The 2024 World Trail Majors Series kicked off in style this weekend, with the brutal Hong Kong 100 Ultramarathon hosting the first event of the season.
The main race, which boasted an impressive start list of seasoned professionals, saw the field battle it out over 103km of trails, featuring over 5,300m of elevation gain.
In the men’s race, Chinese star Meng Guangfu continued a hot streak of five straight ultra wins that stretches back to October, whilst home favourite Chen Lin took the women’s title.
Guangfu takes down the defending champion
With defending champion and course record holder You Peiquan racing for a third consecutive title this weekend, it was going to take a special performance to beat him and it was his fellow countryman Guangfu who stepped up to the plate.
Guangfu, who is sponsored by Hoka, came into this race off the back of a brilliant end to last season, where he picked up wins at the Mount Yun EMY20K, Tsaigu Trail 85, TransLantau 100 and Doi Inthanon Elephant 100.
In an amazing display of patience, Guangfu reeled in Peiquan over the final section between Lead Mine Pass and Rotary Club Pass, with the defending champion having enjoyed a lead of over of almost 15 minutes at one stage of the race.
Passing his compatriot in the closing stages, Guangfu finished strong to take a big win, with Peiquan just about managing to stay clear of American Tyler Green, who saw a flight out to Hong Kong earlier in the month to acclimatise pay off.
Hong Kong 100 Results (103km) – January 20, 2024.
MEN:
- Meng Guangfu (CHN) – 10:16:56
- You Peiquan (CHN) – 10:35:11
- Tyler Green (USA) – 10:38:12
- Qin Guidu (CHN) – 10:58:22
- Deng Guomin (CHN) – 11:06:14
Lin wins on home soil
Whilst it was a tough day out for some of the pre-race favourites in the women’s race, such as Poland’s Dominika Stelmach who didn’t finish, it was a great day for the home stars, with three Hong Kong athletes making the Top 10.
Leading the charge was Lin, who won in some style to record a huge margin of victory over second place finisher Li Ying, with last year’s Grand Sam winner Wu Yuanyuan of China finishing in third place.
Lin, who lead the way from the second checkpoint in Ham Tin and never looked back, won by almost an hour, as she finished in 16th overall with a time of 12:44:51.
Hong Kong 100 Results (103km) – January 20, 2024.
WOMEN:
- Chen Lin (HKG) – 12:44:51
- Li Ying (CHN) – 13:39:30
- Wu Yuanyuan (CHN) – 13:54:08
- Ma Ting (CHN) – 13:57:15
- Deng Ronghua (CHN) – 14:01:10
