Elite SkyRunners Arrive in Hong Kong
News Release / 02.10.2015
The much anticipated Lantau 2 Peaks™ in associated with Hyundai, Salomon and Suunto will be back on the 4th October on Lantau Island. As one of the Skyrunner® World Series races and the only qualifying race in Asia, the race filled out in record time with over 1000 competitors signing up with the waiting list also filling up. “Lantau 2 Peaks ™”, like the name says, reaches the 2nd and 3rd highest peak of Hong Kong’s highest peaks on Lantau Island – Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak. It is the 4th Skyrunning race under 2015 Skyrunner® World Series and meanwhile the only Skyrunning race selected by the International Skyrunning Federation in Asia. Many world famous elite runners showed up at today’s press conference.
“If you have been excercising all along then you should not need to worry about all the stairs in Hong Kong. I had a racce this morning and I was running the whole time but everybody’s physical condition is different. It’s definitely a challenging course and I wish all runners have good performance on the race day,” said Salomon Team Rémi Bonnet from Switzerland.
“I did not really know Hong Kong very well and this is my first time racing in Asia. For me, racing in Hong Kong is going to be a totally different experience because of the entirely new environment and the humidity. All those stairs on the course will also be quite challenging to me,” said Spanish Salomon runner Laura Orgue.
As a signature race in Hong Kong, participants will climb and descend Sunset Peak (third highest summit in Hong Kong) running over 800m in elevation and Lantau Peak (934m) with runners summiting before contouring around Nei Lek Shan before descending to Tung Chung at sea level. Participants will climb a combined elevation gain of 1987m and combined elevation loss of 1988m with a total elevation gain loss of 3975m. Lantau Peak offers one of the best views in Hong Kong, so runners can enjoy the breath-taking view during the race.
Many top international runners have confirmed to compete in Lantau 2 Peaks™, including Italian superstar runner Tadei Pivk (Crazy Idea Team) who won the 2015 Zegama Skyrace® in Spain and is now the No.1 runner on the current Skyrunner® World Series ranking, Italian Marco De Gasperi of Scott Sports (MSIG Skyrunning Asian Champs 3rd place) who is now one of the top 9 runners on the Skyrunner® World Series’ ranking, Swiss legend Salomon team Rémi Bonnet (1st place USA Rut Skyrace®) and other elite male runners including Dai Matsumoto (Salomon), Gregory Vollet (Salomon), Ondrej Fejfar (Czech Skyrunning Team), Manuel Merillas (Mammut / Compressport), Inaki Uribe-Etxebarria (EMF), Hassan Ait Chaou (EMF), Iban Letamendi (EMF), Ionut Alin Zinca (Valetudo), Pere Rullan Estarelles (Selecció Catalana de Curses), Pere Aurell Bové (Selecció Catalana de Curses), Sintu Vives (Andorra), Dimitry Mityaev (Russian Skyrunning/Adidas) and Daniel Jones (New Zealand Team).
Spanish runner Maite Maiora Elizondo (La Sportiva) - currently the 1st female runner on the Skyrunner® World Series’ ranking and another Italian runner Elisa Desco (Scott Sports) who is currently the 2nd female runner on the Skyrunner® World Series’ ranking, Stevie Kremer (Salomon) and other international female elite runners such as Yngvild Kaspersen, Laura Orgue (Salomon), Kanako Hasegawa (Dynafit), Azara Garcia (Compressport), Aritz Egea (EMF), Hanny Allston (TNF/Suunto) and Ekaterina Mityaeva (Russian Skyrunning/Adidas).
Being entitled “New Zealand King of the Mountain” at 18 years old, Daniel Jones is coming to Lantau 2 Peaks™ and wanted to give some advice to trail running beginners. “Runners should trust in their training when standing on the start line and during the race they should stay on top of nutrition”, said Jones.
“We should enjoy all the days when you can run and respect nature”, said Ondřej Fejfar, the champion of Winter Run (Oslo - Norsko) 2015 from Czech Republic. He is also coming to Hong Kong for Lantau 2 Peaks™ and will share more of his running experience on the Lantau 2 Peaks™ press conference on 2 Oct in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. “It’s all about being part of nature, respecting it and finding new paths off those main paths and enjoying it”, said Fejfar.
Action Asia Events is thankful to the supporting sponsors Suunto, Salomon, ISF, Sky Runner World Series , Action X Store, Hyundai, Australian Nutrition & Sports, Redback Specialty Coffee, Forward by Norman, GoPro, OtterBox, Gatorade, Del Monte, Herbalgy, Watsons water, OL&N, Salonpas, Hong Kong Chiropractors Association, Action Asia Foundation, HKCA, VRZRC and St Johns.
