March 21, 2026 – Taipei – Since 2010 the annual Action Asia X-Trail Maokong trail race has been one of the most technical short races across the island pushing many on a very exciting technical course with plenty of slippery mud sections to push all outside their comfort zones in all distances of 9km, 17km and 25km.
Luckily the heavy rain stayed away, slight cool conditions with a little light rain pushed all runners to focus on balancing and holding on to ropes at the Action Asia X-Trail Maokong Saturday,
In the Men’s 25km it was a battle up front thru out the technical race with positions constantly changing with Iwan Komarov (Russian Federation), Thomas Riedler (Austria), “KC” Chan 陳 Ka Keung 家強 (Hong Kong SAR), Lin Sheng Chang (Taiwan) and Yan 顏 Zhi-rui 志叡 (Taiwan) setting the pace up front.
”This trail course design was so awesome, so technical, it was so fast on the descents, there were a lot of stones and rocks that were slippery as almost had to slide down them at such a fast pace, unfortunately couldn’t see much high up in the mountains due to fog, but at same time it brought a cool feeling, you were really sweating most of the time with humidity, I would have really enjoyed it more as was suffering, but ran with good guys setting the pace. Thanks to Thomas and all those around me as they were really great company and helped me along the way. Really enjoyed so cheers to everyone” said overall 25km Men’s winner Komarov finishing in 2 hours 50 minutes 16 seconds.
“Im Thomas from Austria. Happy with 2nd place. It was a tough race. I checked out the course with friends a week before the race and knew it was a mix of runnable sections, but also very technical which I really like. I did some road races this year and also technical training, but unfortunately I couldn’t beat the winner and my friend Iwan today and funny that last minute I told him that he should sign up and then he beats me to so sometimes you have to be careful when you invite your friends, especially if they are faster than you. It was a good race with a group of us all being together on the uphill’s and technical downhills. I pushed hard and then 1 minute he (Iwan) was faster and was setting a fast pace as didn’t think we could do sub 3 hours, but somehow we did it as it was a good race as the other guys beat me up on the hills as it was a nice battle today with everyone” said Riedler grabbing 2nd overall in the Men’s 25km in 2 hours 52 minutes 38 seconds.
KC “Oh that was technical but a lot of fun. I really liked the single-track narrow trails but you had to be very careful, especially the last 5km as some very slippery, rocky sections that I just chose to slow down and take my time as didn’t want to injure myself, but the big mountains sections were fun. We were together many times thru the race and think if I knew the course, I could have pushed a bit harder, but will definitely recommend this to friends as so different than Hong Kong” said KC Chan (T8/BIX) who grabbed 3rd overall in the Men’s 25km Action Asia X-Trail Maokong in 2 hours 55 minutes 24 seconds.
Fourth overall in Men’s 25km was Lin Sheng Chang (Taiwan) - 中華越野跑協會 who finished in 3 hours 9 minutes 48 seconds. “The trail was beautiful, but very technical. After cp3 around 21km the bamboo and steep rocky sections were very hard on me. It was very hard before and after this section to really push as slowed my pace down a lot on this section and difficult to go hard, but a great experience and very well marked course”, said Lin.
Fifth overall was Yan 顏 Zhi-rui 志叡 (Taiwan) - 慢慢來比較快 finishing in 3 hours 11 minutes 42 seconds saying “that was a great experience as very challenging in many sections, but good course marking everywhere” said Yan finishing in 3 hours 11 minutes 42 seconds.
“I’m Valerie from the Netherlands and just want to say amazing trail race as running thru back gardens of some people’s farms and houses of local Taiwan people to seeing many steep beautiful mountains with lots of rocks so thanks so much guys for organizing as beautiful time,” said overall 25km Women’s 25km winner Valerie Van Der Ploeg who finished in 3 hours 57 minutes 8 seconds.
“Trail was good for running, but very hard as so many rocks and technical as really had to focus. Very difficult, many slippery sections so the footing had to be very careful, but very rewarding finishing something so hard and challenging,” said 2nd overall Women’s 25km winner Chen 陳 Wan Jen 文靜 – (Taiwan) finishing in 4 hours 11 minutes 19 seconds.
Japanese runner Imahori Maki took 3rd overall in the Women’s 25km in 4:23:38. “It was very technical and rocky course, but fun time as very different than Japan, but I loved it and all should come and try this Action Asia course as so good marking and fun atmosphere” said Maki.
