Why is it called trail running when most of it is walking or power hiking?
- Do we really run on Hong Kong’s trails or do most of us race hike, power walk, put our hands on our knees and push to the top?
- Trail lovers may run parts of the course, but calling it trail running and not trail racing may put newcomers off taking up the sport
When I tell people I trail run, most of them cast a suspicious eye over my physique. They politely try not to linger on my belly. After all, I have the frame of a social rugby player rather than a long-distance whippet.
I add that I’ve signed up to my first 50km and 100km in the coming months — more disbelief. I don’t blame them. Looking at me, they know there is no way I could run 40km on Hong Kong’s steep trails.
When I urge them to take up trail running too, they say “pfft, I couldn’t run that”, pointing at the nearest of Hong Kong’s many formidable hills.
Here’s the secret. Very few competitors, including the elite, run every step of the relentless staircases in Hong Kong or the steep inclines, especially in more extreme events. There are some inclines that are runnable for the competitive athletes, while the rest of us walk.
“In Hong Kong, I tend to power hike, but they were running the whole time,” he said of the leading women who were near him in the Portugal race, adding he was spurred on to run the uphills too. He admits it’s not realistic to take the tactic to Hong Kong.