Race Media

HK50 Series – Race 2 – Lantau 50

Race 1 - Oct 22, 2022 - HK50 – Hong Kong Island 50

Race 2 - Dec 10, 2022 - Lantau 50

Race 3 - Jan 28, 2023 – HK50 West

Race 4 - Feb 11, 2023 – Sai Kung 50

HONG KONG, December 10, 2022 – Italian supremo Stella Grasso takes overall Women’s 54 km win at Lantau 50 by Action Asia Events on her first trail race in Hong Kong.

Running thru the pain barrier in the last 4 km with a sprained ankle was how far the previous year’s champion Swiss national Salomon Wettstein had to push to hold on to his lead winning the 54km Men’s title in 6 hours 58 minutes 49 seconds at the Lantau 50 for the second year in a row.

“Been in HK since March and work in the outdoors. This is my first trail run after doing normal road marathons in Italy. Had overcome some previous injuries and was ok going up, but this was hard, challenging and not easy on the downhills as really had to be careful on my knee as didn’t want to injure myself again and didn’t know if could go faster as was scared, I might injure myself. Wasn’t expecting so much elevation and the heat which came out today. Organizers did a great job. Want to do the next race already” said Grasso who won the 54km in 8 hours 3 minutes 40 seconds.

“Yes, the course and I know the course quite well as live on Lantau, but it’s a tough course as it has 2 long climbs at the end, most people go quite fast at the beginning, then they start to get cramps on the upper climbs and you need to save some energy for those climbs. The course is stunning on Lantau Island. I sprained the exact same ankle at the beginning of the year and didn’t tape it today, but it happens to trail runners and glad it’s the end of the year as time for some rest. Great course design Michael and Action Asia Events team as another great race.” Said overall 54km winner Wettstein who rolled his ankle on the downhill to Pak Mong near the last check point before the final 4km to the finish.

Race 2 of the HK50 series had over 600 participants enter with 3 distances of a 16km, 27km and 54km ultra skymarathon.

Race organizers were told just days before the race they were allowed packaged food which included bananas, mandarins, bread in bags, wrapped crackers.

Hong Kong’s top local runner was Kwok Wai Wong 黃國威  finishing in 7 hours 1 minute 48 seconds just 3 minutes behind the overall winner.

“In the beginning the weather was perfect, very cool around 15c and then I was probably a bit too conservative at the beginning thinking I should pace myself well, but I am happy to be number 2 today and will learn from this experience that maybe I can push myself a little bit harder next time” said Hong Kong’s Nathan Wong Kwok Wai.

Second overall in the Women’s 54km was Katrina Hamlin (UK) in 8 hours 8 minutes 43 seconds. “Even though I live on Lantau, it was my first time doing the Lantau 50 and it was really, really tough, but so rewarding as highly recommended it. Up and down, up and down and more up and down as it was like that the whole course” joked Hamlin referring to the nonstop hills covering the 2nd and 3rd highest peaks in Hong Kong with long technical descents thru the whole 54km course. “More up than any other race I’ve ever done, but highly recommend it.” said Hamlin with a huge grin on her face relishing the 2nd overall podium spot.

“Amazing as didn’t expect to come in top 3 as at Pak Mong last cp as thought was around 5th place, but near the finish line saw ladies in front of me and tried to push hard and just got by for 3rd. Really enjoyed the course as did it in 2019 and despite the uphills being really tough most of the trails are natural and that’s what I really love about it” said 3rd overall Flora Ching (Canada) relishing her trophy at the finish line who finished in 8 hours 27 minutes 29 seconds in the Women’s 54km.

Just seconds behind Ching was Deena Schwan (South Africa) who was trying to put on a brave face after a strong performance but getting nipped at the finish line. “A beautiful day out, I thankfully met some friends on the trail which helped so the tough times weren’t that hard, and wasn’t as tough as I expected, Lantau and Sunset near end, you just got to keep moving, the bananas helped definitely, so thanks Action Asia” said 4th overall Schwan in the Women’s 54km.

