Franceโs Claire Bannwarth, who this time last year was busy successfully defending her Winter Spine Race title, headlines the 15th edition of the Anta Guanjun Hong Kong 100.
It is the first event in the 2025 Gran Canaria World Trail Majors season and takes place from January 16-18.
The 2025 World Trail Majors boasts a 12-event schedule. Races will take place in the United States, Spain, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada, France, South Africa, Vietnam and Australia.
Bannwarth is set to take on โThe Grand Samโ โ competing in all three races across the Hong Kong 100 weekend โ โThe Thirdโ, โThe Halfโ and โThe HK100โ.
Bannwarth targets Grand Sam
โThe Grand Samโ begins with the 32.66km โThe Thirdโ on Thursday, January 16. โThe Halfโ then follows on Friday, January 17 over 55.59km with elevation gains of 2,206m. The final leg of โThe Grand Samโ is the โHK100โ, a 102.94km jaunt that tops 5,314m in elevation gain, on Saturday, January 18.
Bannwarth enjoyed another action-packed campaign last year, including victories at TRAILCAT200, Lake Zurich 100 Endurance Race, Trail Menorca Cami de Cavallas CDC, Montreux Trail Festival and Atlas Quest.
The Frenchwoman also recorded a pair of World Trail Majors results in 2024. She coupled a fourth-place finish at Miut-Madeira Island Ultra-Trail and sixth-place at Quebec Mega Trail.
She will face the challenge of Xie Wenfei and Zheng Junyue, the defending Grand Sam champion and runner-up from 2024.
The menโs โGrand Samโ boasts several potential contenders including former winner Liang Disi. He is set to compete against French duo of Alexandre Boucheix and Luca Papi. In total, 190 runners across both the menโs and womenโs field will compete.
Defending champions set for HK100
While the โGrand Samโ might be the headline, Saturdayโs HK100 is the feature of the weekend and contributes to the World Trail Majors rankings. Meng Gunagfu is the defending menโs champion and will be eager to go back-to-back.
In addition to his HK100 win, Guanfu finished fourth at Swiss Canyon Trail and recorded a number of other successes across 2024. He took the honours at Huangyan Jiufeng Trail Master Challenge, adidas TERREX Chongli, Ultra-Trail Ninghai by UTMB and Suichang Great March of Red Army Trail.
On the womenโs side, Lin Chen is set to defend her crown. She recorded victories at Chengdu Trail, Trans Jeju by UTMB and Malaysia Ultra-Trail by UTMB in 2024. However, she will face last seasonโs podium duo Ying Li and Wu Yuanyuan as challengers.
The route
All three races of the World Trail Majors Hong Kong 100 take place in Pak Tam Chung to the East of Hong Kongโs New Territories. The course meanders its way along coastal paths, across beaches, through ancient villages, over hills and through valleys.
The HK100 is a point-to-point run across Hong Kong. It begins in the vicinity of High Island Reservoir as competitors run counter-clockwise around the body of water. The first half of the race then winds through the Sai Kung Peninsula and Sheung You Country Trail.
The route takes runners from East to West through the rural and mountainous areas of the special administrative region of China.
How to follow the race
You can follow Claire Bannwarthโs progress via live stream. The HK100 race stream will be available between 07:45 โ 22:00 (GMT+8) on Saturday, 20 January to follow the feature race. Weโve embedded it below so you donโt have to leave this page.
