Bonaqua Action Sprint - Discovery Bay, Lantau
Williams Tops Women’s, Cheung Grabs Men’s And Bucek Gets Sportsman Honors
Press Release / 28.04.2014
Hong Kong – April 27, 2014 – After coming so close on numerous attempts at Discovery Bay and many Action Asia podium finishes including 3rd in race 1 of the Bonaqua Action Sprint series, local Hong Kong Discovery Bay resident Cheung Wai Hung finally held on to his lead that nobody could touch and grabbed his first Action Sprint win with Cheung Hing Hung second and Slovakian triathlete Michal Bucek pushing hard behind.
“I said in the last race I felt I could win the 2nd Sprint race here at Discovery Bay and my words came true. I felt very nervous before the event and just slept only 2 hours due to nerves which made me not feel very well in the run and kind of dampened my performance, but guess it helped at the same time as I went out faster than usual. I didn’t expect to get a nice new $1500 pair of Salomon shoes which is great and was hoping to take it easy in race 3 in Sai Kung, but now guess I have to go hard if I want to try and win the championship” said overall Men’s winner Cheung Wai Hung finishing in 1 hour 43 minutes 11 seconds.
Finishing second overall Cheung Hing Hung had was in front with 150 meters to go before the finish line and ran so fast that he missed the very last left turn in front of the ferry and ran around the restaurant block with 3rd place Slovakian Michal Bucek on his heals going the correct route was a true sportsman in stopping just meters before the finish line to wait for Cheung Hing Hung to come seconds later doing an extra 40 meters and letting the local Cheung Hing Hung across the finish line to get his deserved 2nd place with Bucek crossing in 3rd showing true class.
“I fell a few times during the race bruising myself, made a few errors on turns while the Westerner Bucek yelled at me to come back and take the correct way, so I am very grateful too him as he was very kind too me as I pushed very hard” said 2nd overall Cheung Hing Hung who finished in 1 hour 44 minutes 54 seconds.
“Cheung deserved to get the second place as he ran very fast and would definitely have finished the Sprint race ahead of me if he didn't take the wrong turn right at the end. Just met him today and enjoyed the battle with him" said 3rd overall Bucek finishing 2 seconds later in 1 hour 44 minutes 56 seconds.
Zein Williams won the Women's category for the 2nd race in a row after also getting 1st in Repulse Bay and managed to get an impressive 4th place overall with only 3 Men in front of her.
"I am clear about my strength, which is the climbing part, therefore I tried my best to save time on that part during the race and go as hard as possible knowing that the technical bits and down hills are my weakness. I was getting very hot when hitting the top of Lo Fu Tau and thought for some reason the reservoir was salt water, but when in during the fresh water swim section felt fantastic as cooled my core down as perfect timing which saved me and helped charged me for a strong 2nd half. The last 6km thought would be flat, but actually was short undulating hills, which were quite tough, but lovely course as these Sprints are my favorite races of the year” said Raidlight sponsored overall winner Williams finishing in 1 hour 45 minutes 5 seconds.
Russian Olya Korzh grabbed 2nd place 6 minutes later. ”I loved the route today as so much fun this adventure run, going in the trails, up the river gorge, climbing the big peak and down to the reservoir, the swim in the reservoir, run and coastline finish all on a baking hot day in Discovery Bay. Was great cooling down in that reservoir to keep me relaxed” said the 2nd overall Women’s runner and Salomon HK athlete Olya Korzh who finished in 1 hour 51 minutes 22 seconds.
British Emma Bruce grabbed 3rd just under 5 minutes later after doing a Taiwan triathlon race last week. "Still recovering from racing last week with sore legs so very happy grabbing 3rd in my backyard of DB. Zein always runs very fast so difficult to pass her as she’s so strong. Great weather for the Sprint even though hot as everyone had a great time and good to see such a well marked course with so many marshals” said the Sportsworld athlete Emma Bruce finishing in 3rd in 1 hours 57 minutes 9 minutes.
Participants started at the main Discovery Bay plaza, did a 400m beach run before going up a 1km staircase, descending single track trails back to sea level, then 1.5 km rock scrambling a river gully over numerous waterfalls, before hiking up the 465m Lo Fu Tau. A quick technical 2 km trail descent down to the main reservoir for a short 20 m swim designed to cool their body temperatures before a 4 km cross country run around the golf course descending to sea level and a final 2 km rock scrambling section on the ocean coastline with a swim around boulders thrown in for the 13km adventure run.
Category winners are splitting over HK$100,000 in prizes from series sponsors such as Salomon, Oregon Scientific, Ocean Potion. Special thanks for making the series happen goes to Bonaqua, Action X Store, BonActive, Oregon Scientific, OtterBox, , OL&N, Ocean Potion, Nature Valley, Salonpas, Around DB, DBay and the Action Asia Foundation.
The final race of the Bonaqua Action Sprint Series goes to Sai Kung May 11th which is sold out.
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