RACE REPORT
The 6th edition of the Vibram® Hong Kong 100 Ultra-Trail race took place on January 23-24th 2016 with
over 1800 participants from 50 different countries. The field comprises about one third runners from Hong
Kong, one third runners from Mainland China and one third runners from everywhere else, including a
sizeable presence from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. This year, the elites came from far and
wide, including France, Spain, Italy, the United States, Germany, Iceland, Finland, Japan, Nepal,
Switzerland and Mainland China. The field was the deepest of any trail race ever held in Asia and it was
hard to predict the winner with over 60 or so international superheros competing against each other. In
the end, it was France’s Francois d’Haene and China’s Dong Li who took the men’s and women’s titles
respectively.
This year’s Hong Kong 100 took place during the coldest day that Hong Kong has experienced in six
decades, with temperatures falling below zero on the course’s highest peak, Tai Mo Shan. As a result of
the cold weather, a lot of local “frost chasers” drove their cars up to Tai Mo Shan in the hope of
experiencing snow in Hong Kong for the first time in their lives. This resulted in total traffic gridlock to and
from the finish point and on the last 2.5 km of the route and the consequent decision to re-route the last
part of the course onto trail and away from the congested road to ensure safety of the participants and
volunteers. A decision was made to call off the race after about 21 hours because ice formed overnight
on the last 6 km of the route, making the run in to the finish treacherous.
Event statistics:
Started: 1841
Gold Awards (under 16 hours): 230
Silver Awards (under 20 hours): 416
Bronze Awards (under 24 hours): 126
Over 24 hours: 82
Total who reached the finish line: 969
Total who reached CP7 (Beacon Hill) when the race was stopped: 70
Total who reached CP8 (Shing Mun) when the race was stopped: 156
Total who reached CP9 (Lead Mine Pass) when the race was stopped: 211
Total withdrawals: 462
Countries represented: 50
Volunteers: 755
Men’s race
In yet another exciting edition of the race, the first of the Ultra-Trail World Tour 2016, Francois d’Haene
won the men’s competition in a new course record of 9:32:26 breaking Yan Long Fei’s course record by
20 minutes. D’Haene’s new record looks even more impressive when this year’s route change (adding 5
or 10 minutes to the course) is factored in.
D’Haene, winner of the 2014 editions of Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc and Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji, was always
going to be one to watch having rested up from racing during the second half of 2015. The first 30km of
the race was a fast pace with D’Haene, Yan Long Fei, Bed Sunuwar, Gediminas Grinius and Vlad Ixel in
the front pack. By the halfway point Francois d’Haene and Yan Long Fei had broken into a lead and ran
hard together to the 75km mark. Francois dropped back a couple of minutes into 2 nd position, but caught
up with the race leader on the climb to the final summit and managed to gain an additional 5 minutes on
the final stretch to the finish line.
After the race, Yan noted that he accidentally left his warm layers in a pack he swapped midrace and
suffered severely from the cold.
Gediminas Grinius from Lithuania who fell off the pace of the two front runners by a couple of minutes at
the halfway point, ran alone for the remainder of the race finishing in 3rd position, 21 minutes behind the
winner. Pau Capell Gill, Yeray Durán and Jordi Gamito Baus from Spain, finished 4th, 5th and 6th
respectively.
Stone Tsang Siu-Keung was the first local runner in eighth place, finishing in 10:53:02, beating his own
time of last year by more than half an hour.
Top 10 men’s results:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
François D’Haene (Salomon) (France) — 9:32:26
Yan Long-Fei (Salomon) (China) — 9:37:17
Gediminas Grinius (Vibram) (Lithuania) — 9:53:51
Pau Capell Gill (Compressport) (Spain) — 10:06:42
Yeray Durán (Arista) (Spain) — 10:36:04
Jordi Gamito (WAA) (Spain) — 10:37:36
Oose Kazufumi (Salomon) (Japan) — 10:47:39
Stone Tsang Siu-Keung (Champion Systems) (Hong Kong) — 10:53:02
Iino Wataru (Japan) — 10:56:59
Jussi Nokelainen (Inov-8) (Finland) — 11:07:55
Women’s race
In the Women’s race Dong Li from China, who was placed 2nd in the 2015 edition of Vibram Hong Kong
100, led the race from the start. For the first 40km of the course Silvia Trigueros was on her tail, before
she broke away and built up an increasing lead throughout the remainder of the race to take the win by 25
minutes in a time of 12:05:32.
