Apr 11, 2010 – POST EVENT SPORTS NEWS RELEASE – Adventure racing
Bonaqua Action SPRINT adventure race series – (Race 3 out of 5 race series) – Sai Kung, HK (13 km adventure run)
RITCEY AND RETHFELDT KING & QUEEN OF MUD AND ROCK
Hong Kong – Plenty of mud, slippery rocks and ropes rigged on waterfalls put smiles on faces of close to 300 participants in Sunday’s Bonaqua Action Sprint Sai Kung leg.
It was a close battle for both men and women at the front as the top 3 men finished in just over 2 minutes apart and top 3 women within 4 minutes on a very technical course.
“Well it was almost like ice skating on mud as it was tougher than I thought with mud sticking to my shoes it was so thick in sections. The downhills we were right on the edge with me worring about twisting my ankle, but luckly nothing happened” said overall winner and series leader Salomon team runner Ritcey finishing the fastest in 1 hour 24 minutes 49 seconds.
Less than 2 minutes back was Jesse Smith finishing 2nd overall in 1 hour 26 minutes 39 seconds. “The weather made the route very difficult and slippery as there was no place to go fast as so technical. Easy to fall on sharp rocks so you were constantly looking down. Hat’s off to the huge Action Asia support team as must have been a nightmare getting all the water into the checkpoint down those muddy slopes” said Smith.
More than 20 marshals out of 40 total plus a squad of 10 emergency rescue had duties to carry water on their backs over 2km of slippery mud just to get to the water check point. Competitors gave them a large round of applause when they appeared back at the finish line soaked in mud.
Eric LaHaie finished only 19 seconds after Smith. “It was a real battle out there trading places as full on action with lots of mud and rock”, said 3rd overall LaHaie finishing in 1 hour 26 minutes and 58 seconds.
Juliane Rethfeldt took the lead in the series with a win again but had to battle with 2 others to protect her lead.
“It was tough, but exciting. You really needed to be careful and with Nadia and Emma pushing me it wasn’t easy” said overall Women winner Rethfeldt finishing in 1 hour 46 minutes and 38 seconds.
Just over 2 minutes back coming in with plenty of mud was Nadia Koucha. “I really enjoyed the rock scrambling sections as I do a lot of rock climbing so it was a treat for me. But those mud sections were like ice skating in some sections as you really were on the edge” said 2nd overall women Koucha finishing in 1 hour 48 minutes 40 seconds.
Emma Bruce rounded the womens top 3. “You really had to control yourself and have good confidence on this course. If you got past that stage then all the slippery mud sections didn’t really matter. Hats off to Nadia as she was strong on the rock sections”, said Bruce finishing 3rd overall in the Women’s in 1 hour 50 minutes 11 seconds.
Participants of the Bonaqua Action Sprint Sai Kung leg had to run up Tai Mong Tsai Rd for 1.5km before turning at the beginning of High Island reservoir to hike up the steep 2km muddy trail to an elevation of 408m hitting the top of Tai Cham Koi. Then 3km straight down mud following the Lok Wu trail to the water check point in the Lok Wu gorge. Then 2km rock srambling up over 7 waterfalls rigged with ropes to an exit trail and repeating the same Tai Cham Koi hike, but this time from the back side up over the 408m mountain, before a hairy 3+ km descent which by this time looked more like a downhill mud track all the way to Pak Tam Chung.
“What an experience carrying all those wet ropes out of there and dealing with over 60 staff on the course” said Race Director and Course Designer of Action Asia Events Michael Maddess. “Just glad nobody hurt themselves and everything went so smooth, except for some very muddy clothing…
Race 4 of the Bonaqua Action Sprint Series goes to Tung Chung Apr 18th with the last race Discovery Bay May 9th.
End….
Bonaqua Action SPRINT adventure race series
Race 1 - March 14, 2010 - 12 km - Repulse Bay, HK Island - 9am
Race 2 - March 28, 2010 - 12 km – Mui Wo, Lantau - 9am
Race 3 - April 11, 2010 - 13 km - Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung - 9:30am
Race 4 - April 18, 2010 - 12 km – Tung Chung, Lantau- 9am
Race 5 - May 9, 2010 - 12 km - Discovery Bay, Lantau - 9am
Map of courses on official website www.actionasiaevents.com
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