Thailand by UTMB: China runners dominate Chiang Mai challenge as Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha stuns field by finishing third overall in 110km race
- With a lack of races at home and in the region, Zhao Jiajiu and Xiang Fuzhao took full advantage to win the men’s and women’s races respectively
- Manager has big plans for Budha after she finishes just four seconds behind the second-placed male runner in the 110km race
Chinese runners Zhao Jiajiu and Xiang Fuzhao may feel 21 days of quarantine is worth the sacrifice after dominant performances on Sunday in the Thailand by UTMB race over the country’s highest peak – Doi Inthanon in the northern province of Chiang Mai.
With no opportunities to compete at home, Zhao and Xiang headed off to the “Roof of Thailand” for the 168km race that takes runners past stunning landscapes.
The pair were in front from the starting gun and at 40km, Xiang, the reigning Hong Kong 100 champion, was already an hour ahead of the second-placed women’s runner Kimino Miyazaki, of Japan. With 30 kilometres left, Xiang was fourth overall – behind three elite men.
Zhao took the win in the men’s event in 21 hours 56 minutes. Xiang won the women’s race in 26 hours, one minute – ahead of Miyazaki and another Japanese runner Kaori Niwa. The Chinese duo must quarantine for 21 days when they return to China as part of the country’s strict Covid-19 rules.
“China’s trail running community suffered terribly since the pandemic and the awful accident in April,” Michel Poletti, co-found of UTMB, told the Post. “I hope that the fantastic wins of Xiang Fuzhao and Zhao Jiaju announce the rebirth of trail running in China in 2022.”
