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Lantau Mountain Marathon Report, Jan 9 2011
Report | Results | Splits The North Face KOTH Lantau – Gorgeous running weather to start 2011 The Lantau race is always interesting because it is simultaneously the hardest of the The North FAce KOTH full marathons and the easiest of The North Face KOTH half marathons. The half marathon course follows steep, but well defined trails, while the full ventures off into some of the rougher and wilder terrain in Hong Kong. During unseasonably hot years, there is much suffering, but the conditions were ideal this year and the dropout rate was much lower than normal as a result. 278 runners completed the half marathon and 87 the full marathon. William Davies won the full marathon for the second event in a row with Claire Price winning the ladies’ division. “Japan Express” Fujio Miyachi returned to Hong Kong to defend successfully his half marathon title, with Jeanette Holmes-Thomson winning the ladies. KOTH Lantau Full Marathon – Will Davies again! William Davies won his second consecutive KOTH race with a fine performance that saw him in control from the start and minus his familiar wrong turn drama. Rumor has it he was in a hurry to get to lunch with his boss so he couldn’t afford to dillydally. Jeremy Ritchey managed to miss the ferry this morning because the coffee shop took a bit long steaming his latte, but he never the less made it to the race and showed that he has finally put his injuries behind him with a strong second place performance. Jeremy’s Trailwalker teammate, Michael Maddess finished third overall and first in the M45 age group. Michael continues to get faster with age even as many of us slow down. Cosmo Boy Law Chor Kin returned to form to finish 4th overall and third in the open category. Chan See Kau ran a stunning race to obliterate the M50 course record and place 5th overall. Breaking this course record is getting more difficult each year as the trail up to the Buddha gets less and less traffic and becomes more and more overgrown. M50 Ng Chau Yan finished second in the age group, followed by Li Yiu Cheung, Raymond in a competitive category. The slowness of the course can be attested to by Claire Price who is in the best shape of her life, but still finished 3 minutes off her own F40 course record pace (while managing to place an amazing 6th overall). Lee Bik Sai Ida finished second in the age group, followed by Cheung Ping Ting. Running on his home island Daniel Brown nearly blew a fine race by missing the last turn despite the pre-race warning to keep an eye out for 8 bright yellow arrows marking the turn. Daniel still recovered in time to win the M40 race and then cook up a great barbecue for his kids. Rupert Chamberlain was second in the category despite cramping problems with Cheung Sai Kit Alger third. M55 Chan Hoi Nam won his age category for the second year in a row. This time he was well ahead of Leung Kam Yuen (2nd) and Rowland Burley (3rd). Nora Senn won the female open race and gushed afterwards about how Lantau is her favorite course in the series. People like her are frequently described as masochists, but she appeared to have cruised the course effortlessly. Old friend Lam Lai Po returned to KOTH with a solid second place performance with Magdalena Cvetkovic third. Half Marathon – Japan Express returns to win again Miyachi Fujio returned to Hong Kong for the first time since dominating last season’s half marathon series. Picking up where he left off, he left all in his wake up Sunset Peak, survived the downhill on injured knees and then sprinted the countour trail to win going away. Fujio loves Hong Kong trail running so much that he brought two Japanese friends along with him this time. They also enjoyed themselves and all plan on coming back to run another race next year. Lookout for more competition from Japan! Kris Inglis is officially recovered from knee