Executives dig deep to prove their mettle
Corporate executives are competing in some of the world's toughest endurance events to prove their mettle
Running in the desert in summer would be unthinkable for most people, but not for Clive Saffery. He has run Badwater five times, a gruelling 217-kilometre ultramarathon through Death Valley, California, in temperatures so hot that the soles of his shoes melted.
As if not challenging enough, he juggled training for the race while holding an equally challenging full-time job as chief executive of Swire Beverages for the mainland and Hong Kong.
It takes a special type of person to do what they do. A-types have to be No1
Saffery, who is now retired, is one of a new generation of Hong Kong executives performing impressive feats of endurance in their limited spare time.
They comprise the bulk of participants at endurance running events held by Action Asia Events, says race director Michael Maddess. More than 19 per cent of participants last year were chief executives or managing directors, with another 32 per cent in managerial positions. More than 17 per cent earned more than HK$200,000 a month.
Most people struggle to find the time or energy to work out at all. Just how do these corporate athletes do it?
Their true strength, it seems, lies in the mind. "These events are just as mental as they are physical," says Samantha Fanshawe, vice-president of RacingThePlanet.
Military discipline and doggedness is also required. Ted Kennedy, founder of CEO Challenges, who organises the World's Fittest CEO Challenge each year, says there are marked similarities among participants.
"Apart from being disciplined and driven, they're all extremely competitive - even if they tell you they're not.
"Most of them have some athletic talent that they put aside to focus on their career early on … and now they have more time and enough money to pay for experiences that money can't buy."
More than 600 CEOs have taken part in the CEO Challenge since the company was established eight years ago, Kennedy says, with at least half coming back for more each year.
For Saffery, 58, the motivation is far more fundamental. "It was the sheer insanity of it," he says of his 40-hour-plus sojourns through the desert, which he successfully finished three times. "It brings you to the very limits of what the body can handle."
It is also a way - albeit a brutal one - to survive the corporate world. "I was in a ruthlessly competitive business based on daily targets, and training for a big race had many similarities," Saffery says. "No matter what you did last week, last month or even yesterday, you have to go out and do it all again today.
"[The training] gave me a great opportunity to think about the business with a clear head. … On many occasions I'd deliberately set out on a run to not just achieve my training goals but also to learn at least one thing about my business."
Battling on the bike, in the swim and on the run has better prepared Ironman Olaf Kasten, 40, for professional life.
"There is always something that can go wrong. How quickly you can recover, move on and set your next goal, and how you deal with it, will play a big part in how successful you will be," he says.
Kasten was the first amateur triathlete to cross the finish line at this year's Melbourne Ironman. At the same time, he was just establishing an executive coaching business after leaving his position as head of trading at one of Hong Kong's big banks.
Achieving his goal was, and continues to be, a matter of prioritising, consistency and flexibility. Waking up before sunrise several days a week, Kasten allocates a large part of his week to training - reaping impressive results. "But this is true in business and in sports," he says.
In fact, the qualities found in these top executives are also those found in top athletes, says Hong Kong Sports Institute sports psychology officer Henry Li. The business elite demonstrate resilience, mental toughness and high stress tolerance in the office every day. "It is this kind of mentality that is very similar to competitor athletes, particularly in endurance sport," he says.
Kirsty Boazman, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, believes endurance sports have been the driving force behind her successful career.
"My physical fitness is directly linked to my mental agility and emotional well-being," she says. "I've always found greater creativity when on a running machine than sitting at a desk."
Boazman paddled with the first Hong Kong women's crew in one of the world's longest canoe races from Molokai to Oahu island in Hawaii in 2011. She travels to Hungary later this month with the Australian team to take part in the World Championships.
Sacrifices are necessary: sleep, social lives and, often, time with family.
To prepare for Badwater, Saffery would wake before dawn to squeeze in two hours of heat training in a sauna before heading to work. During weekends, he would do back-to-back runs to chalk up the miles.
These days, Kasten takes Wednesday and Friday mornings off for up to five hours of training each day, as well as shorter efforts on other days. But even with a full-time job back then, he was training up to 15 hours a week.
Sports psychology counsellor Laura Walsh says these corporate athletes have an unwavering drive to succeed.
"It takes a special type of person, what they term an A-type, to do what they do. A-types have to be No1, and they'll make the sacrifices they need to get there."
Extreme challenges of endurance allow these motivated corporate types to "reach a type of physical limit they cannot feel while sitting in their office chair", Li says. Put simply, endurance is the final piece of the jigsaw that makes them feel more alive.
Often missing from their regime, however, is recovery and rest. This may cause fatigue and affect motivation in both their athletic and professional lives, says Walsh.
But the athletes insist it's worth it. Training for and participating in such tests of endurance brings out the best in themselves - and others.
Running a marathon in the North Pole brought together the Convoy Financial Group corporate community, according to company chairman Quincy Wong Lee-man.
In April this year, a team of five colleagues, including Wong, travelled to the stark, wintry desert to compete in the annual marathon. The team battled minus 30-degree Celsius wind chill on rugged snow tracks that made the distance almost impossible.
"The event built our trust in one another and we all learned a lot," says Wong, who would train with his colleagues in a freezer to prepare for the challenge. "I am impressed by my teammates."
Ultimately, being part of this new business elite is about making choices, Boazman believes.
"Frankly, many of us seek imbalance," she says. "We are happiest when there is an overload or a tipping of the scales in favour of one part of our lives.
"Everyone chooses what goes into their day and, at the moment, I enjoy putting a larger than normal physical element into my day … A fit employee is usually a dedicated one."
