Marshal’s mistake: ‘Stingray’ denied almost certain victory in HK50 West
- John Ray Onifa is given the wrong directions when it seemed he had the race all sewn up
- The mix-up also affects Filipino runner Fredelyn Alberto in the women’s 25km race
Filipino superstar John “Stingray” Ray Onifa was denied almost certain victory in Saturday’s HK50 West after being given wrong directions by a race marshal at a crucial junction.
At one point, Onifa was so far ahead of the field that race marshals thought he was in last place, but he ended up in 18th place after being given the wrong directions when he was directed to checkpoint two instead of checkpoint four while leading in the race that started and finished at Shing Mun Reservoir Catchwater.
Although denied victory, Onifa was still in good spirits after the race, but called the mistake and finish “extremely disappointing”.
“This stuff happens in racing, sometimes you get lost,” said Onifa, who is quickly becoming the city’s best trail runner.
“The marshals [meant well] and could speak English, but maybe they weren’t briefed enough on that junction and they should have been more familiar with the routes.”
Fellow Filipino Fredelyn Alberto, who will be on the SCMP trail running podcast, The Adventure Trail, later this week, also had a costly misdirection while running the women’s 25km.
“They said to follow the pink ribbons for 25km, and green ribbons for 50km, but at the junction the ribbons were the same colour,” said Alberto, who finished 16th but was aiming for a top-three finish. “It’s a learning experience, next time I may have to bring my phone to make sure I don’t get lost.”
As it was the first time Onifa was running the race, he was concerned that the course markings wouldn’t be clear enough. But many runners praised Action Asia Events for the incredible amount of effort put into the course markings, as there were ribbons every 100-or-so metres. All of the misdirection seemed to happen at the one junction, thanks in large part to the marshals.
Men’s overall champion Adrien Konareff admitted that Stingray deserved the win.
“That guy was so incredibly fast, he definitely should have finished first,” said Konareff, who finished with an impressive time of 5:04:24. Still, it was a breakthrough performance for the Frenchman, who moved to Hong Kong about a year ago and looks to become more heavily involved in the city’s trail running scene.
“In France the level [of trail running competition] is much higher so I could never run competitively, so I mostly ran casually. But since I came to Hong Kong I can see there is a really good scene with lots of races and I find I can perform much better,” said Konareff, who works for a French retail company.
He said with his busy life at work and raising his children, finding a sponsor never even crossed his mind. But second place getter, Ryan Whelan, who runs for Joint Dynamics, is looking to change that.
“We’ll get him to sign eventually,” said a smiling Whelan, who had an impressive time of 5:19:07 as he looks to transition to more 50km races next season.
Finally, local superstar Leung Ying-suet won the women’s 50km with a time of 6:09:34 in her first race since the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association confirmed that she and Wong Ho-chung will compete in the Trail World Championships in Portugal in June.
“I was very happy with my performance,” said Leung, who praised the race and its clear course markings. “I had a lot of races from September to February so it was good for me to get some rest [after the confirmation]. I think I performed much better as a result.”
Leung represented Hong Kong in last year’s world championships in Spain and struggled, but with her recent improvements and a different race format, she is confident she’ll have a much better showing this year.
“Last year’s championships were 88km and this year’s is 40km, which is much better for me,” explained Leung.
Meanwhile, North Face’s Vlad Ixel won the men's’ 25km with a time of 02:27:10. Chor Kin Law and doctor/runner Man Yee Cheung won the 50km mixed team championship with a time of 06:11:43. The time also gave Cheung the women’s 50km second place finish.
