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OutdoorTrail Running

Hong Kong Four Trails: persevering Sarah Pemberton puts ‘deficiencies’ behind her, to grow into stronger 298km survivor

  • Sarah Pemberton survives the notorious HK4TUC on her third attempt by making her mind a pleasant place to be for three days

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Sarah Pemberton en route to surviving the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge on her third attempt. Photo: Viola Shum
Mark Agnew

Sarah Pemberton’s tenacity is rare even among ultra runners. At just 26 years old, she has already attempted the 298km Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC) three times, finally completing it on her most recent attempt over Lunar New Year.

She looks back at her first attempt, in 2018, when she trained without a rigid programme or running data, and thinks she was naive, and in denial about just how fit she needed to be. On her second attempt, in 2019, Pemberton was in great shape and knew the trails, but was not in the right place mentally. She dropped out because she was unable to eat. She has since second guessed the situation, not sure if she really had stomach issues, or if she convinced herself so she could drop out.

“Mentality, I didn't go into it thinking this is a few days that I'm going to enjoy and savour. I thought, ‘I'm going to push through’,” she said. “I had to sort out my food for the third attempt, how to keep things down. But I also thought about how to make my head a nice place to be for three days.”

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The HK4TUC connects all four of Hong Kong’s major trails – MacLehose, Wilson, Hong Kong and Lantau. Runners are not allowed any support, expect when travelling between the trails, and there are no checkpoints on the route. If they reach the end, marked by the green postbox in Mui Wo, in sub-60 hours, they are deemed a “finisher”. If they reach the end in sub-72 hours, they are deemed a “survivor”. Pemberton survived in 70 hours, 45 minutes. She is one of four surviving women in 2020, along with Cheung Man-yee, Virginie Goethals and Yang Feifei.

After the disappointment of dropping out in 2019, Pemberton took a long time to process the failure. Andre Blumberg, event organiser, asked all those who had attempted the HK4TUC before to take a break for at least a year. Pemberton was relieved the decision was out of her hands. By the summer, she had come to terms with the 2019 run and sent Blumberg a thank-you letter. The HK4TUC had been one of the few constants in her mid-20s, and she wanted to let Blumberg know. She also used the letter as a time of introspection.

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