HK100 winner Lu Yangchun’s journey from a remote village to one of China’s top track and trail runners
- The steeplechase champion is considered modest and hard working by those who know her
Lu Yangchun, an unknown outside China, won the Vibram Hong Kong 100 (HK100) in January. A humble athlete who excels both on the athletics track and the mountain trails, Lu is a double national champion at 3,000m steeplechase. She now runs for Adidas Terrex and is a teammate to some of trail running’s biggest stars, but Lu was born in a mountain village with no electricity and still shares a room with another athlete in a sports academy dormitory.
Lu lives in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Autonomous Region which she represents nationally in steeplechase, but like fellow elite Chinese trail runners Shen Jiasheng and Qi Min, the 27-year old hails from rural Yunnan.
“Where I am from, it is all big mountains. I liked running up and down trails as a child, I think my legs got used to it,” Lu said.
Her native mountains lie somewhere between Dali and Lijiang. “When I go home for Lunar New Year or the National Day holiday I have to hike up,” she said. “My home is at the very top of the mountain, there is still no road.”
She belongs to the Yi ethnic group. The high-mountain dwelling Yi have long been one of the most disadvantaged ethnicities in Yunnan and the hardships of everyday life make Yi women tough, hardworking and resourceful.