Nine Dragons Ultra: US Olympian Magda Boulet takes a commanding lead in women’s contest
- Hong Kong’s Jcy Ho finishes the 50 miles in 14 hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds
Unsurprisingly, former United States Olympian marathon runner Magdalena Boulet is comfortably ahead of the competition in the women’s Nine Dragons Ultra 50/50, but it has not been nearly as easy as she might have thought.
“I’m hurting,” said the Poland-born Boulet, who is still going strong at 45 years of age. “My quads, my glutes, knees, all are in ridiculous pain. This is my first time in Hong Kong and it’s absolutely beautiful but – wow, this course is ridiculously tough.”
Boulet, who finished the 50 miles in 13 hours, 45 minutes and 51 seconds, fell and scraped her left knee in between checkpoint six and seven, but was able to power through.
“The terrain is far more difficult than in the US,” said Boulet, who coaches track and field at her Alma Mater – the University of California – Berkeley. “This race has been like stairs 101 for me. It’s not going up that’s the tough part, it’s going down. Running down stairs really hurts your joints and running down hills is very technical and difficult.
“I’m pretty happy with my performance and I’m glad I crossed the finish line, but I’m pretty freaked out that I have to wake up tomorrow to run another 50km.”