Race Media

Action Asia Kayak n RunSeries 2018

Race 1 – May 5 – Deep Water Bay

Race 2 – June 2 – Discovery Bay – in association with BWET

Race 3 – July 7 – Tai Tam Bay – in association with BWET

Scorching sun & choppy wave pushing kayak and runners

BWET fun before the race a hit at Discovery Bay leg of the Action Asia Kayak n Run in association with BWET

HONG KONG, June 2, 2018 – As if scorching sun, choppy waves, and headwinds were not enough, many participants from both adult and family distances started the morning off by lifting kayaks up to their chests in the BWET game challenge before the main events at the Discovery Bay leg of the Action Asia Kayak n Run Series in association with BWET. Father and son Torbjorn Dimblad and Axel Dimblad of Team Scandihooligans were the first family team to break the finishing line with a time of 29 minutes 30 seconds. As for the main adult race, living in Hong Kong for over 15 years Jeremy Ritcey from Canada and Kurt Lynn from New Zealand of Team Gatorade Salomon grabbed the overall champion title in 1 hour 29 minutes 57 seconds. Hong Kong trail running rising star 19-year-old Ng Wai Hei and Hung Ho Fung came second in 1 hour 31 minutes 08 seconds.

The Family Category started at 8:00 am which is designed for parents and kids to paddle for fun. Family teams kayaked from Nim Shue Wan for 1.4km then had a 3km trail run.

Axel Dimblad and his father Torbjorn Dimblad were very satisfied with their adventurous day out. “It was a wonderful experience for families, for kids and for parents to enjoy the nature outside with a little bit competitiveness but really it’s all about being together and having fun,” said Torbjorn Dimblad who felt proud of his son and had to keep up with him at the trail running part. 10-year-old Axel Dimblad also shared: “It was fun having this experience with my dad. It’s our first time joining this event and it was fun. The kayaking was tiring, and the running was nice but if I get better at kayaking in the future I think I would also enjoy kayak a lot more.”

At 9:00 am, the main Adult Race started with a 3km ocean kayak to Man Kok Tsui beach, followed by a 5km trail run orienteering and map reading to a mountaintop checkpoint, then 3km ocean kayak returning to Nim Shue Wan finish.

Jeremy Ritcey from Canada and Kurt Lynn from New Zealand of team Gatorade Salomon, living in Hong Kong for over 15 years lead the whole race and were crowned champions with a blistering time of 1 hour 29 minutes 57 seconds. “It’s our first time doing Action Asia Kayak n Run Series in association with BWET - Discovery Bay leg together and I’m very happy that I have a very strong teammate. I think we did very well during the whole race as we were the first team getting out of the water, the first teaming reaching the pagoda and the first team back. I think Kurt Lynn is definitely a better paddler and I helped him a bit on the run, so we are a good team,” said Ritcey.  “I really liked the format of the course - kayak, run and then kayak as it was not a very pleasant thought if we need to do another run at the end. If you are overheating, you can also splash some water during the last kayaking part,” said Lynn.

Following the champion team, only 1 minute and 11 seconds after, the Ng Wai Hei and Hung Ho Fung team from Hong Kong came a close second. “Although it’s our first-time team up and join Action Asia Kayak n Run Series, we hike together very often, and we also did a kayak training session recently. Last week, we also did a recce of the trail running course so that we ran to the top of the mountain as fast as we could. After kayaking, the trail running part was quite cooling, so we had a very comfortable time running in the mountain. We will arrange another kayak training session soon and we hope that next time we can perform better at Action Asia Kayak n Run Series- Tai Tam on 7 July,” said Hung.

“I really enjoyed this race because the route was very special this time as you need to kayak and then trail run and kayak back. After you used all your energy of the arms at the kayak part, you will then have a chance to relax them while you run and then you can kayak again to come back. We trained once so that I learned the techniques of kayaking and I knew which muscles to focus on so I didn’t have to drain my energy on kayaking the way I had from last Deep Water Bay race. I think we performed very well on both kayaking and running this time,” said 19-year-old Ng Wai Hei who also came first at 2017-2018 MSIG Action Asia Development plan which enabled him to represent Hong Kong at Skyrunning World Championship in September 2018.

First in the mixed was Magdalena Cvetkovic from Switzerland and Chris Davis from United Kingdom of Team Tiger. They are regular podium winners of the Action Asia Kayak n Run series and now once again grabbed the mixed team title in 1 hour 35 minutes and 11 seconds. “We really like this Series. We have been together for 6 years and we join this race every year. My trail running is better than kayaking, so I personally prefer the trail running part more,” said Cvetkovic. “We have our advantage at kayaking comparing to other mixed teams so I like kayaking part more. I don’t even remember how many times we have joined this series as it’s too many to count. I have registered us for the 7 July Tai Tam leg again yesterday,” said Davis.  

Winning the women’s team was Joanna Eades and Imi Bond of Team Doggers and they finished the race in 1 hour 41 minutes and 13 seconds. Eades and Bond are on dragon boat team and they are pleased with their performance. “We are pretty pleased actually. We were not sure about the kayaking and we didn’t do so well at first because it was quite wavy, but we had a very strong kayak session back so feeling strong,” said Eades. “It was choppy underwater, but it was a good run as we overtook a lot of people going uphill, so it was good, and we enjoyed both kayaking and running,” said Bond.

The Action Asia Kayak n Run Series in association with BWET could not happen without the generous support of the official swimwear BWET - Urban inspired men's swimwear from Spain, and supporting partners Action X Store, C3fit, Key Sun Zinke, Salonsip, B-Well, HKRI, OL&N and Action Asia Foundation.

【Race Result】

Action Asia Kayak n Run Series in association with BWET - Discovery Bay

 

ADULT CATEGORY (9 am start)

Rank – Team/Sponsor – Name – Time

Overall Top 3 Teams

1st – Gatorade Salomon – Jeremy Ritcey (Canada) / Kurt Lynn (New Zealand) – 1:29:57

2nd – N/A – Ng Wai Hei (Hong Kong) / Hung Ho Fung (Hong Kong) – 1:31:08

3rd – Never stop exploring– Leung Chi Hang (Hong Kong) / Lee Wang Yeung (Hong Kong) – 1:34:47

 

Mixed Team age 36+

1st – Val – Cyril Gomez (France) / Valerie Richard (France) – 1:38:30

2nd – 逆瘋 – Chi Yeung Chiu (Hong Kong) / Cheuk Yu Lee (Hong Kong) – 01:58:41

3rd – Hippopotamus – Brian Lo (Hong Kong) / Andrea Lo (Hong Kong) – 02:00:56

 

Mixed Team age 70+

1st – Team Tiger – Magdalena Cvetkovic (Switzerland) / Chris Davis (United Kingdom) – 1:35:11

2nd – Improvaveis – Leandro Silva (Portugal) / Barbara Ian (Portugal) – 01:42:50

3rd – LES POULLE – MARC-ANTOINE POULLE (France) / MAGALI POULLE (France) – 01:48:30

 

Women’s Team

1st – Team Doggers – Joanna Eades (United Kingdom) / Imi Bond (United Kingdom) – 1:41:13

2nd – Unicorn – Sophia Kaschowitz (Germany) / Andrea Diener (Germany) – 01:52:07

3rd – 山川 – Wai Yin CHIU (Hong Kong) / Lai Han Dennex LUI (Hong Kong) – 01:55:51

 

Race Info

 

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www.youtube.com/user/ActionAsiaEvents

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BWET

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