In our second interview with one of the favoured teams for this weekends Hong Kong OXFAM Tailwalker Lloyd catches up with Team Salomon Bonaqua.
The team is made up of Michael Maddess, Ram Kumar Khatri, Samir Tamang & Jeremy Ritcey
1: Tell us about the members of your team ?
Jeremy: I’ve been running and adventure racing for about 8 or 9 years and have been taking it quite seriously for the past 5 years. The highlight for me was being invited to Kilian’s Classik this year and, as a result, having the power of the Salomon machine put behind me for international races. I’ve also dropped everything and decided to immerse myself in running this year by opening HKs first trail running shop: Lantau Base Camp. Exciting times ahead!
Results – HK 100 2nd & 4th, CDR 2nd, STY 4th, TW 3x3rd place, 1st Place Wilson Trail Race 2011, KOTH Series Winner 2009&2012, lots of other Adventure Racing Wins and wins on local shorter trail races.
Michael Maddess has been at the heart of adventure racing and endurance running in the region for a good 15 years. He has been racing and placing himself on the podium for nearly that long too. Most people know him through organizing events with Action Asia, but when he isn’t organizing them, he’s usually kicking ass by participating in them. Results: OTW 7 or 8 times, lots of 3rd places and at least one 2nd. Wilson Trail Winner 2011, 1st place on a number of big Adventure Races around asia. Good results at KOTH in the past.
Ram and Samir. Ram holds the old course OTW record with an all Nepalese team from 2008 – 11h52m. Samir is one of the top Nepalese runners locally, but hasn’t really stepped onto the international stage yet.
2. Is this the first time that your team has competed together at this distance?
Jeremy: Oh yeah, I just met two of them this morning.
3. What does your training involve for the trailwalker?
Jeremy: Same as always – steady training, 10ish hours a week, with at least one long run a week and a few shorter ones. I train completely based on how I feel and listen to my body – no speed work, no fartleks, no specific anything. All my hours are spent in the mountains & when I feel good I push hard on the uphills, so I guess that’s called ‘hill work’ if you wanna classify it. I try to cross train with biking and paddling, but i have been a bit lazy with that this year so far. I did do an Adventure race last weekend in Thailand so I got to have some good fun on the bike and kayak for a change. It was awesome! Another key component of my training is racing. I like to race often as this keeps my foot speed and my mental game in check – sometimes i overdo it and spend a bit too much time recovering though.
4. So what time are you predicting for your team at the Trailwalker ?
Jeremy: Sub 12 would be fantastic! Despite all the crazy predictions going on right now, I think the win will come in somewhere between 11 & 12 hours. It’s possible to go under 11, but it would be an amazing achievement and a perfect alignment of the stars.
5. Who do you see as your biggest competitors/rivals?
Jeremy: The other Nepalese team, The North Face team, Salomon France and the PLA if they show. I hope I haven’t missed anyone. Not sure if we’re on their lists either, but I think we should be 😉
Thanks Lloyd – it’s gonna be a blast!
