The outskirts of the immense city of Hong Kong, on the Sai Kung peninsula and a large part of the UNESCO Global Geopark, will see the fifteenth edition of the Hong Kong 100 take place from the 16th to the 18th of January, which once again kicks off the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors Series 2025. A strong field of runners will battle for the glory of winning one of the most prestigious trail running events in Asia.
33, 56 or 103 kilometres and thousands of steps wind along the coastline with the South China Sea in sight, in a setting that will bring together more than 2,800 runners from 60 countries. The event consists of three races, The Third, The Half and the Hong Kong 100 itself plus a combined race for the strongest (the “Grand Sam”, 192 km and +9000 m over three days).
Women’s race: China’s top female runners will be looking to repeat their successes
103 kilometres, 5300 metres of elevation gain over rugged trails, steps, beaches, and magnificent views will be the stage on which some of the world’s best female mountain runners will try to reach the podium in the Hong Kong 100, a strong local representation and a whole bunch of excellent foreign runners who will try to be worthy competitors.
Chen Lin (China, Adidas Terrex, ITRA 764), last year’s winner, will undoubtedly be the one to beat. Cheung Man Yee (Hong Kong, 688), winner in 2023, will also be on the start line along with Ying Li (China, Kailas Fuga, 714), Anna Li (China, Hoka, 758), who was 2nd in 2023, and Wu Yuanyuan (China, Altra/NEWS, 738), second and third respectively in 2024, so the Chinese armada is strongly represented.
They will face serious rivals such as Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha (Kailas Fuga, 792), Vientam’s Hau Thi Ha (Mude, 763), France’s Claire Bannwarth (Topo Athletic, 720), who will undoubtedly score points even if she is running the Grand Sam, Japan’s Yukari Seimiya (Hoka, 720), Slovakia’s Veronika Leng (Nnormal/Bix, 726), Australia’s Kellie Angel (Hoka/T8, 701), Tarahumara runner Lorena Ramírez Hernández (Mexico, 493) and Spain’s Sandra Sevillano (BigK, 715) and Silvia Puigarnau (Scarpa, 700). Undoubtedly, it will be a fascinating race in which they will try to beat the current record of Xiang Fuzhao by 11 hours and 28 minutes is theatened, and you can follow it all via live streaming.
The best of China comes to Hong Kong
Similarly, the men’s category has an excellent line-up of Chinese runners, including last year’s winner and second overall in the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors series, Meng Guangfu (Hoka, ITRA 923); You Peiquan (Anta Guanjun, 881), a two-time winner and current course record holder at an impressive 10 hours and 17 seconds; Yan Longfei (Kailas Fuga, 825), who won in 2015, Qi Min (Salomon, 863), the 2018 winner and Shen Jiasheng (The North Face, 912), the 2019 winner: The Hong Kong 100 is undoubtedly an inviting race for the country’s runners and they know it is a global showcase.
They will face an impressive international field led by Romania’s Raul Butaci (BigK, 892) and Ionel Christian Manole (Salomon/226, 889), both excellent competitors, as the former proved by winning the The North Face Transgrancanaria 2024. Italy’s Daniel Jung (Altra-Alpenplus, 883), the Philippines’ John Ray “Stingray” Onifa (T8, 877), Nepal’s Sangé Sherpa (Kailas Fuga, 832) – sixth in the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors series 2024 – and France’s Alexandre « Casquette Verte » Boucheix (Salomon, 824), doing the Grand Sam, are some of the outstanding men in the main race.
Special mention goes to Rhollan Clark Tsui, a blind runner, who completed the race in 2020 and is returning with his loyal bad of guide runners to take on the challenge.
The Half, the first ever Short Series race
The creation of the Short Series by Gran Canaria World Trail Majors, was recently announced. Hong Kong kicks off this series for the first time with The Half, a tough course of 56 kilometres and just over 2000 metres of elevation gain. As the name suggests, it is approximately half of the original 100 km race and runs through the first half, entirely in a protected wilderness where runners enjoy and suffer stairs, rocky trails, and spectacular beaches near Hong Kong. For most foreigners, a unique and different experience that is an opportunity to savour the best trail running on the continent.
In the women’s race, the battle seems to be between the local Zhou Ruifang (ITRA 701), winner of the two previous editions and looking for a hat-trick, and Na Zhang (Kailas Fuga, 714), who was her great rival last year. To win they will have to outrun Japan’s Yuri Yoshizumi (Scarpa, 771).
The men’s field is similar, with a strong Chinese representation, Yang Jianjian (Vibram, ITRA 879), Guan Youshen (Kailas Fuga, 893), Luo Canhua (Kailas Fuga, 885), Shi Aigi (Kailas Fuga, 849) who was 3rd last year, Duan Dongjie (Kailas Fuga) who has a marathon best of 2:14 and Zhang Sheng (889), and some of the best Japanese represented by Yoshino Yamato (Salomon, 879), Ogasawara Koken (Ruy, 872), Shoma Otagiri (Merrell, 864) and Kai Hiroki (Johhoku Caballo, 856). And, for the first time in Hong Kong, the Tarahumara runner José Mario Ramírez Hernández.
Team’s League
To improve brand (and team) exposure, to support those who support trail running, World Trail Majors has established the Team’s League for 2025. And will start in Hong Kong 100.
With up to six runners of which the three best results are counted, at least one woman/one man are counted, scoring 100 points for the winners, 99 for the runners-up and so on to make up one winner per race and one overall winner with up to six races across the World Trail Majors series.
Numerous teams have picked up the baton for the inaugural Team’s League race that will crown the first winning team of the season.
Resources and streaming for the Hong Kong 100
Web: www.hk100-ultra.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HongKong100/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hk100ultra/
YouTube/streaming (English): https://www.youtube.com/@JanetandSteveHK100/streams and https://www.youtube.com/@WorldTrailMajors/streams
