The 9 Dragons Ultra 2019 in Images

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An epic weekend of racing took place in Hong Kong over two days for the third edition of the 9 Dragons Ultra.

The main event, the 50/50 offers the brave two races, a 50-mile and 50-km event where the combined times provide a female and male 9 Dragon champion.

Many congratulations to Kazufumi Ose and Magdalena Boulet who produced two incredible runs to be crowned the 50/50 9 Dragon champions.

The 50-mile event was won by Julien Chorier and Magdalena Boulet. The 50-km event was won by Guomin Deng in 6:09:21 obliterating the old CR by 40-minutes, Ch Chaa was the female winner.

In the words of Mo Devlin, who placed 6th in the 50-km event:

9 Dragons…this race really is something special.

In our world of ultra running words like epic, legendary and awesome get thrown around like confetti at a wedding but 9D is the real deal. It’s a unique race that deserves every accolade it gets.

This year only added to its reputation and growing status in the Ultra calendar with international Elites like Julian Chorier, Magda Boulet, and Ben Duffus rubbing shoulders at the start line with our own Elites such as John Ellis, Guomin Deng and Kazufumi Ose…what a line up!! We even had the renowned Ultra photographer and host of Talk Ultra Ian J Corless in town for the race.

Congratulations and Thank You to Steven Carr, Michael Ormiston, Josianne Robb and Nic Tinworth. You have created a monster of a race that is unlike anything else in Hong Kong, provides an unforgettable experience for everyone who is involved and should be on everyone’s Bucket List….

Race summary and report to follow

All images available at www.iancorless.photoshelter.com

IMAGES 50-MILE EVENT

IMAGES 50-KM EVENT

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The 9 Dragons Ultra 2019

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The 9 Dragons Ultra presented by HOKA ONE ONE is a challenging, multi-day trail and ultra-running event taking place on the 1st to the 3rd of February 2019, in Hong Kong.

The first race, starting at midnight on Saturday, consists of an 89km (50 mile) trail run with a an elevation gain of 5,070m. Sunday features an entirely different 50km course with a further 3,550m of elevation gain.

 250 places will be available to runners who hope to aim to complete both events over the weekend –The 9 Dragons 50/50– and a further 250 will compete in either the 50 Miler(82km) or 50km race.

 Elite runners, Julien Chorier from France, Magdalena Boulet flying in from the USA and Frncesca Canepa from Italy will trade blows with local talent that includes, Ben Duffus, John Ellis, Kazufumi Ose, Chor Kin Law, Jeremy Ritcey, Hisashi Kitamura and Jacky Leung. For the women, Corinne Williams, JCY Ho and Ruth Theresia will provide the competition at the from of the race.

History

A transliteration of the Chinese 九龍, gau lung, or “Nine Dragons”, Kowloon is named for the eight mountains which rear up behind the plateau—and one final dragon besides. 

Legend goes that Kowloon was named in the year 1278 by the boy Emperor Bing, of the Southern Song Dynasty. Noticing the eight hills of Kowloon (Kowloon Peak, Tung Shan, Tate’s Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge, Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Crow’s Nest), the emperor was pleased to name them the “Eight Dragons”—but a quick-witted courtier pointed out that the emperor was a dragon himself, making it nine dragons.

What was Emperor Bing doing counting mountains at the southern tip of his empire? Well, he had nowhere else to go. For the whole of the 13th century the Mongols had swept down from the steppes, moving south through China and crushing the ruling Song Dynasty. First Genghis and then his grandson Kublai Khan stormed south, pushing the Song back, and back, and back.

By 1278, Emperor Bing’s older brother, 10-year-old Emperor Duanzong of Song, had been pushed out of Fujian province and fled south to Guangdong. After Duanzong died from an illness contracted while running from the Mongols, the throne passed to 7-year-old Emperor Bing. The child was crowned at Silvermine Bay, on Lantau Island.

But Bing’s reign was not to last. The Mongols pressed onwards and just one year after the emperor’s coronation, the Song Dynasty made its final stand against the invaders. At the naval Battle of Yamen on March 19, 1279, a Mongol navy of some 50 warships smashed the Song flotilla of more than 1,000 ships to pieces. There was nowhere left to run. Lu Xiufu, the emperor’s most loyal general and statesman, picked up the 8-year-old king and leaped into the sea, in search of an honorable death. Kublai Khan had unified China under his fist, and the sun dawned on the Yuan Dynasty. 

You can visit the “Terrace of the Song Kings,” in the Sung Wong Toi Garden park in Kowloon City. It’s home to a rock carving which commemorates the two-year reign of the Song kings in Hong Kong.

But the legacy of the last emperor of the Song doesn’t lie in a rock, but in those eight dragons: The boy emperor who named a city.

RACES

The 50-mile event will begin at 11:59pm on Friday 1st of February 2019 at the Po Leung Kuk Jockey Club Holiday Camp near Yuen Long and finish at Tai Po Tau Playground. The cutoff is at 19:00pm on Saturday 2nd February.

The 50 Mile course starts at the Po Leung Kuk Jockey Club Tai Tong Holiday Camp near Yuen Long, and finishes at Tai Po Tau Playground, an 8 minute walk to/from Tai Wo MTR (East Rail line). It crosses Kowloon and the New Territories in Hong Kong from West to East. The route uses a variety of trails including the MacLehose and Wilson trails, and has an accumulative vertical gain of 5,070m.

The 50km event will begin at 07:30am on Sunday 3rd February at Tai Po Tau Playground and finish at Shing Fung Studios. The cutoff will be at 20:00pm on the same day.

