In the second instalment of our 2020 awards, we discuss, debate and decide who should be crowned Athlete of the Year (both Female and Male) as well as Fundraiser of the Year.

Female Athlete of the Year

So many people excelled themselves in 2020, and our final three came down to:

• Nikki Han - in 2019 Nikki became the first female finisher of the Hong Kong 4 Trails Ultra Challenge, but she didn’t rest on her laurels in 2020, completing an Everesting on foot as part of the ATG Vertical Challenge, as well as completing the newly-inaugurated “9 Buffaloes” course - the TransLantau 100km course (with 5000m elevation) and the Lantau70 course (3500m elevation), back to back. Read a route report from Will Hayward here.

• Veronika Vadovicova. Not content with a second place finish at the HK100 early in the year, Veronika went on to set FKTs on the Lantau 70 course and the reverse HK Trail. More than that though, she found time to launch Asia Trail Girls (ATG), which has quickly become the region’s leading forum to spotlight and inspire female trail running. Among other things, they organised The Asia Trail Girls Vertical Challenge, which saw teams across the region racking up as much elevation as possible (and the top all-female team climbing over 53,000m) Listen to our recent episode where we talk all about ATG with Veronika here.

• Xiang Fuzhou, who won the 2020 HK100 in a blisteringly fast 11:28:59

Male Athlete of the Year

• Wong Ho-Chung, who pulled off both the HK360 challenge (360km around Hong Kong in 36 hours) and the MacLehose Trail FKT (for which he won FKT of the Year in our first awards episode)

• Mayank Vaid, who completed the first ever Everestman challenge (swimming the height of Everest followed by an Everesting on bike and an Everesting on Foot) and then went on to complete the HK360Xtreme, which saw him swim 45k around Hong Kong Island, followed by a 215k bike ride and a 100k run. Read more about the Everestman here.

• Stephen Redfern, who not only finished the HK4TUC in 54:56, but completed a 360k ultra in his garage (listen to the previous episode to hear all about this), set a bunch of FKTs at home in Australia, came second at the Adelaide 12 Hour Race and finished 10th at the iconic Coast 2 Kosci Ultramarathon.

Fundraiser of the Year

So many people took the opportunity to raise money for causes close to their hearts in 2020, but three in particular stood out:

• UFit’s Singapore to Santa Challenge, which set out to inspire people to collectively run, cycle or swim the 9,859km to the North Pole, and ended up with participants covering an astonishing 53,095km, raising over SG$18,000 for YMCA of Singapore.

• Mayank Vaid’s HK360Xtreme, for which he raised HK$385,000 for InspiringHK Sports Foundation and Outward Bound Hong Kong. See him mid-swim here.

• Nia Cooper, who completed her Grand Slam of Hong Kong ultrarunning (Oxfam Trailwalker, North Face 100, HK100 and the TransLantau in four consecutive months) and in doing so raised over HK$105,000 for the Brain Tumour Charity, in honour of her husband (and HK trail community legend) Nic Tinworth

Thanks as always to former podcast guest Mark Agnew of the SCMP for the consistently great coverage of many of these endeavours - it’s his articles we’ve mostly linked to above.

Hosted by Ultra Endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis.