Impressive wins by Ferdinand Tsang and Dilu Limbu at Ultra Fish N Sheep

The 6th edition of Ultra Fish N Sheep in the New Territories of Hong Kong was held in sunny and hot conditions last Saturday and saw great racing for the male and female victories and podium places. While Hong Kong-based Nepali Dilu Limbu was in front by herself the whole day - albeit by never more than 20 minutes -, the men’s contenders put up a great show with ever changing positions as the race progressed.

Eventually, local favourite Ferdinand Tsang, also known as Monster, won it in 9h44! Tsang kept the charging Daniel Crisp behind after a great dual between the two in the last 30 km of the race, after early leader Carlos Sanchez Villamil slowed down and former double ATM Champion John Ray Onifa DNFd (headache, see video CP 7). Onifa had initially looked relaxed and in control, but after CP 3 he felt gradually worse with a throbbing headache. The surprising Spaniard Sanchez Villamil, who has been residing and working in Hong Kong for two years, suddenly found himself alone in the lead. But the aforementioned Ferdinand Tsang and Daniel Crisp closed the gap by CP 5. KC Chan lost contact with the front as he also began to suffer from headaches and the heat. Cheng Kasin on the other hand was the fastest man on the course during these few hours and picked up runners one after the other. For a while he looked like he was still going to challenge for victory,. but in the end he got stuck at about 15 minutes from the two leaders. Tsang and Crisp were battling it out. The Britain nibbled away at the gap and briefly came within two minutes. Tsang still had something left in the tank, though, and secured his victory in the last 8 km to the finish. First ever race victory for home runner Ferdinand Tsang. Great and smart performance! Daniel Crisp was a very happy second, a performance he had not expected himself. Cheng Kasing was a great third on the podium.

Patrick Jaeger from Germany still sneaked past Carlos Sanchez Villamil in the last kilometre for fourth place! Limbu Yamanath was sixth and first of the Grand Slam finishers at the event. Tommy Yeung was next followed by KC Chan and Ng Wai Fung. Taiwan’s Ricky Sung, winner of Vietnam Trail Marathon last January, struggled with the hot temperaturs and finished 14th.

Dilu Limbu won the women’s race in 11h52. It was a rather dominant performance today by the HK based Nepali runner, who hopes to be back on Team Nepal in next year’s Season 12 Championship Final. Dilu led from start to finish, keeping a trio of runners always some 20 minutes behind. It’s her second race victory in ATM after Trail Des Gombak 100 in Malaysia last year. Interesingly, her advantage over the others came down significantly in the last 8km of the race to 13 minutes, indicating that the race had been long enough for her, too.

Taiwan’s Hsiu Fangtai scored second, just ahead of Kimmy Leung. Honna Hung couldn’t follow the pace of the two others she spent the whole day with and settled for fourth place. In fifth, Zhang Hualan. Amanda Min Ting Chen was next in sixth place and then it was Colby Chan in seventh. She was 9th in the ATM Championship Final in Vietnam. Natalie Webster scored 8th place, just a couple of minutes behind Colby Chan.

The next ATM Championship Qualifier in Hong Kong will be The 9 Dragons at the end of February, followed by Lantau 70 at the end of March.