A Family Outing In Hong Kong

James running in Hong Kong
 - it was all his fault!

Our son, James, is working in Hong Kong at the moment so we decided to take the opportunity to visit him and his partner, Rosie. He messaged me one day with a link to a race taking place while we were there. Trail running, including ultra trail running, has become very popular in Hong Kong in recent years and there are a multitude of races taking place in the cooler months.The Mountain Range 50 had to be done! Myself, Dave and James entered – Rosie had more sense. 

As it turned out, I wasn’t able to prepare very well for this race. After running in the Alps in September, I had to have a few weeks rest due to sore toes. I started running again in October but my longest run had been 15 miles. I was hoping that I had enough residual fitness. 

The two weeks before the race we spent on holiday in Vietnam. I managed to fit in one early morning run around the lake in the centre of Hanoi. This is where the locals take their exercise every morning – there were people slowly jogging or walking round the lake, doing traditional Tai Chi, taking part in less traditional ballroom dancing and Zumba, playing badminton and, most bizarrely, doing the Macarena to the music of Auld Lang Syne. I was the only person actually running and I had to dodge all these other activities so as training for the Mountain Range 50 it wasn’t very good. I was sure it would all be fine. After all, I did four consecutive very long days in the Alps with massive amounts of climbing and descent. I confidently told Rosie it would take 8 or 9 hours and she said she would be at the finish waiting for us.

We flew in from Vietnam the day before the race – again maybe not ideal race preparation. It didn’t take long to pack the mandatory kit - a windproof, water bottles, whistle, emergency food and a headtorch were about the only requirements. I should perhaps have thought that the race might take a long time if headtorches were required. It wouldn’t be dark until 6pm. That would give me 10 hours – surely, I wouldn’t need the headtorch.

Once we were ready, we went out for a meal in a small local restaurant where I had to eat with chopsticks. It’s hard to get enough pre-race carbs eating rice with chopsticks! Pak choi and tofu doesn’t give you enough calories for 50k, especially when you have to set off early without a hotel breakfast and end up eating a cereal bar and a banana. It’s a good job I like bananas as they were a feature of the day.

The start - all rather low-key

The race started at 8am at sea level from a park in a small town in the New Territories. I like to be early at races and it was a 40 minute Uber ride from Hong Kong Island so we had an early start. I had lots of time to observe our fellow competitors who were mainly young Cantonese. There were very few older people and very few Westerners.  Around 350 people had entered the solo race with another 150 or doing the pairs race.

We had GPX files of the route but we had no proper maps so we had no idea what sort of terrain to expect.  I knew the route went over four mountains but the highest point was only about 650 metres so how hard could it be? The route was marked but we didn’t know how well or what the markings would look like. We kept our fingers crossed that it would be obvious. Around 7:50am people started to gather around the start and without any race briefing or count down at 8am precisely the race started.

James on a section of endless steps

I ran the first couple of kilometres fairly fast as I know that I usually do well on the climbs and didn’t want to be slowed down when the path narrowed to single track on the ascent. I wondered why some people were going very steadily – I was soon to find out! The climb started on concrete steps and was steep, straight up the mountain. The sun was out and although it was forecast to be only around 23 degrees, cool for Hong Kong, the sweat was dripping off me as I started to climb. It was very humid and there was very little breeze.

The steps continued: sometimes made of concrete, sometimes made of boulders and sometimes made of mud. These steps made the climb so hard. I was pleased to get to the top of the first mountain called Cloudy Hill. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to its name. I started the descent but had a most peculiar feeling in my ankles. I wobbled down the first part of the descent which consisted of more steep steps straight down. I was worried that if I were to trip, I would just fall down and down and never stop. Needless to say, I ran down very cautiously. The route took us all the way back down to sea level to a village. At least here I could do a bit of proper running. I ignored the funny feeling in my ankles, drank some water and had a bite to eat and continued following the orange reflective tape (it turned out that the route marking was excellent) to the first checkpoint at 14km. There was plenty of food and drink – jam sandwiches, bananas, pringles, cold rice and water, coke and sports drink. I sorted myself out a bit, took an extra bottle of sports drink and set off again.

The route had been changed on this section due to some construction works and we climbed up a steep concrete road for quite a way before reaching the top of the second mountain. It was getting increasingly hot and I knew I was going more slowly than I expected. The second top called Robin’s Nest came and was followed by a section on a narrow, dry and sandy path through spiky vegetation. James had warned me that there are lots of snakes in the New Territories! I did spot a giant centipede that was about 10 inches long  and as fat as my middle finger. I’m sure that it could give you a nasty bite even if it wasn’t poisonous. The path was quite technical and slippery and again I had to go slowly all the way back down to sea level. I was really feeling it now as I tried to run on a flatter section along the shoreline to checkpoint 2 at 24km – almost half way. When I arrived, a little boy handed me yet another banana which I ate but I couldn’t swallow the jam sandwiches nor the pringles even though I tried. Oh dear. I thought I had cracked this eating on ultras but not today. I drank lots – this time they had coconut water which was very refreshing. The strange feeling in my ankles had spread to my calves and feet and I felt was likely to get cramp.