The 50km course starts at Tai Po Tau Playground, an 8 minute walk from Tai Wo MTR (East Rail line) in the New Territories and finishes at Shing Fung Studios in Kowloon, running from North to South. The route uses a variety of trail including the Wilson and MacLehose among others, and has an accumulative vertical of 3,550m.

50/50 

250 places will be available to runners who hope to aim to complete both the 50 Miler and 50km events over the weekend – The 9 Dragons 50/50.

50/50 – Men

  • Julien Chorier
  • Ben Duffus
  • John Ellis
  • Kazufumi Ose
  • Chor Kin Law
  • Jeremy Ritcey
  • Hisashi Kitamura
  • Jacky Leung

50/50 – Women

  • Magdalena Boulet
  • Corinne Williams
  • Francesca Canepa
  • JCY Ho
  • Ruth Theresia

Lanzarote 2020 – The Ultimate Multi-Day Training Camp

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Lanzarote 2020 : New Routes – New Talks – New Challenges

January 7th to 14th 2020

Download pdf document here

We are well aware that we get many repeat customers for our Lanzarote Training Camp and therefore for 2020 we are going to spice things up.

Most importantly, we are not going to lose sight of what makes the camp a success, so rest assured we will be providing the same experience as in previous years!

WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT?

First of all, we are going to have a specific group welcome in the TIMANFAYA meeting room that will introduce you to the coaches and outline the week ahead. This will help ease those nerves.

Our welcome dinner will be in the EL LAGO restaurant which will provide a better experience both in terms of ambiance and food.

We are well aware that many of our clients are now expanding their multi-day running to other races, in particular The Coastal Challenge and Everest Trail Race. We therefore want to reflect that in the camp. This is why for 2020 we have started the camp on the 7th January, this allows a better lead in to TCC which starts early February.

TCC is a technical race at times with water crossings and coasteering – we will therefore incorporate technical running demonstrations and the ability to be guided on technical coastal paths. This is of course optional – we fully appreciate that for some clients this may not appeal or be required.

ETR requires great strength, a real requirement to use poles correctly and an ability to climb with confidence and descend with confidence. We will work on specific sessions to get you ready for a race like this.

Night running is a skill and we will therefore add a specific night run in groups so that you all feel comfortable with the dark and running in a beam of light.

Lanzarote has some amazing trails and because we run, it is often difficult to explore more of the island. For 2020 we hope to arrange a ‘point-to-point’ run. This will require us to leave Club La Santa early morning, be driven to the TIMANFAYA National Park and we will then run/ jog/ walk back to CLS exploring new trails and gaining new experiences. This will be a real highlight!

One thing that makes our camp so popular is making friends and bonding. We want to take that one step farther in 2020 with a ‘Run Challenge’ event – this will be undertaken in teams of 2/3 or 4 people – you decide! The concept? We will place strategic photographs over the trails in a 10 mile perimeter of CLS. We will then mark the locations on a map and points will be awarded, based on difficulty, for each photo. The more points go to the photos that are more difficult to reach – this may be based on distance or technical trail. Quite simply, as a team you must run/jog or walk to as many photos as possible within a time allowance. The more photos you get, the more points your team gets and of course, points make prizes. How do we know you found the photos? You have to tell us what the photo is – maybe a person, a location or something more random. It’s going to be fun!

Our bivouac still proves popular and for 2020 we will still have this on the camp – we are looking for ways to add a little spice and make it appealing for those who have camped before.

Talks are a key element of the camp and we are going to tweak them all for 2020 with the addition of some new talks – for example, the differences between MDS, TCC and ETR. Elisabet will host a women only workshop to address some of the issues that women runners can encounter. We will also have the usual foot care and equipment talks. 

Finally, Shane Benzie will return in 2020. He will provide a group talk and presentation followed by two break out groups on the track for analysis. He will then be available for private bookings either on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, for example 2-4 people.

2020 is going to be an exciting year for the Lanzarote Training Camp, we are looking forward to welcoming back past participants and new participants for the ultimate multi-day training camp.

All enquirers to:

iancorless@mac.com

Website: https://iancorless.org/training-camp

Lanzarote Training Camp 2019 – Day 5

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Plenty of soft sand today with a really specific session out in Lanzarote’s small dunes. It was a 60min run to the dune section and then a prolonged period allowing everyone to run up, down and around the section.

All about understanding how the sand reacts, how much energy you expend and what is the best approach.

Soft sand was followed by a run to the coast and an opportunity to explore one of the many volcano on foot before returning back to the coast and eventually Club La Santa. It was another 4-5 hour session.

The afternoon had a talk by Elisabet Barnes on how to look after your feet for a multi-day race and this included practical taping solutions.

The day concluded with an easy evening shake out run.

Join our 2020 Training Camp HERE

Lanzarote Training Camp 2019 – Day 2 and 3

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Day 2 and 3 at the Lanzarote Training Camp have been full-on. Shane Benzie of Running Reborn has been looking at everyones run technique and providing guidance for improvement in group and one-to-one sessions – Shane has been a huge hit with everyone and his advice invaluable.

On day 2 we took all groups for a long 5-6 hour walk at a fast pace. Over the years on the training camp we have understood that a key element of successful multi-day race is an ability to walk with ease and at pace.

Day 3 started with glorious sunshine and our famous or infamous volcano hill reps. They are always a hit! The sun came out, we had blue skies and fluffy clouds.

In the afternoon, we had a run out to our bivouac location, inside a volcano. An opportunity for many to test out dehydrated food, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and also their packs with weight. It is always a fun night and this year even more special with gale force winds and rain – quite the experience. It really was brilliant!

Join our 2020 Training Camp HERE