Lisa Borzani from Italy who placed 3rd in the 2015 Vibram Hong Kong 100, finished this year in 2nd place.
Liza ran the 1st half of the race alone in 3rd place, before catching up Silvia Trigueros by the 65km mark.
Liza and Silvia ran close together for the next 15km after which Liza took a lead which she maintained to
the finish line. Silvia Trigueros from Spain finished 4 minutes behind Liza in 3rd place. Corinne Williams
from United States finished in 4th and Elisabet Margeirsdottir from Iceland finished in 5th place.
Marie McNaughton was the first local female runner in 7th seventh place.
Top 10 women’s results:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Dong Li (Salomon) (China) — 12:05:32
Lisa Borzani (Tecnica) (Italy) — 12:30:41
Silvia Ainhoa Trigueros (Race Land) (Spain) — 12:34:23
Corinne Williams (United States) — 13:19:34
Elisabet Margeirsdottir (Arctic Running) (Iceland) — 13:41:40
Emilie Tan (Canada) — 13:47:52
Marie McNaughton (Gone Running) (New Zealand) — 13:55:52
Natalia Watkins (United Kingdom) — 14:06:09
Nicole Lau (Hong Kong) — 14:10:52
Wing Yan (Nicole) Leung (Hong Kong)— 14:14:09
Heroics
The weather leading up to and during Hong Kong 100 had been challenging. The course markers and
checkers were out on the course bracing cold wind and rain in the days leading up to the event to prepare
the course. The fact that this year nobody called in to say that they were lost despite two-thirds of the field
being from outside Hong Kong is a testament to their hard work and dedication to ensuring that the course
was marked to the highest standard (as well as to the number of marshals who braved the cold to keep
everyone encouraged and heading in the right direction). Hats off (although not for long in this weather).
On the days of the event, volunteers did all they could to ensure that everybody was taken care of, both
throughout the event and after it was cancelled. Since the race, we have received numerous messages
thanking and praising the volunteers for their kindness, dedication and selflessness. We also witnessed
how hard and bravely the volunteers worked and we cannot thank them enough. We would also like to
mention specially the St John Ambulance Brigade who worked with extreme professionalism in such a
difficult situation. We are deeply indebted to you all. You make the race and you are Hong Kong 100.
Whilst we hesitate to single anyone out given how many of you contributed to the event over the past
week and how grateful we are to all of you, we would like to express our deepest thanks to the following
staff, volunteers and groups:
Anky Chau, all the scout groups, Jeri Chua, Dominic Rigby, Andre Blumberg, Stephen Tang, Tang Sun
Kam, Chan Chun Fai, Kam Wong, Crystal Ho, Bei Hu, Wiwin Leung, Sophia Tam, Barry Tsang, Catherine,
Anthony Fung, Chiaki Fjelddahl, Naoko Yamaguchi, Maria Montserrat Perez Guttierez McGovern, George
Liu, Shui Gor and his team, Jacky Lam and his team, Andrew Patrick and his Race Timing Solutions team,
the RacingThePlanet team, Liu Kar Ho and Kong Fook Church members, Pro Running Club, 友為之友
and Walkermix.
What you did far exceeded what we could possibly ask for, both for the event and as our friends. We and
all the participants are forever indebted to you!
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the government rescue teams who brought all those on
Tai Mo Shan, whether they be Hong Kong 100 participants or general hikers, to safety.
Photos and videos
In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting photos and videos on our Facebook page and our website.
Thank you again – the 2016 edition of Hong Kong 100 will go down as one of the most unforgettable
editions of the event. We really appreciate your taking the time to send us messages – it means a lot to
us and is an encouragement for us to continue to do our very best. We have learnt a whole lot from this
year's challenging event, and will try to share the experience with everyone once we wrap up this edition
properly.
We hope that all of you will have some rest and welcome in the Year of the Monkey in good health and
great spirits. Wishing you all the very best in your trail adventures!
Best wishes,
Janet and Steve
Race Directors
Vibram® Hong Kong 100