Cool weather, fast times, young generation shines – Sai Kung 50 in Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Feb 22, 2025 – Race 4 of the Hong Kong 50 series was the Sai Kung 50 trail running event featuring four distances of 13km, 22km, 35km, 54km with over 450 participants lining up in Hong Kong with special permission from transport department to close Tai Mong Tsai Road for the start.
With temperatures dropping to 15c, light winds on the Sai Kung peaks, runners didn’t have to worry about dehydration as much as keeping warm, going fast and enjoying the dry technical trails while charging hard up the first Ta Tai Cham Koi 408m summit.
In the Men’s 54 category, Hong Kong’s Rex Lo (TPH Elite Team) set a blistering pace with past podium finishers at the HK50 series on his tail with Salomon Wettstein, Wong Wai-hung, David Ng Wai-hei and Jeremy Pelletant pushing to close the gap thru the race. With a consistent pace, Lo held ground to take the overall win.
“I felt good. Just keep my pacing I was saying to myself. Whole focus was pacing. Last part was Kai Kung Shan (399m) that we did twice and could see other runners, so a bit hard mentally when you see them and how close they are; you are thinking they know the distance and are really going to push” said Lo who put the hammer down on the last couple sections to win the 54km overall in 6 hours 1 minute 27 seconds.
Hong Kong’s Wong Wai-hung (Duo.hk) had a stellar finishing 2nd overall in the Men’s 54km. Really happy to participate in Sai Kung 50. I did this 3 yrs ago when the course was shorter due to thunderstorms, so was really happy today to run the whole 54k distance in better weather. I really liked the technical course sections after the first climb together with later technical sections as very challenging, which you appreciate when you finally hit the easier flat sections. Happy with my time”, said Wong grabbing 2nd overall in a time of 6 hours 20 minutes 12 seconds.
Salomon Wettstein (Switzerland) - Uglow team wearing his ‘lucky red’ colors. “Second year in a row finishing 3rd place. Beautiful course. Well-marked. Love the course. The volunteers did an amazing job as always at Action Asia. Thank you all so much” said Wettstein holding his trophy, cash prize money and Sudio power bank prize.
Hong Kong’s David Ng Wai-hei took 4th in 6 hours 52 minutes 02 seconds. “That was hard. Good course” said Ng.
Jeremy Pelletant (France) placed 5th in 6 hours 52 minutes 51 seconds. and did all the HK50 races including HK50-HK Island, Lantau50, HK50 West and Sai Kung 50. “Really happy to finish the HK50 series with the Sai Kung 50 being the last. Lantau50 was my favorite as I live on Lantau so biased as good for my single-track technical training, however, this is very close as the Sai Kung 50 has so many technical sections that put you on the edge. Great way to finish the HK50 series and extremely well organized and recommend highly.
Winner of last month’s HK50 West 55km and again this past weekend’s Sai Kung 50, Harmony Cho Yu Lam 林楚茹 from Hong Kong and training with TPH Elite Team was smiling again.
“Sai Kung 50 is a very technical course. You need to run on the road, then the Tai Cham Koi hill with a technical downhill, ocean coastline, beach, then on a road again, then up Kai Kung Shan and technical downhill on the way back so I like it as so challenging. Happy that the marking is so good as great job Action Asia Events.” Said overall 54km winner Harmony Cho Yu Lam who finished in 7 hours 1 minute 22 seconds.
“Absolutely amazing doing the Sai Kung 50. The weather conditions were perfect. Slightly cold and breezy. The trails were beautiful. A lot of off-the-beat trails you would normally not run on and everything was just really stunning. Really well organized. Really great organization. And had a great day out” said 2nd overall Jennifer Chen 陳跃強 (USA) finishing in a time of 8 hours 22 minutes 32 seconds.
Third place overall in the Women’s 54km was ZHANG HUA LAN 張花兰 (Mainland China) finishing in 8 hours 38 minutes 22 seconds. “It was my 2nd time joining SaiKung 50 and previously twisted my ankle and this time as weather was so good wanted to take full advantage of this race as very technical, but rewarding after such a challenge tied in with beautiful landscape in Sai Kung to complete and Action Asia race” said Zhang.
Fourth in the overall Women’s 54km went to Hong Kong’s Kimmy Leung 梁 Hong Kiu 康翹 (The North Face HK) finishing in 8 hours 56 minutes 56 seconds.” The easiest section for me was the Mac section between Chek Keng and Tai Lo Wan as was kind of similar to the HK100 in reverse, but before that a very big steep technical downhill, after that another technical up and downhill section, so a very challenging route. But I like challenging myself” said Kimmy Leung.
Fifth in the womens 54km was Hoi Ling Yan 甄凱玲 (HKG) finishing in 9 hours 9 minutes 45 seconds.
The Sai Kung 50 organized by Action Asia Events took participants on a circumnavigation of Sai Kung East Country Park, starting at Pak Tam Chung at sea-level, hiking up the 408m summit of Tai Cham Koi, technical descent to Chek Keng at sea-level, trail and beach running along Tai Lo Wan, Ham Tin Wan to Sai Wan, then a climb over Lo Tei Tun at 255m summit, then over Sai Wan Shan (314m elevation) then descending to the beach of Lung Kei Wan, climbing back up to the East Dam and a coast trail run thru Pak Lap arriving back at Pak Tam Chung before the final fun of hiking over Kai Kung Shan (399m) 2x for an out and back finishing at Pak Tam Chung for a total elevation gain of close to 3000m on an extremely technical demanding leg burning 54km+ Skyrunning trail course that had an extra 1.5km detour added due to a landslide at end of course pushing the total to over 55km this edition.
