Hong Kong 100 Ultra Marathon: China’s Meng overhauls record holder You to claim title, Chen seals women’s race
- Meng Guangfu and Chen Lin claim men’s and women’s titles in first race of inaugural World Trail Majors
- Mainland China athletes dominate weekend’s race across Hong Kong
Mainland Chinese athletes dominated the Anta Hong Kong 100 Ultra Marathon (HK100) last weekend, with Meng Guangfu and Chen Lin sealing first place in the men’s and women’s races.
The 14th edition of the HK100 started at 8am on Saturday with runners bearing hot and humid conditions for the race which also kick-started the World Trail Majors series.
Chen’s finishing time of 12 hours 44 minutes and 51 seconds was slower than the women’s track record of 11 hours and 28 minutes, but she blew away her second and third place compatriots.
Li Ying came second with a time of 13:39:30, while Wu Yuanyuan, who won the grand slam last year, finished third in 13:54:08.
Meng won the men’s race with a time of 10:16:56 despite being about nine minutes behind the eventual runner-up and course record holder, China’s You Peiquan, after 86km.
You was visibly exhausted as he crossed the finish line in 10:35:11. American Tyler Green sealed third place, just three minutes and one second behind You.
Filipino John ‘Stingray’ Ray Onifa, representing Hong Kong, was the city’s best finisher, coming in ninth with a time of 11:37:32.
Mainland Chinese runners dominated five of the top six runners in the men’s race, and the top six runners in the women’s race were all also from across the border.
Seventh place Wong Ki-chun, who ran in 14:16:25, and eighth place Zhou Xiao-xiao, 16 minutes and seven seconds behind, were Hong Kong’s best women competing in the 103km race.
However, Hong Kong did seal first place in the men’s ‘Grand Sam’ event, Tsang Chun-kit ran the 33km event, the 56km race and the HK100 on consecutive days with a combined time of 22:03:14.
The name refers to Sam Tam, the first runner to sign up for all three races. It also sounds like the Cantonese word for three, saam.
Tsang finished 19th in the HK100, seventh in the half and fourth in the third.
China’s Xie Wenfei ran the women’s Grand Sam in a combined time of 26:15:15. She finished 12th in the HK100, sixth in the half and fifth in third.
Wu Erqing and Zhou Ruifang, both from the mainland, won the men’s and women’s 56km race, respectively.
Korea’s Kim Jisub won the 33km race with a time of 2:48:57, with America’s Rachel Drake the first woman across the line in 3:04:25.
