If you’re reading this hoping to find out why a middle-aged athlete unburdened by talent would abandon his family and his senses for the weekend and cause himself pain and discomfort that he could stop at any moment without penalty and, to be honest, without anyone really noticing, then I’m afraid you’ll be sorely disappointed. There’s no miraculous tales of redemption and finding oneself on the dusty trails of Hong Kong. There’s no money raised for deserving charities (well not by me; you need to focus on some of my fellow runners who are true superstars). There’s no honouring the wishes of a dying parent (trust me, my parents are very much alive and their only wish was that their son would stop with this stupid challenge). Spoiler alert: I didn’t even break 60 hours.
So there’s no answers here. Only questions. And not even well-defined ones. But I guess if I had to give a question that seems to matter to me, that seems to drive my interest in running longer and longer, it would be, Are there limits? Do they matter? Are they in our head? Are they real?
Ultrarunning is the exploration of the limits that we and others put on ourselves. Each of us are different. Jim Walmsley can run the Western States 100 mile course in just over 14 hours. I’ve done it twice, with the fastest just under 24 hours. In theory I’m sure I could go faster, but I’m never going to come close to Jim. So I don’t know where my limit is, but I know there is a real one somewhere. That limit is partly because I don’t work as hard as Jim, but it’s also because I don’t have his aerobic capacity or the muscular tension that he does, and it certainly includes that I’m 20 years older. Some of those things are under my control but many are not. So limits are fake, but also real.
We can be limited in different ways. I’m pretty limited in speed. I don’t run that fast. I’m also limited in distance, but much less so. So if I can keep running my moderate pace, I can go for a long time. I discovered that at Big’s Backyard Ultra in 2019. Much better, faster runners than me couldn’t keep running as long. Since that race has limits on the speed you need to go, that factor was eliminated as a limit and I became much more competitive. Before this event Mark Agnew quoted me in the South China Morning Post as saying that I was “Average but stubborn.” That’s probably a pretty good summary.
Which brings us to the current matter, the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge, one of the hardest endurance events in Asia. The aim is to run all four of Hong Kong’s major trails, one after each other (Maclehose: 100km, Wilson: 78km; Hong Kong: 50km; Lantau: 70km). It’s not just the 298km total distance either; the trails combine for about 14,500m elevation gain, so runners are constantly going up and down steep slopes. The target time to be a “finisher” is 60 hours, but you have up to 72 hours to be a “survivor.” That means 3 days and 3 nights out on the trail.
I’ve had two previous attempts at this thing. In 2018, without really knowing what I was getting myself into, I survived in just under 72 hours, after being psychically tortured by sleep monsters on the 3rd night with no sleep. In 2020 I came back but had sprained my ankle four weeks prior; I made it 160km but then my core muscles gave out and I couldn’t keep moving. Even though that was beyond my control, I really didn’t like quitting, and a few weeks later went back with some other “losers” and finished the remaining trails. I knew I wanted to come back and finish properly.
For 2021, the Race Director, Andre Blumberg, invited previous finishers and survivors to come back for a “family reunion.” I signed up again. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to institute hygiene controls for the small field of 18 runners, and on February 12, the first day of the Chinese New Year, we met in the early morning at the nondescript highway underpass at Tuen Mun on the western edge of Hong Kong that is the starting point for the Maclehose Trail.
When I entered, I was keen to push to become a “finisher”, which means I’d need to take 12 hours off my previous time and come in under 60 hours for the whole thing. As the event drew closer, it became clear to me that this would be a stretch. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to “finish”, but ultimately I decided that I’d be happy just completing the event in 60-something hours, which would still be an improvement on previous. But I wanted to give myself a shot at finishing, to see if I could push through that limit, and to do that I needed to finish the Mac under 16 hours, which I’d never done before.