Chen Yi (中華越野跑協會) from Taiwan took 4th overall in Women’s 25km in 4:31:06. “Today was such an experience as so many rolling hills, rivers, rocks, bamboo, small trails, but loved it and will see you next race” said a happy Chen enjoying the trail experience.
Fifth overall in Women’s 25km was Taiwanese Yan 顏 Zhi-rui 志叡 – ( 慢慢來比較快) finishing in 3:11:42.
The Action Asia X-Trail Maokong 25km course started off at the Muzha Chi Nan Gong Temple upper parking lot (272m) – climbed Maokong Yuan Shan (509m) thru the Tea Farms, Maokong Zhanghu Trail, over ErGer Shan (678m), down to Arou Yang Mtn Rd (467m) for the water food checkpoint before climbing the ridges of HoushanMtn (530m) and going thru local farms and single track trails back to the Muzha Chi Nan Gong Temple for one incredible Action Asia X-Trail Maokong experience in Taipei.
The Action Asia X-Trail Maokong could not happen without all the hard working Taipei marshals, staff, medical staff, ambulance crew, emergency medical team, production team and the generous support of our supporting partners Deer Run Store, Taipei Trail Running association, SkyHunter, FeedZone Café, Action X, ITRA and Action Asia Sports Academy.
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Race Results:
25 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (106) Komarov Ivan - Russian Federation - 02:50:16
2 (104) Riedler Thomas - Austria - HeyRunning Taipei - 02:52:38
3 (69) Chan 陳 Ka Keung 家強 - China, HKSAR - T8/BIX - 02:55:24
4 (64) Lin Sheng Chang - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 中華越野跑協會 - 03:09:48
5 (6) Yan 顏 Zhi-rui 志叡 - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 慢慢來比較快 - 03:11:42
25 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (77) Van Der Ploeg Valerie - Netherlands - 03:57:08
2 (89) Chen 陳 Wan Jen 文靜 - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)- 04:11:19
3 (101) Imahori Maki - Japan - 04:23:38
4 (54) Chen Yi - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 04:31:06
5 (23) Huang Shu Jhen - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 飛天奶黃包 04:34:55
17 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (581) Li Chiun Han - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 02:01:12
2 (602) Lyu 呂 Kun Ying 坤穎 - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 坤｜Endurance - 02:02:01
3 (536) Ijsselmuiden Samuel - Netherlands - COMM!N - 02:03:30
4 (599) Devallois Thibault - France - 02:07:18
5 (584) Ruju Michele - Italy - 02:13:37
17 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (606) Bianchi Liana - United States - HeyRunning - 02:34:33
2 (566) Tsai Han Chi - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 02:54:31
3 (591) Guan Xuan Wu - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 03:01:15
4 (590) Zheng Ru-Yi - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 03:09:40
5 (511) Kuentz Sophie - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - HeyRunning - 03:32:16
9 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (874) Pechacek Tomas - Czech Republic - 01:16:36
2 (849) Martinez Baquero Mauricio - Ecuador - 01:21:03
3 (873) Pan Chih Wei - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 01:29:30
4 (861) Ye Alexander - United States - Andrei's Lab! - 01:30:51
5 (809) Anggadiputra I Made Risa Anggadiputra - Indonesia - 01:32:05
9 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (850) Clark Martinez Elizabeth - United Kingdom - 01:33:15
2 (869) Zhang 張 Shan Shan 珊珊 - Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) - 01:42:52
3 (845) O'Meara Valerie - Canada - 01:45:49
4 (871) Yen Eugenia - United States - 01:47:52
5 (842) Tan Romeliza - Philippines - 01:48:37
Race Info
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Event Name |
Action Asia X-Trail Maokong - Taipei |
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Date |
March 21, 2026 (Saturday) |
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Start Time |
8 am- 25 km / 17 km / 9 km |
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Start Location |
Zhi Nan Temple Station, Maokong, Taipei |
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Distance |
25 km / 17 km / 9 km |
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Course |
For more race details, please visit below:
www.facebook.com/ActionAsiaEvent/
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www.twitter.com/ActionAsiaEvent
www.youtube.com/user/ActionAsiaEvents
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 300 events over the past 25 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.
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