Hong Kong – Jun 20th, 2010 – After a sold out race of 138 paddlers from 69 teams of two completed 3 km of kayaking, 5 km mountain running and 3 km more of kayaking, the duo of Danish Allan Christensen and Belgium Siegfried Verheijke jumped out of their kayaks in jubilation finishing in 1 hour 33 minutes and 20 seconds to take their first win of the Teva Kayak n Run series.
“It was awesome. We prepared really well for this even though it was quite hot. We consider ourselves beginners to this multi-sport, but yes we have kayaked together and did recce the course beforehand to find a good way to the 2nd checkpoint”, said Verheijke of Team Lion Cubs.
Teams had to use maps to find their own way to the mountain checkpoints orienteering style with several options.
“Think the kayaking paid off as it gave us the edge,” said winning teammate Christensen.
A record 69 teams of 2 started at the same team with a sea of orange and red leaving Nim Shue Wan for the first 3 km kayak to Man Kok Tsui estimated half way to Mui Wo along the Lantau coastline. Teams then had to navigate using a map, compass or GPS for an estimated 5 - 6 km (depending if they went direct or not) to find CP2 a rocky outcrop at an elevation of 97 m near Kau Shat Wan and a mountain check point with numerous single track trail options before returning to Man Kok Tsui for the final 3 km kayak to Nim Shue Wan.
“Our strategy worked which was to stick with the front guys in the kayak, but they took a faster running route which was hard to make up in the kayak near the end”, said 2nd overall Eric Lahaie of Team Lahaie/Ritcey who finished just over 1 minute behind in 1 hour 35 minutes.
“It was fun. We were up there. Wacked thru some bushes for a while to get to cp2 only to find ourselves minutes down on the others who were way ahead of us as they found a shorter route. Great race though,” said Lahaie’s partner Salomon runner Ritcey.
Less than 3 minutes cruised in Gatorade. “We had a good kayak and made it to cp1 in the lead. Thought we had a good route as we spent some time doing some recces, but arrived at the next cp behind the others. Thanks to Teva and also to Gatorade as well for supporting this” said Matt McLaughlin of Gatorade Schmucknuckles finishing 3rd overall in 1 hour 37 minutes 43 seconds.
In the women it was a fierce battle at the front and a change of winners from previous races. “We’ve been practicing for the last 4 weeks on weekends as we live in Discovery Bay. We found some short-cuts, different from last years race, but as today was hot it was more difficult, but we believe we had a good paddle at the start finishing the 1st kayak in top 12 teams or so. But it was difficult to pull away from Diana and Angie tailing us, so we pushed hard from cp 3 back to Man Kok Tsui and almost died on the kayak coming home just stay in front of the other girls. It paid off as we finished almost 6 minutes ahead,” said Erin Bowland with teammate Kobi Janssen of team Wahine who won the women’s category in 1 hour 55 minutes 29 minutes.
In the Mixed category team Sen Trek with Nora Senn and Alejandro Tripodoro finished first in 1 hour 51 minutes 27 seconds.
“It’s great TEVA is partnering with us again this year for this popular series as shows you how many people love to combine both mountain trail running and ocean kayaking together for this epic multi-sport event. Yes we have 4 races in the series, but were almost tempted to add a 5th race this summer. Stay tuned”, said Race Director & Course Designer Michael Maddess.
Race 3 of the Teva Kayak n Run series goes to Sai Kung July 18th and finishes July 31st at Deep Water Bay.
More than 20,000 photos of past Action Asia Events and over 75 video clips have been uploaded to the new website which you can registration for all the races at www.actionasiaevents.com
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