepare for this which am grateful” said Cheung grabbing 3rd overall in a time of 1 hour 35 minutes 23 seconds.

Zein Williams had a great race in the Women’s field winning all 3 Bonaqua Action Sprint races making her a true Women Sprint Queen. “Today’s beautiful scenery was 100% stunning. The plunge pools were perfect and a great course with a bit of everything as one of my favorites” said the Raidlight sponsorerd Williams who won the race in 1 hour 43 minutes 36 seconds and grabbed the series win as best 2 out of 3 races.

“Lovely, lovely course as just enjoyed it as rocks were great, loved the rope sections together with the swimming in the pools. It was good. Running in the heat is always good for me as just good fun. Catched a lot of people in the 2nd half as felt good, but couldn’t catch Zein” said Team Salomon HK member Olya Korzh the overall 2nd Women finishing in 1 hour 54 minutes 20 seconds after winning a 50km Skymarathon race just 7 days ago in Yunnan.

The top local Chinese women was Dennex Lui who did well against an all-star women line-up. “Wow so hot. Love these kind of challenges as keeps me motivated to train harder. Great organization as am sure wasn’t easy carrying all the water for participants into the gorge area as far away from the road. Always like the technical hilly courses as more my style” said 3rd overall Dennex Lui finishing in 2 hours 7 minutes 39 seconds.

“Basically at beginning was strategizing should I run on the uphill or hike fast, then had people pushing me and at the end just seeing people in front of me kept motivating me and at the end I was seeing the end and kept thinking I’m doing this for my boyfriend and family and really needed to do this and kept on running hard and felt so good just too finish after being stung by bees and suffering thru the heat after rock scrambling and that big hill climb on both ends of the course. I didn’t expect all this as the rock climbing was my personal favorite and every time I hit the water, it felt so good as need it every time I saw a pool as everyone around me did the same jumping in so many times thru the course. Well-designed course” said 4th overall in the Women’s Sabrina Ettedgui and missing out on 3rd by only 1 second at the finish timing station.

Category winners are sharing prizes from series sponsors such as Salomon, Oregon Scientific, Ocean Potion. Special thanks for making the series happen goes to Bonaqua, Action X Store, BonActive, Oregon Scientific, OtterBox, , OL&N, Ocean Potion, Nature Valley, Salonpas, Around DB, DBay and the Action Asia Foundation.

Bonaqua Action Sprint Sai Kung Adventure Run 13km
Overall MEN'S - Top 5                            
Rank    Race #    Team/ Charity/ Sponsor    First Name    Last Name    Age Category    Nationality    Time
1st    422    -    Riche    Romain    M20-29    France    1:32:06
2nd    948    -    Tamang    Santosh    M20-29    Nepal    1:33:17
3rd    974    -    Cheung    Hing Hung    M30-34    Hong Kong    1:35:23
4th    1090    Fire Service XC Running Team    Leung    Chi Hang, Jeremy    M35-39    Hong Kong    1:38:04
5th    1228    -    Western    Mark    M45-49    Canada    1:46:45             

               
Overall WOMEN'S - Top 5                                
Rank    Race #    Team/ Charity/ Sponsor    First Name    Last Name    Age Category    Nationality    Time
1st    380    Raidlight    Williams    Zein    W30-39    United Kingdom    1:43:36
2nd    935    -    Korzh    Olya    W30-39    Russian Federation    1:54:20
3rd    405    -    Lui    Lai han dennex    W40-49    Hong Kong    2:07:39
4th    1273    -    Ettedgui    Sabrina    W20-29    France    2:07:40
5th    916    -    Kim    Jinhwa    W30-39    Korea    2:12:17            

Name of event: Bonaqua Action Sprint Sai Kung （Race 3 out of 3 races）
Venue : Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung, NT, Hong Kong
Time：Starting at 9am, May 31, 2014

Results - click results on left tab or above on toolbar

Photos - uploaded later but some on facebook coming. Click results up on toolbar for full results day after race.