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| Arriving early, ready to run 298km. Photo: Vincent Chan |
The cool morning felt great and it was hard to resist running too hard. Pacing is so important but so difficult. Running too fast, even though it will be easy for a few hours, will damage your legs before you realise, and then there is a long way to go across the four trails. Run too slow and you’ll find it hard to catch up later when your body is past exhaustion. And how do you replicate this challenge in training? You can’t easily do a training run of even 25% of the distance!
The author with two legends:
Nikki Han and Stone Tsang
However, having run the Mac in HK4TUC twice previously, I had some idea of good splits to hit, which would see me come in around 16 hours. I seemed to be doing OK for the first few hours through Tai Lam Chung Country Park and up to Tai Mo Shan. A few people starting after me caught up: Stone (the Legend), Jacky (the Superstar), Pong (the Incredible), Nikki (all of the above!). But HK4TUC is not a race – it is a set of personal challenges, so it was always good to see people and chat as they went past.
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| Heading up Needle Hill. Photo: Lucien Chan |
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| Starting to work hard on Mac stage 4. Photo: Viola and Alan |
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| Made it to the end of the Mac. Photo: Viola and Alan |
The Wilson begins in Nam Chung and the first 22km is some of the most difficult of the whole Challenge. You climb up and up towards the Pat Sin Leng ridge, then go along an undulating series of peaks at about 500m elevation, clmbing then up to Wong Leng at 600m, before dropping down to Hok Tau Reservoir and then climbing another 300m over Cloudy Hill. It is a beautiful section but extremely remote and when you’re there in the middle of the night, you feel like you’re a million miles from another soul, even if you know there are other 4 Trails adventurers somewhere out there. I knew to have a chance of “finishing” under 60 hours I needed to push hard on this section. But now, at midnight, having run hard all day, I was struggling. My calves looked like they contained a nest of hornets, with the muscle fibres buzzing backwards and forwards as they threatened full-on cramp. I was also struggling to get enough food in, with nausea steadily developing. I was trying to stay light and so was carrying 1.5L of fluid, which had been more than enough in training but now I was moving slower and needed to take water when I was eating. So as I started up the long climb, I was careful not to take too much water and to make sure I had enough to get all the way to Tai Wo. I was making steady progress, but not at the speed I needed to be moving at. Pushing too hard, though, caused more cramping in my calves, as well as my quads and hamstrings, and I knew that could be fatal to completion. I just kept my head down, focused on the path, and tried to keep moving as quickly as I could.
Eventually I made it to Tai Wo about 45 minutes past my target. It wasn’t an insurmountable difference but it would be emblematic that this trail would take longer on every section than I planned for. As I headed up towards Lead Mine Pass, thoughts as dark as the pre-dawn sky started to fill my head. The last few months I’d had my best training ever, in terms of time, distance, and climbing, and I felt as fit as I ever had. Yet, a similar story was playing out on the trail. After a good first day on the Mac, everything had started to get very hard, and pushing myself to keep on track didn’t just seem an issue of will-power; it seemed more likely to push me into a hole that I’d never get back from. Climbs that normally would be accomplished easily were causing more cramping in my legs, which caused me to slow down, which caused me to get further behind my time splits. As the dawn broke I made it past the monkeys at Kowloon Reservoir and eventually back up to Shatin Pass, where I saw Sasha a second time. There was some good news; this was the place a year ago that I’d come into with a lean, where my body integrity started to give out since I was favouring the recently-sprained ankle; shortly after, I DNFed when I couldn’t continue. A year later and I was still standing tall. I had no reason to quit. Yet it seemed a long way to the finish, and I had some catching up to do.
Leaving Shatin Pass, I wanted to get to the MTR at Lam Tin in three hours, but once again pushing harder just enhanced the cramping. Richard Kimber, one of guys filming the runners, followed me up Fei Ngo Shan Road and asked how I was doing. For the first time I verbalised my dilemma – I was still pushing to try to make the 3am ferry which would give me a shot at a 60 hour finish, but was falling further and further behind. At some point, I would need to accept the obvious, that I was now simply trying to “survive” for the second time. Once I accepted that, I could stop pushing because the next ferry was at 7am and there wasn’t much point arriving three hours early – I may as well take my time and get there in good shape. I wasn’t ready to admit that yet but it was the direction I seemed to be heading in.
