Mixteca runner Miriam Morales makes history with HK 100 race week win for ‘Unstoppable Mexico’

Hong Kong 100 race week opened with a spectacular win for Mexico’s Miriam Morales in the 30km women’s event.

Morales, a member of the Mexico Imparable (“Unstoppable Mexico”) team and of the Mixteca indigenous group, ran shoulder to shoulder with China’s Fan Kaili to the East Dam aid station at 9km then gradually built a lead to win by two minutes in a new course record of two hours and 47 minutes.

Fan took second place in 2:49 and Wang Dayu, also of China, was third in 3:11.

New horizons

The presence of the Rarámuri, Maya and Mixteca runners from Mexico has been one of the stories of this year’s event.

María Lorena Ramírez Hernández, a legendary ultrarunner from the Rarámuri tribe, competed in the Hong Kong 100 for the first time in 2025, joined by her brother José Mario Ramírez Hernández and Mirna Beatriz de la Cruz Alvarez.

This year they have brought a group of 12 athletes from the team México Imparable to compete across all four events.

Inspirational win

Morales’ victory is being celebrated enthusiastically in Mexico, a country with a proud tradition of long distance running, especially in the indigenous populations.

Morales said she wanted to give “visibility to the peoples originating from Mexico and to motivate boys, girls and young people to keep fighting for their dreams”.

And a delegation from the Mexican Consulate was there to welcome her at the finish line.

The men’s race was won by Qi Chaohai in 2:29 – the first time a runner has broken 2:30. Zhang Juemin came second and in a Chinese clean sweep, Zhang Zhenlong rounded out the podium