Ritcey And Rethfeldt are King & Queen Of Mud And Rock

Michael Maddess / 12.04.2010

<b>Hong Kong;</b> Plenty of mud, slippery rocks and ropes rigged on waterfalls put smiles on faces of close to 300 participants in Sunday’s Bonaqua Action Sprint Sai Kung leg.

It was a close battle for both men and women at the front as the top 3 men finished just over 2 minutes apart and the top 3 women within 4 minutes on a very technical course.

“Well it was almost like ice skating on mud as it was tougher than I thought with mud sticking to my shoes it was so thick in sections. The downhills we were right on the edge with me worrying about twisting my ankle, but luckily nothing happened” said overall winner and series leader Salomon Team runner Ritcey finishing the fastest in 1 hour 24 minutes 49 seconds.

Less than 2 minutes back was Jesse Smith finishing 2nd overall in 1 hour 26 minutes 39 seconds. “The weather made the route very difficult and slippery as there was no place to go fast and it was so technical. It was easy to fall on sharp rocks so you were constantly looking down. Hat’s off to the huge Action Asia support team as it must have been a nightmare getting all the water into the checkpoint down those muddy slopes” said Smith.

More than 20 marshals out of 40, plus a squad of 10 emergency rescue staff had duties to carry water on their backs over 2km of slippery mud just to get to the water check point. Competitors gave them a large round of applause when they appeared back at the finish line soaked in mud.

Eric LaHaie finished only 19 seconds after Smith. “It was a real battle out there trading places in full on action with lots of mud and rock”, said 3rd overall LaHaie finishing in 1 hour 26 minutes and 58 seconds.

Juliane Rethfeldt took the lead in the series with a win again but had to battle with 2 others to protect her lead. “It was tough, but exciting. You really needed to be careful and with Nadia and Emma pushing me it wasn’t easy” said Rethfeldt finishing in 1 hour 46 minutes and 38 seconds.

Just over 2 minutes back coming in with plenty of mud on her was Nadia Koucha. “I really enjoyed the rock scrambling sections as I do a lot of rock climbing so it was a treat for me. But those mud sections were like ice skating in some sections as you really were on the edge” said 2nd overall women Koucha finishing in 1 hour 48 minutes 40 seconds.