Tag Archives: Hong Kong

2014 MSIG Saikung 50 – My last race of this season

Races Hong Kong, , , ,

I was waiting till after the Hong Kong Marathon with the decision whether to do this one or not. At the end I decided that it would be nice to end the season with a 50km ultra. And so I signed up for 50km version of MSIG Saikung 50.

I was vaguely familiar with most of the route. I did a recce of the final 12km loop on Mac3 and the first 4-5km a week ago. Sharp Peak I tried during summer. The majority of the rest of the course I have run before although usually in the opposite direction. The only bit unknown to me was the approximately 3.5km trail diversion from the road section of Mac Lehose Trail section 1. I was not really sure what time to expect but comparing the time sheets of Lantau50 and Saikung50 a year ago I guessed sub 8 hours would be satisfactory result for me, especially at this stage of the season.

MSIG Saikung Start

MSIG Saikung 50km Start

Continue reading →

2014 Standard Chartered Marathon

Races Hong Kong, , ,

Year ago I was far from ready for full marathon. I went for the half marathon distance, pulled my calf 3 days before the race and ended up running through brutal pain. That was really stupid. It took a month before I could resume even very light training. But after that race I decided that in 2014 I will go for the full marathon. So when the registrations 2014 Standard Chartered Marathon opened in October 2013 I duly signed up.

Initially after getting the spot I was quite excited as this was to be my first full marathon. But then I squeezed in freezing marathon before Christmas and the initial excitement somehow evaporated. Moreover I had no special preparation for marathon as all my training was focused on the trail running races. Endurance was not a problem. But to keep pretty much half marathon pace over 42km of never ending concrete – for that I definitely haven’t trained at all. So the closer it was getting to the race date the more I felt that this race is something I am not too keen on doing. But as I signed up already I decided to do it.

Continue reading →

My First 100km Race – Vibram HK100 2014

Races Hong Kong, ,

The day finally arrived – January 18, 2014. After 7 months and over 2000km of training I hoped I was ready to embark on my first hard core ultra – the HK100 trail race. I had several 40+ km practice runs in my legs and as a part of the preparation for the HK100 I completed 40km, 50km and 70km races but 100km over the the hills of New Territories with accumulated elevation gain around 5500m that would be quite a different beast to conquer.

HK100 Start

HK100 Start

Continue reading →

2013 MSIG Lantau 50 – My first trophy

Races Hong Kong, ,

I originally signed up for the shorter 26km version of this race. But then I realized that due to my planned December travels I would not have that many opportunities for longer training runs before the HK100 race. And so at the last minute I switched my registration to the full 50km distance. This was to be my first 50km race and the second longest distance I ever did (after LT70).

My plan was to take this race as a training run – start easy, maintain comfortable pace, do not care what others around me are doing. I was quite familiar with most of the route. I did the short version a year ago therefore I knew all the major uphills and downhills and most (although not all) of the additional Chi Ma Wan loop I knew from the Moontrekker.

MSIG Lantau - Podium

MSIG Lantau – Podium

Continue reading →

2013 UNICEF Half Marathon – New PB

Races Hong Kong, , , ,

I was not too keen on joining this race this year. I did 4 half marathons last season, 3 of them (UNICEF, Standard Chartered and Sydney) in almost identical 1h38mins time. The 4th one was the heavily jet lagged slightly hilly China Coast half marathon in Sai Kung at 1h45mins. I was so jet lagged that day I have no idea how I finished that one …

Anyway at the end I decided to sign up for this UNICEF Half Marathon again. I like the route and as I am planning to finally do a full marathon this season and a half marathon early on into the season could be a good test.

I haven’t had any special preparation for the road race. All my training is aimed at trail running this season so I simply decided to show up and enjoy the ride, or run.
Continue reading →

Oxfam Trailwalker 2013 – HKTR Bros Support

Races Hong Kong, , ,

I have never done the Oxfam Trailwalker myself. I was contemplating joining this year for about 10 minutes. But then I decided to focus my preparations on HK100 in January and signed up for shorter 70km long LT70 instead.

I still wanted to participate in Trailwalker though and when the HKTR Bros started to build their support team that was to help them to achieve sub 15 hours finish I joined in.

Continue reading →

MSIG HK 2013 – 24km Race

Races Hong Kong, , ,

The MSIG HK 50 was scheduled for 27 October, 2013 – the Sunday of the Moontrekker weekend. Once I switched my Moontrekker registration from 27km to 40km I knew I would not be ready to follow it up with 50km race only 27 hours or so later, especially being aware of tough nature of the second half of the 50km route. I still decided to sign up for the 24km race though. It followed my regular Sunday morning route (HK Trail stages 1 to 4 from The Peak to Wing Nai Chung Gap) with only difference being the extra 2km long Mt. Bennet loop – so very familiar and not exactly tough route. I though this could be a nice recovery run made easier by lighter backpack thanks to all the checkpoints with water.
Continue reading →

Moontrekker – My trail racing season begins

Races Hong Kong, , , ,

I originally signed up for the shorter 27km version of Moontrekker. Then I joined overnight summer recce run covering the full 40km Sunrise route and really enjoyed the “extra” Chi Ma Wan loop. Then later in the summer I decided to sign up for HK100. Running the full length Moontrekker became part of my training plan for HK100. And so I made the switch.

Before this race I had almost no previous night running experience except that one all night Moontrekker practice during summer. Moreover I never finished a race this long. I had two full HK Trail practice runs from previous winter under my belt (44.5km). However the only 40km+ race that I previously entered (2013 Green Power) I had to abandon after half distance due to foot injury.

Continue reading →