Alice McLeod (UK) rounded up the top 5 in the Women’s 54km saying ‘Oh it was such a beautiful day for it as my 12th ultra of the year as I’ve been doing one every month of 2022 and started off the year doing virtual events and its so nice to finally be doing real actual Action Asia races again, so it’s great to be back.” said McLeod.

The trail running event started from Tung Chung taking runners up to Nei Lek Shan, Ngong Ping, Keung Shan ridge, Shek Pik, Lantau Peak - height 934m, Sunset Peak - height 800m, Pak Mong finishing in Tung Chung challenging even the most experienced runners with over 3,100m of elevation gain, 3100m of elevation loss with a 12-hour cut-off.

END

RESULTS

54 km - Top 5 MEN

Position / Bib# / First Name Last Name / Age Category / Nationality / Time

1 (154) Salomon Wettstein Men 40-49 Switzerland - 06:58:49 

2 (134) Kwok Wai Wong 黃國威 Men 18-39 HKG - 07:01:48 

3 (236) Matthew Gay Men 18-39 UK - 07:26:17 

4 (237) Arnaud MAUDUIT Men 18-39 France - 07:27:06 

5 (322) Ka Sing Cheng Men 18-39 HKG - 07:39:38

54 km - Top 5 WOMEN

Position / Bib# / First Name Last Name / Age Category / Nationality / Time

1 (283) Stella Grasso Women 18-39 Italy - 08:03:40 

2 (129) Katrina Hamlin Women 18-39 UK - 08:08:43 26 

3 (247) FLORA wing yee CHING 莊穎怡 Women 40-49 Canada - 08:27:29 

4 (246) Deena Schwan Women 18-39 South Africa - 08:27:58 

5 (178) Alice McLeod Women 18-39 UK - 08:45:38

27 km - Top 5 MEN

Position / Bib# / First Name Last Name / Age Category / Nationality / Time

1 (728) Nigel Thomson Men 18-39 New Zealand - 03:17:15

2 (613) Ho Cheung Ronald Chan 陳澔漳 Men 18-39 HKG - 03:27:30 

3 (633) James Park Men 18-39 New Zealand - 03:28:23 

4 (572) Ho Yin Yeung 楊皓然 Men 18-39 HKG - 03:28:24 

5 (592) Faton Laurent Men 40-49 France - 03:31:26

27 km - Top 5 WOMEN

Position / Bib# / First Name Last Name / Age Category / Nationality / Time

1 (574) Mei yan Wong 黃美欣 Women 18-39 HKG - 03:45:09 

2 (632) Shirley Cornelia Hung 熊雪如 Women 18-39 HKG - 04:11:33 

3 (552) Pui Yan Naomi Fung 馮珮如 Women 18-39 HKG - 04:14:37

4 (643) Mingxue Sun孫明雪 Women 40-49 HKG - 04:15:06

5 (665) Katherine Lim林嘉琦 Women 18-39 HKG - 04:16:34

Race Info

Event Name	Lantau 50 - Race 2 of HK50 series
Date	Dec 10, 2022 (Saturday)
Start Time	6:30 am (54 km) , 6:40 am (27 km) , 6:50 am (16 km)
Start & FinishLocation	Man Tung Road Park, Tung Chung, Lantau, Hong Kong
Distance	16km, 27km, 54km
Category	Trail Running and Hiking
Website	www.actionasiaevents.com

About Action Asia Events

 

Action Asia Events is the organizer of spectacular, extraordinary remote marathons for adventure travel seekers & trail running enthusiasts that inspire and push the boundaries of participants. Having organized over 290 events over the past 23 years Action Asia Events constantly keeps inspiring and pushes the boundaries of adventure travel, ultra-marathon and team building. Responsibilities range from designing courses, selection of the venue, dates and race format to raising the funds essential to run the race as well as liaising with NGO’s and non-profits for fund raising activities related to environment, education and health.

 

More Race Details at: 

www.actionasiaevents.com 

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www.youtube.com/user/ActionAsiaEvents