Bupa Global Lantau 50 Asian Skyrunning Championship: Mongolian runners face 50 degrees Celsius drop
- Local runners joined by overseas contenders for 16km, 27km and 51km races, scaling Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak
- Mongolia has sent a team of runners for Saturday’s race for the first time, after training in -27 degrees Celsius (-17 Fahrenheit)
Mongolia has sent a team of trail runners for Saturday’s Bupa Global Lantau 50 Asian Skyrunning Championship race – the first time it has done so, and with a severe climb in temperature awaiting them.
The thermometer this week plunged to a low of -27 degrees Celsius (-17 Fahrenheit) in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, some 50 degrees Celsius lower than Hong Kong has experienced.
“Extreme weather between -10 and -20 for my training” said Gantulga Myagmarjav, who trains in Uvs province in western Mongolia and is entering the 27km (17-mile) men’s category. “I will do my best and see how my result will be among other Asian skyrunning athletes.”
Some returning athletes will be aiming to recapture past glories.
Takako Takamura of Japan, who finished fifth at the World Championship last year, will be looking for a repeat of her Lantau win in 2016.
“Since it’s going be my last overseas race of the year, I want to give it my all,” she said.
