Seyon Asia Limited
Lantau Mountain Marathon - Sunday, January 6, 2002

Report | Results | Splits

A hot one to ring in the new year

While hot weather and bad pacing doomed many to sub-par performances, Alex Morgan ran brilliantly to decimate a large and strong field. His time of 3:46:43 was only two minutes off the course record and one suspects that the record would have been Alex's under cooler conditions. Alex held back in the pack up to Sunset Peak, took the lead on the rough downhill to Tung Chung and then gradually pulled away over the remainder of the course.

Cosmo Boy Lau Yu Chun and Rob Parks fought a heated battle for second and third, with Lau giving ground to Parks up Lantau Peak, but finally overtaking him on the downside and holding on for second place.

The Cosmo Boys went on to take 4th to 7th places overall with KK Chan beating out partner Mak Ping Yin by 16 seconds to capture the MV-40+ title along the way. Notable performances by Gavin Lewis, Justin Searle, Olivier Streun and Ho Hon Ming, pushed the remaining Cosmo Boys out of their accustomed places in the top 10.

In the M-55+ category, Lui Kwok Sing brought glory to himself and his Kin Hang Hiking Club with an age group record 5:03:44 victory, ahead of legendary just-returned-to-Hong Kong runner David Rosser and fellow Kin Hang'er Lee Kwok Kwong.

Now a mother of 3, but still a force to be reckoned with, Chiaki Fjelldahl captured the women's title in a fast 4:36:46. Chisato Kawasaki and Cosmo Girl Fan Sui Ping, followed, but never seriously challenged the in-form Chiaki. Amazingly, all of these women looked completely fresh at the finish line, while their male counterparts generally looked like sweaty messes.

Patrice Clapacs proved the power of positive thinking in winning the FV-40+ race. Patrice had been despondent about her Taipo result, and vowed over the Christmas holidays to reexamine her training and nutrition intake. Whatever she did obviously worked as she beat out hard-core regulars Yau Lan Kiu (Kin Hang) and Fung Yuk Ling (Cosmo Girl) and set an age group record of 5:04:16 to boot. What used to be the softest division in the series has suddenly become very competitive as last year's Queen of the Hills, Jenny Roper, could only manage 4th place against this competition.

The half marathon race bore witness to a bit of an upset. Ignoring the heat, recent top dog John Power went off at an outrageous pace carrying no water and paid the price. The 30 minutes he spent lying in the shade under a tree part way through the course should serve as a warning to those who would underestimate Hong Kong's hills and ability to cook its athletes.

Instead, Simon Phillips ran a powerful and intelligent race to best the field in a near record 1:28:28. David Greig and Peter Faarbeak fought a tough battle for the runner up spot with Greig coming out on top. Just behind them was Big Mal Phillips, the first MV-40+ across the line. Big Mal credited the recent Kadoorie Farm race for giving him the perfect training to run up and over Sunset Peak so quickly. Rob Appleby and Philippe Guillo ran very solid races to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in the veteran's category.

In the M-55+ division, John Tanner bested Peter Widmer for the second time in a row with Frank Pilkington placing third to capture his first hardware of the season.

Female veteran Marie-Helene Arnauld ran an outstanding 1:38:50 to win the women's division outright in course record time. With her third dominating win in a row, Marie-Helene is making a strong case that half marathoner may just deserve the Queen of the Hills title this year. Now that she has wrapped up her division, we encourage her to try a couple of full marathons for the rest of the series. Certainly her closest rivals on the day, Rachel Sproston (first in the female open) and Brigitte Zeltner Widmer (second in the vets) would like to see her step up to the longer distances.

The best quote of the day came from one competitor who ran a sub-standard race. When asked if he was disappointed, he replied, "At least I can say now that I've beaten John Power." Nothing like the ups and downs of hill running…

The next race in the series takes place on Hong Kong Island on February 3rd. See www.seyonasia.com for further details.

Results - Full Marathon

Male Open: 1) Alex Morgan, 3:46:43; 2) Lau Yu Chun, 3:58:10; 3) Rob Parks, 4:02:33
Male Veteran: 1) Chan Kwok Keung, 4:10:55; 2) Mak Ping 4:11:11; 3) Ho Hon Ming, 4:35:20
Male Senior: 1) Lui Kwok Sing, 5:03:44; 2) David Rosser, 5:25:50; 3) Lee Kwok Kwong, 5:31:56
Ladies Open: 1) Chiaki Fjelddahl, 4:36:46; 2) Chisato Kawasaki, 4:52:08, 3) Fan Sui Ping, 4:57:58
Ladies Veteran: 1) Patricia Clapacs, 5:04:16; 2) Yau Lan Kiu, 5:13:55; 3) Fung Yuk Ling, 5:17:26

Results - Half Marathon

Male Open: 1) Simon Phillips, 1:28:28; 2) David Greig, 1:35:00; 3) Peter Faarbeak, 1:36:15
Male Veteran: 1) Malcolm Phillips, 1:38:02; 2) Rob Appleby, 1:38:30; 3) Philippe Guillo, 1:40:44
Male Senior: 1) John Tanner, 1:53:12; 2) Peter Widmer, 1:59:39; 3) Frank Pilkington, 2:14:12
Ladies Open: 1) Rachel Sproston, 1:48:13; 2) Frances Liu, 2:02:03; 3) Miki Burlage, 2:06:44
Ladies Veteran: 1) Marie-Helene Arnauld, 1:38:50; 2) Brigitte Zeltner Widmer, 2:02:08; 3) Leung Oi Yim, 2:2 1:39

Keith Noyes