Dave looking as though he's enjoying himself on a flat section

Time to set off again. The next section was short at 8k and was mostly along a paved seafront. It was completely flat and I don’t like flat. I now I also had a pain in my stomach – too much coke perhaps without enough food. I simply couldn’t run. It was very strange. I settled for a fast walk. I looked around and almost everyone else was walking. Those who were running were doing a sort of run-walk and I was catching some of them.

There were plenty of other runners around for most of the race but I found the atmosphere to be very quiet compared to British races. No one was talking very much in English or Cantonese. Even those doing the race as a pair weren’t talking and some of the pairs were joined together by a bungee cord. The second person (always a girl) was being pulled along by her strong, fitter (male) partner. How strange!

It was a very long 8k to checkpoint 3 but eventually I arrived at a place with the lovely name of Bride’s Pool. I was surprised to find Dave at this checkpoint - he wasn’t enjoying the heat and the hard surfaces at all. A marshal told us to prepare ourselves well for the next 12k to checkpoint 4. Ominous I thought - no one had given us any advice so far, so this must be a very tough section. I had cooled off a bit during my walk along the promenade so I was able to eat and drink to re-fuel at last - sandwiches and crisps and bananas. I couldn’t face the cold rice though and I was missing having the option of cake.

Dave and I decided to continue together. It was getting on for 2pm but surely there was plenty of time left before dark to do the final 18k. We embarked on the climb to the top of the third mountain. More steps. These went on for 500 metres of ascent. I was really suffering from cramp now but Dave gave me some salt capsules which helped. Eventually, we reached what we thought was the top. But it wasn't...in front of us was the most amazing ridge consisting of about eight peaks with steep steps up and down between them, each summit higher than the last. This would have been a fantastic walk in other circumstances. It was a case of just keep putting one foot in front of the other. The kilometres passed very slowly. Finally, we reached the last summit which was at about 650m and we then descended to a good trail along a river to the final checkpoint at 44km. This 12km section took three and a half hours! It was now 5:30pm. Poor Rosie would be waiting and she had promised pizza. We ate more bananas and drank lots.

Running through the jungle looking out for snakes!

Only 6 km to go but there was the last, very daunting looking climb ahead. We had to ascend the first mountain again from the opposite direction. We knew it would be dark soon so we got going. Luckily the climb wasn’t as bad as it looked, helped by the fact that at last I was feeling okayish. I reached the top and got out my headtorch. Dark comes very fast in Hong Kong but there was a lovely sunset  over the sea, with stunning views of the islands and the inevitable skyscrapers. Typical Hong Kong scenery.

Only a few kilometres left. It should just be a matter of descending the steps that we had come up first thing this morning which I thought wouldn’t be too bad in the dark. There was a sting in the tail though. We had to leave the steps for a steep technical descent on a very narrow steep sandy path. There was rope to hang to in paces but otherwise it was a question of slithering from tree to tree. There were frogs croaking and cicadas singing. I was wondering what else was lurking in the undergrowth as we descended through quite jungly terrain. I was glad Dave was with me. And then suddenly we were on the road in the town. I recognised the public toilets that I had been directed to first thing that morning for the inevitable pre-race trips to the loo. We were almost there. “Let’s make a token run over the finish line,” I said. “Do we have to?” said Dave.

10 hours and 48 minutes after the start we arrived at the finish. James, who claimed to have done no training, had finished an hour and a half before us. He is cycling a lot and is obviously very fit. I think he was also motivated by not wanting to be beaten by his ancient parents. He later admitted that he had got Rosie to text him our times at the checkpoints as she was following us on the live tracking so he knew how far in front of us he was!

There was a bowl of noodles for the finishers but I couldn’t have managed to eat noodles with chopsticks after running 50k. True to her word, Rosie was there with pizza – by now it was cold but it was still fantastic.

When I downloaded my results and I was astonished to find I was 2^nd in my category – Woman III ie Women over 50. There was no category for over 60s for men or women. I guess we were the oldest competitors. The race director presented me with my cup and a voucher for 1000 HK$ off a pair of Hokas - I have never been so surprised in my life! I was the 32^nd woman out of 89 and we finished well inside the top half overall. Some people were out for 14 and a half hours which means they were in the dark for most of the long, long ridge. They must have had a very tough day.

My moment of glory

We decided we couldn’t possibly face the Metro going back to Hong Kong Island so called for an Uber again. I’m not sure the driver was impressed to have three very smelly runners in his flashy car. We let Rosie sit in the front.

In retrospect, it was a great experience. It was much harder than I’d anticipated due to the heat and humidity and the steep ascents and descents up and down steps. Also, perhaps because I hadn’t been able to prepare terribly well. Later in the week, I enjoyed a visit to the ActionX store on Hong Kong Island where the lovely race director helped me chose my Hokas. I now have a pair of Speedgoat 2s which are ready and waiting for my next trail race.