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Japan won the Women’s and Men’s Team titles
The starting gun for the final race of the inaugural Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships, the Long Trail, fired at 5.30 this morning. The race is a beautiful but challenging 76km tour of the Yeongnam Alps in Ulju, South Korea featuring 4,870m of elevation gain. Conditions were again perfect for running, if slightly more humid than the first day of the Championships.
Vietnam’s Hau Ha Thi powered into the lead of the women’s race from the very start, executing her usual brave front-running strategy. China’s Xiang Fuzhao kept Hau in sight for 50km, and their contrasting running styles made for exciting viewing: Hau - powerful and determined; Fuzhao - calm, smooth, almost floating over the trails. With 30km to go, Fuzhao made a decisive move into the lead which she then held, winning the gold medal in 8 hours and 26 minutes. Hau Ha Thi took the silver medal just 10 minutes behind Fuzhao. The bronze medal was won by Japan’s Yuri Yoshizumi. In 4th place was Cecilia Mattas of Australia in 9 hours and 22 minutes, and Japan’s Kanako Edamoto was 5th in 9 hours and 28 minutes.
Watching Fuzhao dance down the final technical descent was a mesmeric masterclass in downhill running, and at the finish line, she looked surprisingly fresh, considering the scale of the challenge she had just completed. “The second half was very hard, especially the last climb I was almost fainting! I was worried as I know Hau is very good on the downhill. In the end, I was really happy and pleasantly surprised to win such an important championship.”
The men’s race started with Australia’s Mikey Dimuantes, Nepal’s Roka Magar Man Kumar, China’s Qi Min, and Japanese trio Goshi Osada, Yuya Kawasaki and Kai Hiroki forming a lead group. Qi Min and Mikey Dimuantes broke away from the group at the 25km stage and ran together for another 25km. Qi Min then edged ahead by running straight through the 5th aid station while Dimuantes stopped for a moment to splash water on his torso in an attempt to cool down.
On the final, brutal 1200m climb to Sinbulsan, Qi Min struggled with cramps and Dimuantes with fatigue, offering Japan’s Kai Hiroki (who has a best marathon time of 2 hours 15 minutes) the opportunity to move into 2nd place. Despite having to sit down and massage his calves several times on the climb, Qi Min still held on to win gold in 7 hours 37 minutes. Hiroki-san won the silver medal just 3 minutes back. Mikey Dimuantes took the bronze medal and was delighted to earn the right to visit the doping control tent.
Team Japan’s Yuya Kawasaki was 4th in 7 hours 49 minutes and Nepal’s Roka Magar Man Kumar took 5th position in 8 hours 8 minutes. In his finish line interview, Qi Min said: “The race was very exciting and very tight. Early on, I wanted to catch the lead pack, so I ran through two checkpoints without stopping. As a result, the last part was really hard but I just kept going, I came all the way here to such a major event and really wanted to do my very best and get it done.” He certainly did that.
In the team standings, the women’s and men’s gold medals was won by Japan. The women’s team runner-up was Hong Kong and Vietnam took the bronze. The men’s silver medallist was Team Philippines and Nepal completed the podium.
Next up: the Closing Ceremony is on Saturday 26 October at 7.45pm.
APTRC Race Distances
The APTRC features races over 3 distances. These are the U23 (15.9km, 1,182m elevation gain, 4.5 hours maximum) for athletes who are aged 23 or younger, the Short Trail Race (41km, 2,783m elevation gain, 10 hours maximum) and the Long Trail Race (74km, 4,787m elevation gain, 18.5 hours maximum). Each race has men’s, women’s, individual and team categories and there is also a team ranking overall.
APTRC Runners
200 athletes from 19 countries / regions are competing. Here is the start-list.
Download the Long Trail Race finisher photos here.
Download the U23 Race finisher photos here.
Download the Short Trail Race finisher photos here.
Download the Opening Ceremony images here.
Download images of the favourites here.
Download images of the previous race edition here.
Download elevation and race maps here.
All photo rights are to the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships.
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