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| Doing it tough on the Wilson. Photo: Vincent Chan |
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| The egg sushi looked good, until it didn't. Photo: Michael Gay |
We now had to navigate a busy MTR station and make three line changes before continuing on the Wilson Trail on Hong Kong Island. I stopped for some egg sushi and more soft drink, taking it over to HK Island to eat as I got out of the station. This was my last chance, I needed to crush this section to have any chance of getting the 3am ferry. But I needed energy, and so I needed to eat the sushi. I ate a piece. It immediately came back up. Being sick in a public park in the middle of a pandemic is not really good etiquette. I managed to keep the drinks down and nibbled on an energy bar, and trudged up the hill. This section has four steep climbs. In training I’d done it at the end of the whole Wilson trail, where I’d been fairly tired and had managed it in 2.5 hours. I was aiming to do it in three. It took 3 hours 25 mins. The last part is over the famous Twins, with 1000 steps straight up, which were pure pain. I came down to complete the Wilson to find Tanya and my wife Sasha there ready to pick me up. It was just after 6pm.
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| The romance of 4 Trails -- finishing the Wilson! Photo: Photoguava |
As we drove to the start of the Hong Kong Trail in Shek O, about 20 minutes away, we chatted. The earliest I could start the next trail would be 6.45pm. That would give me less than 8 hours to finish the Hong Kong trail to make the 3am ferry. It doesn’t sound that hard when I had done it easily in 6 hours on fresh legs a few weeks previously; but the reality is that almost no-one does it in less than 8 hours on Four Trails. I was feeling dazed, weak, and was heading into a second night with no sleep which would see me fighting sleep demons. Maybe in retrospect I should have continued to fight at this point, but the reality was, my desperation to complete the journey was much stronger than my need to get there at the 60 hour cutoff to be a “finisher.” I was out there to enjoy the trails, and to explore all this time alone in my own head, and I didn’t want to push myself so deep into a hole that I couldn’t get to the end. I’d already struggled with thoughts of whether I’d make it over all these hills. This was the point to admit reality, and be wiser.
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| Starting the Hong Kong Trail. Photo: Pirate |
And so, we didn’t rush to start the next trail. I had some oatmeal, and some soup, and plenty of drinks. I washed myself and put on new clothes. I enjoyed the company of Sasha and Tanya, since I was heading out into the night, alone, again. In the end, at 7.44pm, 90 minutes after finishing Wilson, I started the Hong Kong trail. I was going to miss the 3am ferry and the next one was at 7am; so my target to finish this trail was 6am, giving me 10 hours and 16 minutes, with a 30 minute buffer in case I took longer. It seemed like this was plenty of time, and there was no point pushing, so I took the next few hours easy. Three years earlier this section had been a struggle with sleep deprivation; maybe tonight I was more experienced at dealing it, or it was earlier in the evening, but I didn’t feel too sleepy, and I wasn’t really hallucinating. I made it up to the Dragon’s Back inside two hours, then down to the long catchwater on which I managed a slow jog most of the way until I started to sleepwalk towards the end. As I crossed Tai Tam Road, I needed sleep so I lay down on a concrete block just a few metres from the road. It was about 11pm and double-decker buses were going past – who knows what they thought of this skinny hiker fast asleep on the concrete. Five minutes was all it took for some refreshment and I was back
up and hiking into the Country Park. As I climbed the road towards the upper reservoir Fanny appeared again, pushing harder than me and wondering if we’d make the 7am ferry. It seemed to me we had plenty of time so I was happy to let her push on. I kept climbing, first up Mount Butler and then up Jardine’s Lookout, then coming down towards Parkview came across Tim Marchant who was out in the middle of the night for a run! He snapped a picture of me taking a drink at the petrol station at Wong Nai Chung Gap.
