Temperatures and Adrenalin High at TEVA Kayak ‘n Run at Deep Water Bay
News Release / 06.07.2014
The temperatures we’re perfect for the family fun category starting at 7am with almost 50 teams enjoying the “event”, even though many children as young as 5 were seen yelling at their parents to run faster during the 3km beachside run after the Deep Water Bay 1.4km kayak.
The adult 8am race which sold out within a week with many teams on the waiting list was much more competitive with adults really pushing each other.
For Jens Floor and Richard Cowley it was business as usual, but not an easy win for the “Jens & Rich” team.
“A bit better in the kayak today, as we normally drift left then right in the kayak, but this time we arrived 2nd at the beach and Richard my sprint guy took off ahead as we had to chase the young guns (Team YEA’s) for most of the race to the top of the hill.
It was a very hot day so we suffered and couldn’t push as hard as we took the water at the check points to cool down then went on for an extremely tough climb. In the last 200m then they had a 10 second lead at the top of Mt. Nicolson but then we both took separate routes as it was an orienteering race going down and we actually didn’t see them after that. We made it back to the finish just in front” said Floor from the overall team who partnered with Cowley for the win in 1 hour 36 minutes 38 seconds. (Richard was in a hurry after crossing the finish line as had to run off to work, but said it was a great race.)
Team Young Explorer’s Asia (YEA’s) with Oliver and Sebastian Engelhart (brothers) managed one position better than last year as grabbed 3rdoverall in 2013 and now 2nd this year for an impressive result for the young team of 18 year olds.
“Yes I think Seb pushed a bit too hard again today” said Oliver at the finish line who seemed to be in the same situation as he was at an earlier race at a Discovery Bay Sprint when the brothers were pushing the leading teams right to the finish as they are extremely competitive.
Oliver and Sebastian chose the technical route down this time which was exposed to more sun, and more technical and harder compared to the slightly longer tree covered wooden staircase route that the overall leaders and some other teams took.
This possibly made Seb work slightly harder as the brothers finished 2nd overall in a great time of 1 hour 37 minutes 59 seconds with the good news of Seb going home after getting a bag of IV and some food in him after spending an hour in the hospital after the race from heat stroke. We’re all happy he recovered so fast.
Team Ultim8 Adventure LAFUMA grabbed 3rd overall after some interesting team tactics.
“I love my partner as he did all the work in the kayak, as I watched the football on TV last night so it wasn’t easy. Jerome was pushing me 1, 2, 1, 2….he pushed me hard on the climb up the hill…and we did well finishing 3rd overall” said Adrien Choux who teamed up with Jerome Laboulais finishing 3rd in 1 hour 39 minutes 45 seconds.
“He forgot to mention I carried his bag also as it was a love hate relationship today, but OK as had to carry a bit of extra weight, but happy with 3rd against many top teams” said Laboulais.
Finishing 4th overall was Team Al’s Diner. “Phenomenal race as it was really hot today, and really close as top 5 boats were all within 50 meters of each other after the kayak. Then it was a really hot and tough run going up Mt Nicolson and coming down the French team were too fast for us as we haven’t done much training, but we’re happy we finished”, said Robby Broomhead. He was dressed in a pirate costume with his teammate Ruaraidh Smeaton from Team Al’s Diner who should get extra bonus points for the extra temperatures on wearing such stylish hat and finishing 4th in 1 hour 41 minutes 48 seconds.
“This was our 2nd time entering the TEVA race and as we did a recce on the course we knew the route so we could go much faster on such a hot day,” said Tsang Chun Kit who partnered with Angel Ng of team BBGSO who won the mixed category in 1 hour 46 minutes 4 seconds.
The winning women’s team was team Yue Yan Chau and Connie Lau who won their category in 2 hours 07 minutes 42 seconds. “I participated in this TEVA race 2 years ago and enjoyed the race today and my partner Yan Chau and I paired up really well together. We loved the checkpoint layout as the water was in a great place every time we almost ran out of water,” said Connie Lau.
This was the 6th year in a row for the Deep Water Bay TEVA Kayak n Run race which was full with a maximum sixty teams of two who started with a 4 km ocean kayak around Middle Island in Deep Water Bay before running and hiking to the top of 436m Mount Nicholson and finding 5 orienteering checkpoints.
The organizers might do one more race which will be announced soon.
The event could not have happened without the valuable support of Teva, Action X Store, Otterbox, Ocean Potion, Gatorade, Digital Butter, OL&N, Salonpas and the Action Asia Foundation.
Info： www.actionasiaevents.com
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