Race Media

Mud, ropes, river and technical rocky sections add smiles at Taiwan Action Asia XTRAIL

Chou Ching wins 3rd year in record time on 26km despite mud

Sept 29, 2019 - Taipei – After torrential rains battered the Taiwan Action Asia XTRAIL course for 3 continuous days, organizers had to place extra ropes on slopes late into the evening worried runners would latterly slide off the narrow track down a bank into the forest. Certain sections were so bad that organizers actually for the first time in 10 editions of running the race encouraged runners to WALK for 2km after checkpoint 3 for safety reasons which is usually unheard of at an Action Asia Event.

Chou Ching from the Salomon Taiwan team rocked the 26km course in a new record time 2:36:50 winning this distance for the 3rd year in a row knocking over 12 minutes off his 2018 time which shows how fast he can go on wet technical sections compared to brutal heat dry conditions where he has suffered in the past.

‘I was very happy grabbing the overall win as felt really strong today and loved the downhill rocky technical section coming off Er Ger Shan after cp1 as it definitely favored me. The marking was very clear and the cool weather definitely helped me as really enjoyed this Action Asia XTRAIL Taiwan event” said overall 26km male winner Chou Ching from Taipei.

The overall women winner 26km Liu Meng Lui from Team Merrell Taiwan finished the course in 3:38:50 and said it was the first time participating in any Action Asia event and found the course very Taiwan style. “ Loved some of the sections running thru farms, houses, jungle, small trails and could also say hello to villagers when running by as that would be my favorite section as loved it as the course marking made it easy for us. Will be back’.

“My favorite section was the river crossing as usually there is not much water there and just ankle deep taking it easy after the Houshan Monkey Mountain section, which is always hard for this Moakong Action Asia race, but today due to the heavy rains previous days the river crossing was really interesting. The course marking was very clear which really helped as no problem identifying which direction to go. I will definitely recommend beginners to even try the 17km as I believe many are able to complete it” said Stella Chen the overall winner of the 17km Women’s category.

Erich Hellmer Was grinning as it was his very first trail run race ever. “I completed some half marathon road races, but wanted to do something a little more interesting and exciting and couldn’t have been happier. That ball buster hill was an apply named section as remember that well, but would say the second part of the 9km course where the ropes, muddy narrow paths were located were really fun and after the ropes there were some sections you could really fly on with nice views peeking thru the trees, going thru the farms with the view of the 101, that was gorgeous. Really, really happy with my result considering all the rain on the trails in the last few days. Absolutely would recommend this race to my friends as so well marked and glad you all take safety so serious”, Helmer said.

A group of 7 Western girls living in Ho Chih Minh, Vietnam actually made the trip too Taipei to compete for something different at the Taiwan Action Asia Event and enjoyed it so much are now considering some of the other country events like Thailand and Nepal which they are looking into.

The Taiwan Action Asia 26km course started off at the Muzha Chi Nan Gong Main Hall Temple (272m) – climbed Maokong Yuan Shan (509m) thru the Tea Farms, Maokong Zhanghu Trail, over Er Ger Shan (678m), down to Arou Yang Mtn Rd (467m) for the water food checkpoint before climbing the ridges of Houshan Mtn (530m) and going thru local farms and single track trails back to the Muzha Chi Nan Gong Main Hall Temple for one incredible Taiwan Action Asia experience.

The Action Asia Taiwan XTRAIL could not have happened without the kind support of all the marshals, staff, medical crew that had little sleep previous days before the event and worked hard to make the event an outstanding success and we at Action Asia Events thank them most heartedly.

Full results can be found at https://www.actionasiaevents.com/results.html

The next Taiwan Action Asia Event will be held in November at the famous Shihmen Reservoir with