Elsa Jean de Dieu

About

Elsa Jean de Dieu is a French-born mural artist and competitive trail runner who has spent most of her adult life in Hong Kong, where she became one of the territory's top trail competitors while running for team UGlow. She trained as an interior and mural artist at the Atelier Lucien Tourtoulou in Paris before moving to Asia in 2009, and has since built a trail racing record across Hong Kong's demanding hill circuit, winning the 9 Dragons 50km, the Translantau 50km, and the Moontrekker 43km women's pair event, and taking wins at both the 18km and 44km MSIG Green Race — the latter a comeback victory following knee surgery. She and training partner Julien Bonnard also targeted a top-10 finish at the 100-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, an ambitious target for what was her first attempt at the distance. Jean de Dieu is frequently profiled for pairing elite trail competition with her career as a muralist, finding parallels between the discipline of long-form art and long-distance mountain racing.

Notable Wins

• — 9 Dragons 50K (winner)
• — Translantau 50K (winner)
• — Moontrekker 43K women's pair (winner)
• — MSIG Green Race 18K & 44K (winner)

Race History