2018 Steelcase Dragon Run Set to Roar
Hong Kong – With less than a month to go before launch, the Steelcase Hong Kong Dragon Run is preparing to greet some of the surfski community’s superb usual suspects as well as a wide range of local paddlers angling to take home some of the event’s largest-ever purse offerings.
Cory “Chill” Hill, defending Dragon Run and 2017 ICF World Ocean Racing Ski Champion will face Sean Rice (SA) and Gordon Harbrecht (GER) at the November 10 event. The battle between the front-runners will be closely monitored, as Rice snagged a convincing win with a 57-second lead on Hill at the Irish Coast Paddling Champs in late September. Harbrecht placed third, ahead of Hank McGregor (SA) and Austin Kieffer (USA).
The women’s surfski race’s champion Hayley-Jo Nixon (SA) returns to the Dragon Run for the third time and will defend her Championship title against Teneale Hatton (NZ), who placed second at the Irish Coast Paddling Champs, as well against two-time Molokai Champion Rachel Clarke (NZ), who has recently returned to racing following her recovery from an elbow injury.
This year, the Steelcase Hong Kong Dragon Run is offering a purse to outrigger canoe paddlers. With US$1,500 on the line – as well as a host of other prizes – for the men’s and women’s division, local competition will be fierce and returning international champions providing massive incentives to chase down.
The Details
The Steelcase Dragon Run takes place in Hong Kong on Saturday November 10, 2018. This year’s event will run two races for surf skis and OCs: the “normal” long course race and the out-and-back short course race. In conjunction with these, a short and long course race for SUPs will take on a new focus with more than US$4,000 in cash prizes for the top three men’s and women’s spots.
Thirsty Horse Ltd., an event management company that has owned and operated the International Dragon Boat Festival, the Lamma 500 for the past 12 years, will also organize this year’s event.
“When we were approached to help with the management of the Steelcase Dragon Run last year, we were thrilled to get involved”, said Director Brad Tarr. “The Steelcase Dragon Run has attracted the greatest paddlers in the world: Olympians and long distance race champions. Just being among a crowd of athletes of this calibre is amazing and we are so happy to work to keep this event going”.
The Dollars
The 2018 Steelcase Hong Kong Dragon Run features three purse offers: The Surfski long course, the Outrigger Canoe long course, and the SUP 12km Course Challenge. With a US$28,800 purse split among competitors in surf ski, OC1 and SUP events, Event Director, Bruce Seymour, praised the event’s name and gold sponsors, Steelcase, China Silver Asset Management, for their continuing support.
“The Steelcase Dragon Run is an amazing event, and has attracted the best athletes in the world over the years. We are proud that we are leaders in offering equal prize money to these amazing male and female athletes, and we are also very excited that we are now also able to offer prize money to OC and SUP winners as well”.
The Dream
This year, the Steelcase Dragon Run is sponsoring a new environmental charity, ECODRIVEHK. Their mission is “to promote the reduction and awareness of single use plastics in Hong Kong”.
In addition we are supporting the "Autism Partnership Foundation (AFT), a local Hong Kong charity who are committed to making a difference in the lives of individuals with autism.
The venue is – again – the Hong Kong Sea School, a boarding school for underprivileged boys in Stanley, Hong Kong.
The school raises funds to help the boys reach their potential in sea sports (sailing, windsurfing and canoeing) and the goal of the programs is to give them a future by having them reach HK representative levels in these sports.
DOOR PRIZES
This year, three door prizes are available to those who wish to buy tickets. The first is a Think Zen surf ski, valued at HK$22,000 and sponsored by Think Kayak (www.thinkkayak.com); the second is an NSP SUP Carbon DC flat-water Race Pro 14’ x 24.5”, valued at HK$25,000 and sponsored by local retailer, X-Game (www.xgamehk.com). Pacsafe (www.pacsafe.com) has donated one of their famous travel suitcases as well.
INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION
Registration is still open but will close on November 5th. To register for the Steelcase Dragon Run, visit our http://hongkongdragonrun.com.hk/the-race/">Race and Registration pages.
Competitors will also find details on travel and accommodations on our main Steelcase Dragon Run website http://hongkongdragonrun.com.hk/">here.
questions? Contact race organizers at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will do our best to assist you.