“And so after that I stopped sports altogether for awhile. I think I did a bit too much, too quickly. Starting kayaking when I was eight years old, into my 20s, so 12 years I spent a lot of time on the water.”

Fournier needed to decompress from what was incredibly demanding schedule so early into his life, and wanted to do normal things, such as eat what he wanted and drop plans to hang out with his friends.

In 2015, Fournier was working for GE Power in France as a commercial manager and was starting to put on a few extra pounds. It was then he decided to join a company running team, and found some commonality with kayaking.

“I enjoyed the individuality of it, the entire process. You have your training partner but you are also competitors as well.”

There years later he moved to Hong Kong and was taken back by the city’s many trails. More than 11,000 sq km of Hong Kong is green space, over 75 per cent of the entire territory. The city’s trail running competition calendar is also one of the most robust in Asia, with events nearly every weekend.

Paul Fornier wins first Lantau 2 Peaks in two years

“I was amazed by how green it was and I met people here who showed me the trails and this is how I got into it. It was a great way to socialise and also lose some weight at the start. And I also found out I wasn’t too bad at it.”

Michael Maddess, the director of Action Asia Events, said Fournier typified the sort of expat runner who comes to the city and helps expand and strengthen the scene.

“What is kind of cool is how the French community in Hong Kong has built up a large stable of talented runners that enter many different events, and it shows how they continually motivate each other to not only perform well, but to just have fun, which is the big ‘why’ that many of us forget.

“No coincidence that Paul is a big example of this always smiling, motivating others as the more you enjoy, the more you’ll look forward to those tight legs the following day after a good punishing workout.”

After a couple strong performances in local races, Fournier joined the Uglow Joint Dynamics run team. He came second in both the Lantau 70 and the Cam2 23km race in 2019, as well as finishing third at the King of the Hills Hong Kong Island 30km race that year as well.

Fournier was on a roll, but then like every other sport, racing stopped completely in early 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At that point the Frenchman felt he was just hitting his stride in terms of competing, but then had to pivot like everyone else.

“I decided to take it like an opportunity,” he said. “I really believe with travelling being limited, basically impossible, it is more important than ever to take this opportunity to explore the areas around you, and that’s when I really fell in love with trail running in Hong Kong. I felt so thankful just to be able to get up and go for a run.”

“I’m not a fan of the pain cave,” he said. “Honestly I find it really important for me to find a balance between sports and work, to deal with the stress that comes with the job and this city.

“Just to dedicate time to switch the brain off and get some adrenaline running in my body, and I have discovered that I use racing as a way to achieve short-term goals.”