From Allen to Yanko, and from 6 kilometers to 268 miles, we’ve got the week’s highlights.
The set consists of the beginning of the World Path Majors, the USATF Cross Nation Championships, and all the opposite great things too.
Hong Kong 100k Ultramarathon – Hong Kong
It was the 14th yr for the Hong Kong 100k Ultramarathon and the 100k race marked the beginning of the World Path Majors, a brand new nine-race world sequence. The three-day occasion hosted over 2,800 runners from 60 completely different international locations.
The Third 33k
The racing began on Thursday, January 18, and Rachel Drake (U.S.) dominated the ladies’s 33-kilometer race. Drake, a 2:35 street marathoner, lined the roughly 20.5-mile course in 3:04. That’s on a course with 1,460 meters (4,790 ft) of elevation acquire and he or she was nearly a full 20 minutes forward of everybody else. Yuan Jin (China) was second in 3:24 and native runner Bin-Bin Xiong was third in 3:27.
Solely the highest three males completed beneath three hours, and people three have been solely 76 seconds aside. Jisub Kim (Korea) barely escaped the group with a 2:48 profitable time, and Vlad Ixel (Australia) edged Tiago Vieira (Portugal) by 5 seconds for second place. Each Ixel and Vieira completed in 2:50.
The Half 56k
Friday’s race stretched 56k and with 2,010 meters (6,594 ft) of climbing. Chinese language runners Rui-Fang Zhou and Na Zhang broke from the sector towards 5:48 and 5:54 first- and second-place runs, and Núria Picas (Spain) was third in 6:14.
Chinese language males swept the highest three positions, and solely the primary two might get beneath 5 hours on the difficult course. Er-Qing Wu was out entrance in 4:48 after which Neg-Lin Fan edged Ai-Ai Shi for second. Fan and Shi completed in 4:58 and 5:01, respectively.
The Full 100k
The race’s namesake 100k, and the gap that was a part of the World Path Majors, went off on Saturday for a course that summited Hong Kong’s highest peak, Tai Mo Shan. It was additionally the occasion’s greatest race with some 1,800 runners. iRunFar earlier shared better particulars on the race too.
Lin Chen (China) led the ladies’s race for the ultimate 70k and completed first in 12:44. Course information have been secure all day in uncharacteristically scorching and humid circumstances. Almost an hour again, Ying Li (China) was second in 13:39, and Yuan-Yuan Wu (China) was third in 13:54. Wu tripled on the occasion final yr with a seventh-place end within the 100k on the third day of racing. Among the many pre-race contenders, Eszter Csillag (Hungary, lives in Hong Kong) didn’t begin the race and Dominika Stelmach (Poland) didn’t end the race.
Lin Chen takes the win on the 2024 Hong Kong 100k. Picture: World Path Majors/Anta Model
Guang-Fu Meng (China) overhauled two-time winner Pei-Quan You (China) within the closing kilometers and rolled to a first-place 10:16 end. You probably did simply sufficient to carry on to second in 10:35, and third-place Tyler Inexperienced (U.S.) chased at 10:38.
The 2024 Hong Kong 100k males’s podium (l-to-r): 3. Tyler Inexperienced, 1. Guang-Fu Meng, and three. Pei-Quan You. Picture: World Path Majors/Anta Model
Montane Backbone Race – Pennine Approach, United Kingdom
iRunFar was earlier on the reporting of the 268-mile journey. The winter trek goes point-to-point on the Pennine Approach monitor.
Claire Bannwarth (France) repeated as girls’s champ, this time in 92:02. She was over 5 hours higher than in 2023. Hannah Rickman (U.Okay.) and Lucy Gossage (U.Okay.) adopted subsequent in 104:41 and 106:05, respectively.
Claire Bannwarth on her option to profitable the 2024 Winter Backbone Race. Picture: Backbone Race/Wild Aperture Images
Males’s winner Jack Scott (U.Okay.) delivered the race’s greatest storyline. Scott’s 72:55 end bettered the earlier course finest by over 10 hours. Final yr’s winner Damian Corridor (U.Okay.) was second in 82:25, and that’s the race’s second-fastest end ever. Third-place Konrad Rawlik (Poland, lives within the U.Okay.) completed in 85:47.