The Sai Kung 50 could not have happened without the hard-working marshals, volunteers, staff that got up as early as 3am to make this event happen.
Special thanks to the generous support of Bonaqua, Aquarius, UFC Coconut water, Neon Tiger, Sudio, EVA Air, Gwei-lo beer, Fitz, Action X Store, Royale International, ITRA, and Action Asia Sports Academy.
RESULTS
54 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (183) Rex Lo 羅樂賢 - HKG - TPH Elite Team - 06:01:27
2 (191) Wai Hung Wong 黃偉雄 - HKG - Duo.hk - 06:20:12
3 (130) Salomon Wettstein - CHE - Uglow - 06:36:44
4 (180) David Wai Hei Ng 吳瑋㬢 - HKG - 06:52:02
5 (190) Jeremy Pelletant - FRA - 06:52:51
54 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (182) Harmony Cho Yu Lam 林楚茹 - HKG - TPH Elite Team - 07:01:22
2 (166) Jennifer Chen 陳跃強 - USA - 08:22:32
3 (164) ZHANG HUA LAN 張花兰 - CHN - 08:38:22
4 (184) Hong Kiu Leung 梁康翹 HKG - The North Face HK - 08:56:56
5 (163) Hoi Ling Yan 甄凱玲 HKG - 09:09:45
35 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (364) Julien Poivet - FRA - 03:35:52
2 (382) Arnaud Mauduit - FRA - 03:47:16
3 (323) Nicholas Forde - GBR - BuffCo - 04:02:10
4 (344) Yuet Hei Lo 盧悅? - HKG - DUO.hk - 04:17:26
5 (390) Martin Boudailliez - FRA - 04:18:35
35 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (354) Tsz Kwan Lee 李梓鈞 - HKG- 04:13:14
2 (383) Loraine Gfeller - CHE - 04:22:01
3 (381) Roberta Wong 黃蕙妍 - HKG- 05:04:15
4 (367) Wing yu Ho 何泳儒 - HKG - 05:09:24
5 (370) Judith Buil - DEU - 05:14:40
22 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (664) Cristi Stoenescu - ROU Nitrorenii - 02:27:44
2 (669) Gytis Prevelis - LTU - 02:31:53
3 (596) Emmanuel de Vathaire - FRA - 02:33:06
4 (636) Andrea Munini - ITA - Zoë’s sherpa - 02:34:42
5 (524) Shafiee Salim - SGP - 02:39:55
22 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (618) Emma Phipkin - GBR - 02:20:56
2 (523) Alice Rosen - USA - 03:03:53
3 (634) WAI YEE HO 何惠儀 - HKG- 03:04:08
4 (633) Chau Yu Ling 周宇齡 - HKG - Butterfly - 03:08:02
5 (560) Zoé Deman - FRA - 03:10:43
13 km - Top 5 Men
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (903) Adil Zizi FRA - 01:05:20
2 (851) Chris Davis - GBR - 01:12:48
3 (817) Creighton Connolly - CAN - Gone Runners/Joint Dynamics - 01:18:47
4 (854) Yat Long Aaron Yung 翁溢鈞 - AUS - 01:18:58
5 (808) Taiyo MONTANARI - CHE - 01:20:05
13 km - Top 5 Women
Overall - BIB -First Name - Last Name – Nationality - Team / Sponsor - Race Time
1 (809) - Ellen Montanari - CHE - 01:21:46
2 (801) - Catherine Clerc FRA - 01:32:14
3 (858) - Magdalena Cvetkovic - CHE - 01:40:35
4 (899) - Nisha Nisha - IND - 01:41:40
5 (881) - Cecile Ossola FRA - 01:46:01
Race Info
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Event Name |
Sai Kung 50 - 2025 |
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Date |
Feb 22, 2025 (Saturday) |
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Start Time |
6:30 am – 54km, 35km ; 6:45am – 22km, 13km |
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Start & Finish Location |
Pak Tam Chung, N.T. Hong Kong |
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Distance |
54 km, 35 km, 22 km, 13 km |
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Category |
Trail Running and Hiking |
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Website |
About Action Asia Events
Action Asia Events is the organizer of spectacular, extraordinary remote marathons for adventure travel seekers & trail running enthusiasts that inspire and push the boundaries of participants. Having organized over 300 events over the past 25 years Action Asia Events constantly keeps inspiring and pushes the boundaries of adventure travel, ultra-marathon and team building. Responsibilities range from designing courses, selection of the venue, dates and race format to raising the funds essential to run the race as well as liaising with NGO’s and non-profits for fund raising activities related to environment, education and health.
More Race Details at:
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www.twitter.com/ActionAsiaEvent
www.youtube.com/user/ActionAsiaEvents
https://www.linkedin.com/company/action-asia-events/
Results
https://www.actionasiaevents.com/results.html
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