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| Cream soda at Wong Nai Chung Gap. Photo: Tim Marchant |
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| Deep sleep on the ferry to Lantau. Photo: Pirate |
We had plenty of time to get down to the ferry, and were able to sit in the car near the ferry where I ate some more oatmeal and had some drinks. Tanya got my gear together, I kissed Sasha goodbye (next time I’d see her would be at the postbox!), and got on the boat. The 7am ferry is a slow one, taking about an hour to get to Mui Wo, but it has long bench seats on which I was able to lie down and get a good sleep. It arrived about 8am, and if I’d started immediately I would have had 10 hours and 23 minutes to finish the trail by 60 hours. That would have been the fastest I’d ever completed the Lantau Trail, and I wasn’t prepared to try such folly, given I’d been on my feet for 228km, was feeling rather fragile, and my name wasn’t Jacky Leung, who at that moment was completing a run around Lantau Island at that pace to cap a remarkable HK4TUC new record of 49 hours and 21 minutes – incredible! Since I was going to take a bit longer, I had a shower at Lantau Base Camp (what luxury – thanks to John and the team who are always very supportive), made sure I had some more food, and got myself ready to go. At 8.33am, I captured the exciting buzz of Jacky’s finish, pressed start on my watch, and set out for the last trail.
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| Ready to start the Lantau Trail with crew chief Pirate. Photo: Loz Wong |
The first part of the Lantau Trail went well. I’d had a good break since finishing the Hong Kong Trail and moved pretty well up Radio Hill and over to Pui O. As I made my way up the hill I came across a familiar sight – Fanny! She’d been on the same ferry but had started a little earlier, but now I was moving a little easier. As I went past her I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last time I’d see her!
Pushing on from Pui O the day was already starting to heat up. The climb up to the Tong Fuk catchwater seemed longer than normal, but once on the catchwater I was able to run fairly consistently – the only problem was that I was starting to feel hot, and on the third day of constant motion my body’s ability to regulate temperature was not optimal. A welcome drink was had at Shui Hau, but going around the Shui Hau peninsula became a massive struggle, and not just because of the incredible number of hikers in an area where normally few are seen. I was overheating but not sweating much; this seemed like a dangerous combination. Sure enough, this was where Fanny came past me, looking much improved as I was heading in the opposite direction. I made it to the Shek Pik toilets, where I took some time to wet my shirt and immediately cool myself down. However, still feeling weak, the next section of catchwater was done at a fast walk rather than a run, as I made my way around to the village of Fan Lau where I knew I could get some cold drinks. Eventually making my way there, I found a runner’s backpack at the noodle house, and asked “Is my friend here?” Sure enough, Fanny turned up a moment later, and encouraged me to have some noodles. It was a great suggestion. I sat and cooled down and then got some calories and salty broth. Fifteen minutes later I was back on my feet and heading to Tai O before the final (and hardest) section of HK4TUC, the cimbs up to Ngong Ping and then over Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak back to Mui Wo.
I got to Tai O at 4.45pm. 271km down, only 27km to go. But the hardest 27km in Hong Kong. First a climb up 500m to the top of Ling Wui Shan, then a couple of other hills then up to Ngong Ping and the Big Buddha. From there, a quick swing around the village and then up Lantau Peak (934m) and finally Sunset Peak (about 800m) before the final descent to Mui Wo. Three years ago I’d been tortured by sleep-induced hallucinations as I stumbled around this section all night. I was keen to get it done quicker today. I quickly tried to get water from a restaurant but they seemed to be closed. I figured I had enough to get me to Ngong Ping so took the risk and started up the hill. The first 15 minutes is straight up, incredibly steep up an old concrete road but I managed to push up fairly well. A good sign. From there the trail meanders up and up, not too steep and I made reasonable time to the base of Ling Wui Shan. I made it to the summit, again in reasonable time, but my back was starting to ache. I knew from experience that this last section of trail was likely to threaten my basic bodily integrity; last time I’d finished the event with a crooked neck, and a year ago I’d DNFed with a lean. I realised my pack was still very heavy, with food I wasn’t going to eat and two headlamps (main one plus backup) that I wasn’t using. To redistribute the load, I took my jacket out of the pack, tied it around my waist, and put a pack of unused food in one pocket and two headlamps in the other. That excess weight was now being carried by my hips rather than back, and my pack was much lighter and easier to carry. My jacket was swinging around in rather ungainly fashion but it was worth it. Soon enough the light got dim and I put on my main headlamp. When I got to the end of this set of hills at Keung Shan Road I dumped the food in a bin – I didn’t have long to go and I clearly wasn’t going to eat it.