Jack Scott reaches the end line victorious within the 2024 Winter Backbone Race. Picture: Backbone Race/Wild Aperture Images
USATF Cross Nation Championships – Richmond, Virginia
Particular to the senior and junior races, the occasion was a range race for the March 2024 World Athletics Cross Nation Championships in Serbia. Right here we’re taking a look at path runners and ultrarunners within the high outcomes.
Grasp’s Ladies’s 6k
Renee Metivier and Kasie Enman have been second and fifth, respectively, in 21:46 and 22:06. Metivier was the 2017 USATF Path Marathon Nationwide Championships winner and Enman was the 2011 World Mountain Working Championships winner.
Open Ladies’s 10k
Allie Ostrander kicked to a fourth-place end in 33:52. That earned her a spot on the U.S. nationwide crew for worlds, if she accepts.
(In 2023, Ostrander was suspended for 4 months after testing constructive for canrenone, a metabolite of spironolactone, after it was decided that she mistakenly took the drug with out first acquiring a World Anti-Doping Company Therapeutic Use Exemption.)
Open Males’s 10k
Breakout path ace Christian Allen ran 29:27 for sixth, and that secured the ultimate nationwide crew spot by a slim one-second margin.
Further Races and Runs
London Worldwide Cross Nation – London, U.Okay.
Tom Evans (U.Okay.) placed on the spikes for some grass loops too. He solely ceded the lead late and completed second in 30:00 on the 10k course. The end places Evans on the British crew for the World Athletics Cross Nation Championships too. That’s some fairly unbelievable vary from the 2023 Western States 100 winner. Full outcomes.
Cursa Moritz Sant Antoni – Barcelona, Spain
Pau Capell (Spain) discovered some pace too. The 2019 UTMB winner completed the 10k street race in 32:14. That was solely thirtieth towards a quick area. Full outcomes.
Coldwater Rumble – Goodyear, Arizona
The Aravaipa Working occasion dropped in on the Estrella Mountain Regional Park southwest of Phoenix for some desert loops. Phrase is the occasion took in a brand new course in comparison with previous years. Within the 100 miler, Devon Yanko ran 16:19. Yanko used the race as a part of her prep for March’s FURTHER six-day occasion. Jeff Browning gained the lads’s race, and his thirtieth 100-mile win, in 15:45. That was higher than his 2023 18:07 profitable time, however solely ranks because the race’s second-fastest ever behind Catlow Shipek’s 15:09 run again in 2014, however once more on a distinct course. Laura Noll and Jake Jackson gained the 100k race in 12:15 and 10:09, and over 60k, roughly 37 miles, Shea Aquilano and Christopher St. Jean have been the race’s quickest in 4:49 and 4:34, respectively. Full outcomes.
Lake of the Woods 50k – Farmersville, Ohio
The race is on the Lake of the Woods campground in western Ohio, and 50k winners Crystal Clark and Ethan Deep gained the by the woods and across the lake course in 5:52 and 5:28. Full outcomes.
Southern Tour Extremely – Wilmington, North Carolina
The races have been run on coastal 10-mile loops. Lauren Goodman and Luke Jeton have been finest within the 50 miler at 9:09 and eight:11, and Brittany Perkins and William Rodgers led the 50k in 3:43 and three:39. Full outcomes.
The Conquer – Dawsonville, Georgia
The backyard-style race was run on a 3.4-mile loop at Amicalola Falls State Park. That meant a difficult course that gained 1,000 ft of elevation every lap, and in winter. Temperatures dropped to five levels Fahrenheit in a single day. That was the problem, however much more curiously, the race’s payment was $125. First, $25 of that went to the park charges, after which runners carried the opposite $100. When a runner dropped, that $100 was put right into a glass case, and the race winner collected that money. And so with 100 starters, the winner claimed $10,000. Sam Atherton was the final individual standing and he totaled 120 miles. Full outcomes (when obtainable).
Name for Feedback
That is the half the place I attempt to encourage a remark or three, however extra typically, it’s a small typo or two that finest will get the feedback going. However hey, it’s already our fourth column of 2024 and it looks like we’ve obtained some momentum. The U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon and the Black Canyon 100k are solely two and three weeks away, respectively. What’s obtained you excited to start out the yr?
