Trail Mix | How to run downhill on Hong Kong’s slippery slopes and wet stairs – Lean in and wear the right shoes, say pro trail runners
- Marie McNaugton and Wong Ho-chung say that light feet are key to downhill success
- Shoes with vibram soles will help on Hong Kong’s unquietly precarious stair cases
One consistent theme runs throughout all my hiking excursions with my younger brother: I am always the one who slips and falls smack on my butt at least once a hike. He, on the other hand, rarely, if ever, loses his balance. The trail can be slippery and slick with mud (especially when we were hiking in Scotland), but he floats along effortlessly. And he’s not even a trail runner.
Clearly I must be doing something wrong. Or perhaps my brother is intuitively doing something right.
As an avid badminton player, he is extremely agile and lighting quick on his feet. Years of darting forwards, backwards, and sideways on the badminton court has trained him to constantly change direction at high speed, losing and regaining balance..
With the arrival of the wet season in Hong Kong, days of rain can leave the trails perennially wet and slippery. So how do you deal with slippery slopes and steps while trying to maintain speed?
I decided to seek advice from the pros.
Marie McNaughton, a Kiwi living in Hong Kong and a world-class trail runnersaid: “You sure I’m the right person to help? I busted my ankle on a slippery slope.”