It was after 7.30pm as I started walking up the road to Ngong Ping. Last time I’d seen thick crowds of non-existent people but even though I was entering my third night without real sleep my brain seemed clear, though I was getting sleepy. Walking past a small pagoda I lay down again for another 5 minute nap. It seemed to do the trick. Soon I was up at Ngong Ping, and rather than being deserted, as I expected, there were still lots of people there trying to get the last cable car back to Tung Chung. I briefly had hopes that the stores might still be open but I managed to just miss them before they closed. No problem, I filled up a couple of water flasks at the toilets, and was ready for the final assault. The trail around Ngong Ping was uneventful, and before I knew it was at the Wisdom Path, about to make the long climb up Lantau Peak.
Three years ago, the peaks had been in a fog which matched my brain. Today, both were relatively clear. I hoped this was a good sign. As I started climbing, however, it was clear that I wasn’t going to just shoot over them. I didn’t have much confidence in my balance; as I pushed up from one step, I seemed in danger of overbalancing and falling off the steps. I hadn’t got this close the green postbox to require a rescue team to carry me off the mountain. So I found myself taking a few steps at a time, then grabbing the rocks with my hands and holding on for dear life. A few more steps, and then a few more. I knew the climb divides into thirds; first to a stream that flows in summer, then to the lower peak, then the top. The dry stream didn’t take that long to get to, but the lower peak just wouldn’t come into view. I’d climb higher and higher, starting to feel a cool breeze that must signify being almost out to the ridge, but it stubbornly refused to show itself. At last I found myself at the sign for Cham Tsai Au (“810m”) – only just over 100m left to climb. Normally it seems like you’re almost there but this last part of the climb went on forever, step by step, rock by rock. Finally, relief at the top of the climb, a brief celebration, then the long path down to Pak Kung Au. Two weeks previously I was carelessly skipping down with Jono in 25 minutes, but tonight it took twice as long, even though I felt like I was moving reasonably well. At the bottom I saw a bright light and sure enough it was Robin Lee, taking some footage for his movie. As I stopped for a brief chat I felt very lightheaded and unstable on my feet. Given that I had to cross Tung Chung Road, this wasn’t ideal, but I managed to make it across. Robin followed me across and started to come up the steps as I began up Sunset Peak, the final climb of his infernal challenge. I seemed to be starting a dreaded lean, was unstable on my feet, and concentrated so hard on not falling in front of the camera that I almost walked right into him! It will look great in 3D. Truthfully it was a relief when I noticed he’d stopped following me and I was able to proceed at my own pace. The Sunset Peak climb is longer than the Lantau Peak climb, but it is also shallower, and so the steps are not as steep – so although I was still unstable, I was able to keep the rhythm going a little better. Halfway up there are some benches, which I happily sat down on and instantly fell asleep, I think just a few minutes (but who’d really know). The trail eventually started to flatten out, I could see some neon lights ahead, and I found myself looking down at the huts that are placed mysteriously just below the peak, quite a few people out camping, and just after midnight, I had one final descent to survive the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge for the second time.
