HK50 West: records tumble as runners make most of clear, cold conditions
- Chan Ka-keung finishes men’s 55km event in blistering 5 hrs, 7 mins and 54 secs
- Karen Cheung almost 30 minutes ahead of second-placed finisher in women’s race, coming home in 6:28:27
Hong Kong’s runners made the most of the clear cool conditions to set fast times in Sunday’s HK50 West race, with records set in both the men’s and women’s 55km event.
Chan Ka-keung ran a blistering five hours, seven minutes and 54 seconds in a race that started in the dark and took competitors over the city’s highest peak, Tai Mo Shan.
Ferdinand Tsang, Fuk-cheung, who is Chan’s occasional training partner was second in 5:11:58, with Nathan Wong Kwok-wai a distant third in 5:36:19.
“It was cold going up Tai Mo Shan but the views and sunrise were incredible,” Chan said. “It was a fast day and so glad my friends did well, including Ferdinand just behind me, as we sometimes train together.
In the women’s race, Karen Cheung Man-lee finished almost 30 minutes ahead of field in 6:28:27, and said she had so much fun “I almost forgot I was racing”.
Germany’s Angelika Hahn was second 6:55:12, with Wong Yuen-ching coming home in 6:59:29 in third.
More than 400 runners took part on Sunday, competing over three distances, with a 25km and 11km route also available. After reaching 917 metres at the top of the city’s highest mountain, runners headed down into Tai Lam Country Park and eventually worked their way back to Shing Mun
“I’m so glad to be running today in Hong Kong around Tai Mo Shan area as the weather was really nice and we were able to watch the sunrise come up starting in the dark,” Cheung said. “After we passed the top of Tai Mo Shan early, there was a graceful particular view and feeling as you could see the city below so clearly, then we ran down into a forest like area of Tai Lam Chung (heading to Ho Pui) which looked like a great place to train as very runnable rolling hills around the reservoir before heading back towards Tai Mo Shan.”