I remember participating in HK100 last year – a solo 100km event from Sai Kung to Tai Mo Shan. I had ankle problems on race day even before the start. I was praying for an instant Fast Forward button which would magically skip one day all over the world. On several occasions, I wanted the race and the ordeal to end asap. I somehow finished in 14 hours 53 minutes, thanks to injured teammate Steven’s support at various checkpoints. I also remember my body declaring a coup over the brain. My body would finish the race if and only if I my brain agreed not to participate in any further 100km solo events. My ankle declared that an yearly 100km Trailwalker event was good enough. There was no need to torture the body Jack Bauer style with any more meaningless 100km trail runs. My legs ruled that unless I was going to swap them for Forrest Gump’s legs, there was no way in hell I was going to do another solo 100km race with the same pair of legs.

And here I am, all set and enrolled in this year’s edition of HK100. I remember the convincing pitch I made to myself:

(a) Running a solo 100km event, teaches endurance. Endurance can be applied not only to racing but to all other aspects of life and produces consistently good results
(b) A 100km event makes the body stronger and the mind learns to effectively deal with the unexpected challenges that invariably arise during the race. These lessons can be applied to all aspects of life
(c) There is no better thrill in life than to run down from Rooster Hill to end of Mac Stage 3

And so, I was sold! Although, the real reason behind the enrollment probably had nothing to do with the reasons mentioned above. It probably boiled down to pure addiction. Akin to a smoker’s “last cigarette” or a drunkard’s “last sip of alcohol”, the enrollment was probably just a result of pure addiction – but a productive kind of addiction (or so I believe). Trail running is its own drug.

I thought I was a trail running addict but I am probably nothing compared to Andre, who gives the word “addict” a whole new meaning. He was one of the super-fit 6-member team that joined us today in a recci of the first half of HK100. He probably does more mileage than an aircraft. He runs 100km races at an average of 2 a month in different parts of the world!

The HK100 trail starts in Pak Tam Chung, goes up a nearby country trail which connects to Mac 1. After Mac 1 and some parts of Mac 2 (until after Ham Tin), the trail follows the KOTH Sai Kung route in reverse until Yung Shue O (via Wong Shek and Hoi Ha). It finally connects to Mac 3 and goes all the way up to Mac 8. From Pak Tam Chung to the end of Mac 3, it’s about 51km long and from Mac 4 to 8, it’s about 49km long. This year, several highly-reputed international long-distance trail runners are expected to take part (the world has several insane people).

We started at about 8am in the morning. Initially, we were running more or less together but the group split up after Ham Tin. Then, I was with Steven all the way. He was faster than me on the flats while I was a little bit faster on the uphills. We finished more or less together in about 6 hours 29 minutes.

The splits:
Pak Tam Chung to Hoi Ha: 36km, 4 hours 17 minutes
Break at Hoi Ha for refueling: 7 minutes 17 seconds
Hoi Ha to end of Mac 3: 15km, 2 hours 4 minutes

Summary
Distance: 51.58 km
Time: 6:29:35
Elevation Gain: 1,923 m

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	15 m	-	-	-	-
5.009 km	32m 09s	84 m	9.35 km/h	17.17 km/h	137 m	68 m
4.992 km	29m 43s	92 m	9.70 km/h	17.17 km/h	213 m	136 m
5.002 km	40m 49s	281 m	8.77 km/h	17.17 km/h	531 m	265 m
5.006 km	36m 35s	50 m	8.62 km/h	17.17 km/h	640 m	605 m
4.996 km	37m 42s	6 m	8.48 km/h	17.17 km/h	810 m	819 m
5.008 km	35m 21s	8 m	8.48 km/h	22.63 km/h	988 m	995 m
4.993 km	40m 31s	39 m	8.31 km/h	29.35 km/h	1164 m	1140 m
4.995 km	44m 39s	129 m	8.07 km/h	29.35 km/h	1324 m	1210 m
5.008 km	30m 15s	16 m	8.24 km/h	29.35 km/h	1373 m	1372 m
4.998 km	54m 38s	321 m	7.85 km/h	29.35 km/h	1842 m	1536 m
1.151 km	7m 11s	136 m	7.88 km/h	29.35 km/h	1842 m	1721 m

Total: 51.157 km in 6h 29m 33s at an average of 7.88 km/h

GPX.

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