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| Finishing with the kids -- the best feeling! Photo: Viola and Alan |
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| The family celebration dance. Photo: Lucien Chan |
You may be wondering: What about the hallucinations? Three years ago they started as ghost houses in the middle of the bush and ended with being stuck in a dream on that I couldn’t get out of on Lantau Peak. At Big’s 2019 I famously DNFed, not because my body gave in, but because I entered some type of dissociative state where I believed I was back in Hong Kong and not in Tennessee. I seem to be learning to manage sleep deprivation better because here, going well into the 3rd night, I didn’t really hallucinate at all. I took more naps along the way and they seemed to help a lot. Plus I had a good sleep on the ferry. Having said that, when I got to the finish, I looked at the concrete floor around the post-box and saw that someone had written all over it. I asked Sasha if she saw the writing. She gave me the look you give a crazy person. So there was some hallucination, but compared to previous experiences, it was very mild!
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| Broken man, loving wife. Photo: Viola and Alan |
Two times surviving and two times my body almost broken, but not quite. The Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge really does seem to be at the limit of what I can achieve. Some of the other runners (I’m looking at you, Nikki Han and Chris Kwan) look like they could do another lap, but both times I stumbled to the finish line. This time I was five hours quicker than last time, which was satisfying, and the four hours between ferries added some extra time. Even so, I had an almost perfect block of training and I was still a long way from the finisher time of 60 hours. So maybe that’s a real limit. If so, it’s fine. The point is not to fail at the impossible. The point is to make the very hard possible, and then keep at it until it’s done.
Too many people to thank but let me try.
This event is all about having a great crew of people who are willing to get you to the finish line. Tanya “Pirate” Bennett has crewed me three times and we’re now able to do it almost by telepathy. Pirate was amazing in the way she took care of everything and let my mind switch off between trails. I’m so excited for her to have some fun on the trails at Chinese New Year 2022.
Ivan van Eetvelt rashly volunteered to drive the first leg from Pak Tam Chung to Nam Chung. He then prepared lots of food to a very specific order, most of which I completely ignored when I finished the Mac with nausea. He was a total pro and a massive upgrade on John Wacker (just kidding mate, of course!).
Sasha, my very long-suffering wife, drove the other two legs. It’s impossible to thank a spouse enough after Four Trails, given everything they put up with before, during, and after the event, but to also do late night drives across Hong Kong Island and still come out to meet the finishing runner at 1.20am at Mui Wo makes it more than impossible. I had extraordinary good fortune to end up marrying Sasha, and I thank my lucky stars every day. I just missed finishing on Valentine’s Day but was still able to give her a small necklace that I’d carried 298km for her as the start of my repayment of the debt I owe her.
My kids, Max and Alyssa, didn’t join in the crewing fun, but they followed along all weekend, came out to the finish, and ran with me the last 50m to the postbox. They’re now used to hanging around trails at Chinese New Year, and it was beautiful to complete the run as a family (and then do our little celebratory dance).
Thanks to Joint Dynamics for helping me get better all year, with strength and mobility training, and for sports massage before and after – it’s good to work with the best in the business!
Also thanks to Gone Running, the best running shop in Hong Kong, for support on gear that is so essential in an event like this.
Scotty Hawker has been my coach since I signed up for my first Four Trails, and it’s incredible the voyage we’ve had and all he’s got out of this old body. I’m taking a break from structured training now, but highly recommend Scotty to anyone looking for training plans and advice.
Thanks for all the inspiration to all 17 other runners in this event. You all inspire me and it was an honour to share the trails with you. I have to give kudos to Jacky Leung for an incredible run to break 50 hours! Special appreciation to Fanny for continually crossing paths and always having a chat, and for recommending the noodles in Fan Lau!
Finally, this event is due to the foresight and hard work of Andre Blumberg, and the incredible support from Paper. You both have made something very special and so many people, from those who take part to those who follow the dots, are greatly in your debt. Thank you for allowing me to have such a meaningful experience, and to test my limits.
Great report Dr. H! I don't think you're "average and stubborn" at all. Actually, stubborn yes! But also an awesome ultra runner!
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