problems. After pacing himself up Sunset Peak, Chris blasted down the other side to finish second overall and first among the over 40’s. Close behind was Tom Bellamy who recovered from a terrible first race to justify all the potential he’s showed in training with a 3rd place overall finish. First race winner, Seth Fischer, was a further 93 seconds behind and third in the open category. M40 Mark Western was next across the line and second in his age group. M45 Andrew Thomson was next in to win his age group, followed by the ageless Leung Ping who won the M50 age group yet again. Andrew even managed to beat his wife this race – never an easy task. M45 Peter Faarbek edged out M45 John Mckinven for second in the age group with John coming in third. Only 3 seconds separated them after an epic battle. Both were no doubt motivated to try to stay ahead of Jeanette Holmes-Thomson who won the women’s race and missed the course record by an agonizing 21 seconds. If only she hadn’t stopped to admire the view… Two other fast females, Lucy Marriott and Aya Noyes, were close behind. Derek Irwin fell on the race last year, requiring some stitches. Mindful of this, he tripped in the same spot this year and cut his face in the same spot and went off to the hospital for stitches after the race. He also came in second behind Leung Ping in the M50 category just like last year. At least he ran 13 seconds faster this year! M55 also proved a competitive age category. Luk Yin Hung narrowly won out over Wong Kam Ming and Law Kwong Chow with only a couple of minutes between them. Stuart McDoual bested Wong Peter Chun Tung in the M60 category, the first person to beat Peter in KOTH since Chris Wardlaw left Hong Kong. Course marker Lam Ngok Kam came in third. Nadia Koucha fell on her shoulder during the race, but still claimed top honors in the F40 division. A mere flesh would she said. Grace Balintong edged out Catherine Leonard to claim second with Catherine finishing third. Marlboro Ann Miles won the F50 race again, this time over Lau Pui King. Two 12-year old also had some fun on the race. Frederikke Faarbaek completed the course for the second year in a row and Oscar Blain completed it for the first time. The next race takes place in Repulse Bay on Sunday, 13th February. This is usually the best- attended race of the season and offers showers and food outlets nearby for those who wish to enjoy a beach picnic following the race. See www.seyonasia.com/koth for further details. Happy trails. Keith Noyes Race Director The North Face KOTH Series 2010-2011 2011 KOTH Lantau Half Results MO 1) Fujio Miyachi, 1:22:06; 2) Thomas Bellamy, 1:26:52; 3) Seth Fischer, 1:28:25 M40 1) Kris Inglis 1:1:26:03; 2) Mark Western, 1:29:56; 3) Dwyfor Evans, 1:36:48 M45 1) Andrew Thomson, 1:30:54; 2) Peter Faarbaek, 1:33:50; 3) John McKinven, 1:33:53 M50 1) Leung Ping, 1:30:59; 2) Derek Irwin, 1:38:28; 3) Mark Adams, 1:46:19 M55 1) Luk Yin Hung; 1:44:08 2) Wong Kam Ming, 1:46:34; 3) Law Kwong Chow, 1:46:49 M60 1) Stuart McDoualll, 1:46:23; 2) Wong Peter Chun Tong, 1:47:04; 3) Lam Ngok Kam, 1:52:48 FO 1) Jeanette Holmes Thomson, 1:35:16; 2) Lucy Marriott, 1:36:22; 3), Aya Noyes, 1:38:04 F40 1) Nadia Koucha, 1:43:23; 2) Grace Balingtong, 1:46:51; 3) Catherine Leonard, 1:47:53 F50 1) Ann Miles, 2:11:22; 2) Lau Pui King, 2:48:46 2011 KOTH Lantau Full Results MO 1) William Davies, 3:41:58; 2) Jeremy Ritchey, 3:44:09; 3) Law Chor Kin, 4:08:42 M40 1) Daniel Brown, 4:18:15; 2) Rupert Chamberlain, 4:33:37; 3) Chan Sai Kit Alger, 4:43:58 M45 1) Michael Maddess, 3:47:36; 2) Andrew Patrick, 5:10:52; 3) Jonathan Rodda, 5:19:00 M50 1) Chan See Kau, 4:10:52; 2) Ng Chau Yan, 4:24:22; 3) Wong Tze Man, 4:28:34 M55 1) Chan Hoi Nam, 4:34:16; 2) Leung Kam Yuen, 5:14:07; 3) Rowland Burley, 6:51:40 FO 1) Nora Senn, 4:41:37; 2) Lam Lai Po, 4:54:02; 3) Magdalena Cvetkovic, 5:47:01 F40 1) Claire Price, 4:10:19; 2) Lee Bik Sai, Ida, 5:07:25; 3) Cheung Ping Ting, 6:16:33 |
