Race Media

Confidence, Teamwork, cross country exercise spur kids at Kayak n Run

HOT teams split by seconds at final Royale International Kayak n Run

July 9, 2016, Hong Kong – Positive comments came flowing across the finish line of the final leg of the scorching hot Royale International Kayak n Run at Tai Tam Bay Saturday morning. The weather did not affect the passion and determination of the adventure runners and kayakers with families commenting on the young children experiences, gaining confidence, understanding the importance of teamwork during kayaking and team trail running.

One family commented who did well was Mar-Loes Mantoua and her son Sebastian Mantoua from South Africa, finishing the race in 40 minutes 15 seconds. “I feel tired but also great. This is the very first time for me to join such kind of a race. Our expectation was simply to complete the race. We have never thought that we would become winners even though it’s for fun. This is such a pleasant surprise and we are very happy!” Sebastian expressed his excitement with us, “I really enjoy the kayaking, it was nice and smooth. When getting off the kayak, it feels like I am light again,” said Sebastian. Mar-Loes also shared her feelings about the race. “Kayaking was fun but the scenery was even more enjoyable. We crossed through a river which was so nice and cool. I really, really enjoyed that. The view from both sides were so beautiful. As for the most challenging part, it’s definitely going uphills. The organization was good and I will definitely think for participating in another race next year with Action Asia Events.”

The team, Tam’s family, with Daddy Tam, Mommy Tam and their 2 sons that are 6 and 7 years old all enjoyed the Royale International event very much, especially the two little boys, Manson Tam and Manon Tam. Daddy Tam thought that the course designed for family category was far more interesting for the kids because they could run up and down the hills and run through the river gullies, which are quite close to cross country running. And Tracy Lo, the mother, expressed her support to the sports events for small kids. She said, “There are few events for my kids, who’s under 12 years old. I hope that we could have more events like this in the future.”

In the adult category after fierce competition with top teams all seconds apart and all trading places thru the kayak n run event, the Hong Kong runners Wilson Lee and Jeremy Leung, from North Face team finished the course in 1 hour 45 minutes 34 seconds, grabbing top of the podium on their first outing together in the Royale International Kayak n Run. They expressed their excitement for their good result, “The high temperature today maybe influenced those Western runners more possibly as we seemed to do better in the heat today. When running up the hill to Dragons Back, we ran faster than other runners, plus we had great team work and that was where we caught the others, said Leung.”

Just over 1 minute later after French Team Uglow Asia kayaked across the finish line after battle all the way from To Tei Wan to Tam Tam Tuk pier. Team member Adrien Choux and Antoine Epinette shared their feelings, “Very hot race, but it was exciting. We had some difficult kayaking as wasn’t easy. We should be stronger, but on the half way my partner was tired and on the flat I was exhausted. And these guys caught up and then we were at the third position, but we didn’t give up and kept up with these guys. We liked the second leg of the kayaking as we were really exhausted, we pushed each other which was a good fight for our team. Yes we will probably be back next year as good race and series, said Choux.”

Team Uglow Asia Biket Compet had a fantastic event grabbing 3rd place overall and the first mixed team as well finishing the race in 1 hour 47 minutes and 7 seconds just 1 minute 33 seconds behind the winners showing how close they were after a long day sizzling day. Team members Mat Leng and Elsa Jeandedieu expressed their happiness with the event. “Today is so hot but amazing. We really enjoy the race. The kayak was really challenging, but on the trails (Shek O Country Park) we ran really well. At the beginning we think we arrived at the end of the first kayak maybe in 20th place (joking about how all the other teams were in front). And then on the run, we passed so many teams and at the beach we were the first team. It was the Men’s Uglow team who we competed with and they passed us in the end,” said Mat Leng. As for the pre-race preparation, Elsa Jeandedieu told us their plan. “We did the training two times before the race. We trained for kayaking. Our friend has a new boat, and we use it for training every weekend. So next year we hope we will perform better at kayaking.”

The Hong Kong local team named Pao Shou Tang was the first Womens team with Ng Chung Fei and Tsang Yin Hung cruising over the finishing line in 2 hours and 31 seconds on their first participation in a kayak race. Tsang Yin Hung said “this was a very challenging race because of the combination of kayak and running”. Ng Chung Fei said “We have done a good preparation last week to get familiar with the race course as did a recce so that today we could run very smoothly and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.”

The Royale International Kayak n Run series final leg at Tai Tam Bay started with a kayak start at Tai Tam Tuk for a 4 km ocean kayak leg out to Windy Gap and then paddling to To Tei Wan before running over different check points passing Shek O Peak 284m in elevation on Dragons Back, Shek O Country Park which for some was over 5 km, before the final 2 km ocean kayak back to Tai Tam Bay.

The Royale International Kayak n Run Series could not happen without the generous support of the presenting sponsor Royale International, and supporting partners Action X Store, LIFEPROOF, Salonsip, Herbalgy, Gatorade, OL&N, Key Sun Zinke and Action Asia Foundation.

Overall Top 3 Teams

Event Name

Results on tab bar above or see link

http://www.actionasiaevents.com/results/results-viewer.html?id=2767