How a Hong Kong mother of 3 who runs a restaurant also wins gruelling trail races
Hongkonger Petronella Harlin balances tough endurance races with a demanding front-of-house hospitality role and raising three kids under 10
It is often around 1am when Petronella Harlin closes the doors of Embla, the Nordic fine dining restaurant in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan neighbourhood that she runs with her husband, chef Jim Löfdahl. Hours later, while her family and most of Hong Kong are still asleep, she laces up her shoes and disappears onto the trails near her home on Lantau Island.
She works 40 to 60 hours every week at the restaurant named after their eldest daughter.
“Working in high-end hospitality is an endurance sport in itself. You’re on your feet in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment late into the night,” says Harlin, who has called Hong Kong home for the past decade.
She credits her sense of discipline to growing up on a dairy farm in northern Sweden, from the same region as trail running legend Emelie Forsberg.
“On a farm, there are no snow days, no sick days. The animals and the land don’t care if it’s minus 20 degrees.”