POST Event Sports NEWS Release – Adventure racing – Trail running
Race 4 – Bonaqua Action Sprint Tung Chung – April 18
Ritcey takes series championship after close battle with Western – Koucha happy beating Rethfeldt
Hong Kong – Apr 18, 2010 – Salomon team runner Jeremy Ritcey took the overall series championship by winning his 3rd race of the Bonaqua Action Sprint series at Tung Chung, but not without having to push hard too pass Mark Western on the Wo Liu Tun 324m climb sandwiched between both rivers in the rain on slippery rocks.
“Yeh, Mark got by in the first river gorge as he’s good on the rocks so I knew if I didn’t catch him by the top of the mtn climb it would be tough to beat him as the 2nd river was over 2km. I just pushed as hard as I could and got by him near the top and went crazy on the downhill”, said overall winner Ritcey finishing in 1 hour 16 minutes 9 seconds who also wins the overall championship with 1 race to spare.
“I tried my best to get by Jeremy and succeeded but when Jeremy’s behind you, it’s never going to be easy. The rock scrambling sections were huge fun as is just so different from other races in Hong Kong. Can’t wait for the last race”, said 2nd place overall Men’s winner Mark Western who finished less than 2 minutes behind in 1 hour 17 minutes 50 seconds.
Choi Fu Loi took 3rd overall with a fantastic performance in the river sections. “I love the rock technical sections as the heavier the rain, the better for me. Being short is also an advantage so that’s why I did so well today” said Choi who also finished 1st in the Men’s 50-59 category in 1 hour 20 minutes 27 seconds.
Participants had the most technical course of the series at Tung Chung with close to 4 km of river rock scrambling, a 20 meter swim, more than 3km of slippery, muddy, single track trails including a steep climb up the 324m Wo Liu Tun before a hair raising descent probably more suited to downhill skiers who enjoy the thrill of skiing fast thru trees on the 12km course.
Women’s winner Nadia Koucha couldn’t believe she finally beat series leader Juliane Rethfeldt. “Wow it was great battling with Julianne as she is such a great runner. I did really well in the river sections and got by Juliane and pushed hard to stay in front taking advantage of the river sections as I’m not as strong on the road sections” said overall Women’s winner Koucha finishing in 1 hour 35 minutes and 19 seconds.
Only 34 seconds behind was Juliane Rethfeldt. “It was tough, wet, many rocks and a great organized event. I did the best I could, but it was Nadia’s day today” said 2nd overall Women’s winner Rethfeldt finishing in 1 hour 35 minutes 53 seconds.
Diana Danyi was happy to grab 3rd in the Women’s. “Well I beat everyone behind me” she laughed. “It wasn’t easy as I had 2 girls right on my tail pushing me which gave me the motivation to push harder” said 3rd Women overall Danyi finishing in 1 hour 40 minutes 31 seconds.
Organizers said they are quite happy with over 250 entered for one of Hong Kong’s most toughest and technical running races of the year.
“Hat goes off to all the staff plus everyone who entered this technical race as no cup of tea and to Bonaqua for making the series happen”, said Race Director & Course Designer Michael Maddess.
Last Bonaqua Action Sprint of the series goes to Discovery Bay May 9th then Action Asia Events focuses on the Teva Kayak n Run series in Hong Kong before international trail running events in Taiwan, Vietnam and Laos.
More than 20,000 photos of past Action Asia Events with over 75 video clips are uploaded to the new website www.actionasiaevents.com
Past Course Winners
Men
Apr 2005 - Stone Tsang Siu Keung – 1:01:57 (shorter WHL river section)
May 2006 – Steve Bemet – 1:14:30
Mar 2007 - Ryan Blair - 1:14:36
Mar 2008 - Tim Mccosker - 1:20:35
Mar 2009 - Stone Tsang Siu Keung - 1:03:16
Women
Apr 2005 - Hisayo Takeda - 1:19:40 (shorter WHL river section)
May 2006 - Juliane Rethfeldt - 1:35:52
Mar 2007 - Jeanette Holmes-Thomson - 1:33:32
Mar 2008 - Nicola Green - 1:35:35
Mar 2009 - Juliane Rethfeldt - 1:27:25
End
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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
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