HK100 winner, ‘unknown’ mainland Chinese runner You Peiquan, is intent on running his own way and only revealing his spirit during races
- You Peiquan adheres to traditional ethics by keeping his spirit and vigour hidden until he strikes at race time
Hailed as “another unknown name from the mainland” at the HK100, You has been racing since the very start of China’s trail and ultra running boom.
Around 10 years ago in China, trail races started popping up like mushrooms. Organisers were trying to outdo each other with prize money – 20,000 or 30,000 yuan (HK$22,000-32,000) to a winner was the norm. Competition was fierce and elite road runners from sports academies swarmed in for a piece of the pie.
A two-tiered professional trail-running scene quickly emerged – contenders from academies aiming at a podium finish and at least 10,000 yuan, and grass-roots runners, recently graduated You among them, running their hearts out to break into the top 10 and make a couple of thousand yuan. They travelled the length and breadth of China, learning by trial and error how to race ultras.
“Money was rather tight. I got a room for 150 yuan a month and I still ate in the university canteen for 10 yuan. I would take slow trains to races and pay no more than 50 yuan for my accommodation. I lived on 1,000 yuan a month,” said You.