The Green Power Hike (or 'Race')

So, this last Saturday (2 February) was the annual Green Power Hike in Hong Kong. Below is an attempt at a race report, pretty rambling and a bit of a stream of conscious but hopefully readable.

The hike itself is for charity (although the charity itself is pretty questionable - they appear to only "promote environmental education"...) and takes place on the Hong Kong Trail, which is essentially a 50km footpath (a mixture of concrete/steps and rocky dirt tracks) from Victoria Peak to Big Wave Bay on Hong Kong Island - passing through each of the five country parks of Hong Kong Island.

The event took place over two distances, the full 50km and a slightly more manageable 25km. Vicky had completed the 25km distance last year as part of a Linklaters team, albeit with more walking than she was happy with, and was keen to try and run the majority of the course this year and I was keen to give it a go after missing out last year. The idea of running 50km across mountainous terrain was a complete non-starter for both of us so we would definitely be sticking to the 25km distance.



We took the 'easy' 25km option



Despite having left registration too late for individual entries I was fortuante that Linklaters had a number of corporate entries and that there was a space for me on one of the 25km teams. Vicky would be on another 25km team.

After seriously considering whether or not I could bring myself to don the magenta of Linklaters in public I decided that it would be a good challenge and a welcome interlude from the cycling. Having made the decision to enter, no real training plan was ever considered or actioned. In fact the last running I had done was almost two months earlier at the Angkor Wat Half-Marathon (another running based event that sounded great on paper, and it was great fun, but for for which I was woefully under trained).

The team that I found myself part of consisted of PT, Coups, JK and me. A solid team, although there was perhaps a slight difference of interpretation amongst its members as to how this event should be viewed. Was it simply a ‘Hike’ (as the organisers and the name itself would seem to suggest), or is it a ‘Race’? Clearly, viewing it as a race required an entirely different mindset and approach to preparation and training….. Having neglected to specifically train for this I was fully intending to approach it as, the slightly more enjoyable version of the event, a hike.... this would obviously change on the start line.

 

Getting to the start line, PT had been banging out decent length trail runs (even doing the whole thing a couple of weekends before as a dry run... verdict, it was going to be 'tough'), Coups had been working all nighters for the best part of two weeks and was looking seriously sleep deprived and JK and I had pretty much only been cycling for the past two months. Anything could happen. 

The Lynx Effect (questionable choice of name)

Power Rangers - rumours suggested they had juice'd...

The start was in Tai Tam Country Park, on a road about 600m down from Park View and the start of Stage 5 of the Hong Kong Trail.  An initial pretty steep incline would lead us up to the start of Stage 5 and a single-track climb to Jardine's Lookout (at the dizzy height of 433m). Knowing that hundreds of people were about to try and get on a single file trail going up a steep set of steps that were already full of people doing both the 50km and earlier waves for the 25km meant that when the gun went.... everyone started sprinting up the hill like madmen. Before I knew it half our team and Vicky were up the road and I was already involved in a race (at this stage, merely to keep up with everyone).

Starting at midday meant that we had to battle our way up through the crowds in the baking sun and it was pretty clear that it was going to be a long, hard day.

After 15 minutes of climbing (mainly fast walking rather than running) we hit Jardine's Lookout (from where, in the days of the sailing ships, watch was kept for the first glimpse of the sails of clippers coming from India and London) and barely paused to take in the view before dropping back down and on towards Mount Butler. Running down the steps being just as challenging as marching up them.

Running through Tai Tam Country Park

Once over Mount Butler we hit the first check-point where, after being promised they would have bottles of water available, it was soon apparent that they were only able to fill up waterbottles if you had your own. I guess they are an environmental charity after all... I had a camelback so was ok; JK and Coups had to share PT's spare waterbottle for the remainder of the day.

From the checkpoint we sprinted down a paved road further into Tai Tam Country Park and towards the network of reserviors. I was more used to cycling up and down these roads (and being shouted at for doing so), but the the reservior dams provided some nice flat and well paved terrain.



Posing in Tai Tam Country Park



After 1hr 10m and around 8.5km, we finally hit the section of the run that none of us had been looking forward to. On paper the flattest and easiest section of the run; mentally a horror show. 6.5km running in single file along a storm drain in the heat and with little to keep your mind occupied was going to be no fun at all.

JK immediately sped off. Coups, making what proved later to be a critical error, followed shortly behind. PT and I knowing our limitations settled into a slightly more sedate (and sustainable) pace. With PT leading the way I settled into 35 mins of just following and staring almost entirely at PT's calves. I am pretty sure I was slower on this nice paved and flat section that I was over some of the more up and down rocky sections that came later.

It wasn't long before Janice flew past us both. As we got closer to the end of the storm drain I took my turn on the front, only to turn around 5 mins later to find PT totally out of sight. We didn't see him again until the finish.

Coming off the storm drain it was straight up a wall to the Dragon's Back, a ridge running between Shek-O Peak and Wan Cham Shan and voted as the best 'urban hiking' trail. It is a great trail to walk, being so close to Central but yet feeling like you are so far away. Plus it has some great views over Shek-O. It wasn't exactly secluded on the day though, being littered with people in various states of exhaustion (and a few tourist walking the other way looking slightly bemused by the crowds of people running)

On finally getting up onto the ridge I bumped into Ollie (who had started earlier, but was taking it slightly easier than the rest of us as a result of being in a team of 'old guys'). Apparently JK, Coups and Janice were 'just ahead' and I would 'catch them easily' if I 'jogged a bit'. I am not sure how long Ollie was waiting where I saw him, but it seems that he told something similar to everyone that passed him... (we ultimately all finished within 20 mins of each other, so he probably wasn't exaggerating)

I wasn't too sure how close the others actually were given how much faster they had been on the storm drain, but I finally saw them ahead about halfway along the ridge and busted a gut to catch them on one of the downhill sections.

On the Dragon's Back with Shek-O in the background

Once I had caught them we ran together and descended off the main ridge to a long flat tree covered section which felt like it should be near the end but seemed to go on for ever. By now I was really starting to get tired and beginning to drag my feet - something that is pretty dangerous on a section, although flat, covered with rocks and tree roots. Concentrating on not falling over was becoming mentally tiring too. Coups finally exploded and wasn't seen again until the finish line.

More interminable concrete road followed and I was really beginning to flag. Janice stormed off and JK humoured me by waiting to run with me (despite me continually cutting her up as I tried to take all the shortest lines between corners - desperate times). Coming off this section we were finally into the last downhill section into Big Wave Bay and the finish line. With the finish in sight and my knees screaming at me with every step we sotrmed down the final section. JK and I finishing together (3:03:00) with Janice a minute ahead (3:02:00).

Janice, JK and me at the finish

PT was next to finish a further 5 mins back (3:08:36) having reeled in both Ying (3:10:44) and Coups (3:14:04) in the final few kilometers to finish strongly.

PT with a strong finish, being beaten by two girls was enough...

A broken man...

Next over the line was Vicky with an awesome time (3:25:48) and a huge smile (of relief?) on her face. Only Nicole remained and she had emailed for us not to wait at the finish for her - having endured what sounded like a grim day of suffering.

Once we were all together and bags had been collected we headed off to Shek-O for a well deserved beer and pizza at Black Sheep. Great pizza, despite the totally unacceptable decision on the menu to add pineapple to a pepperoni pizza.

A pretty sleepy cab ride back to Central followed, getting us back home just in time for my legs/entire body to start to seize up. I could barely walk for the next 3 days!

Here is the Strava link



A bumpy day



TL;DR - An enjoyable 25km trail run, pretty hot day, happy with time given the lack of training. Could barely walk for days.