William Hayward has a track record that shows he is stubborn, impressively so when compared with other ultra runners. The Hong Kong-based Kiwi is returning to the 298km Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC) to put his mule-like attitude to the test once again. The HK4TUC links all four of Hong Kong’s longest trails – MacLehose, Wilson, Hong Kong and Lantau – in reverse, non-stop, with no checkpoints or support allowed, though runners have help travelling between them. It is not a race, there is no entry fee or prize. It’s just a personal challenge for a select few – this year there will be fewer than 20 runners. The event takes place over Lunar New Year (February 12-14). If runners reach the end, marked by the green postbox in Mui Wo, in under 60 hours, they are considered “finishers”. If they reach in under 72 hours, they are “survivors”. Hayward, a survivor at the age of 49 in 2018, is the oldest person to complete it. This year, to mark 10 years, the organiser has only accepted applications from former finishers and survivors. “I don’t think I am particularly competitive. I am not too worried about who I beat, or who beats me. I am much more interested in setting myself a challenge and finishing that challenge. Even if I feel terrible, if I set myself the goal of finishing, I will,” Hayward, 52, said. He proved it in the 2019 Backyard Ultra in Tennessee when he left most of the trail world asking, “Who the hell is William Hayward?”, as elite runners dropped out until it was just him and one other runner, Maggie Guterl. Hongkonger Hayward is ‘last man standing’ after epic performance in Tennessee The Backyard Ultra is a 6.7km loop. Runners have one hour to finish the loop, and have to be back on the start line for the beginning of the next loop. It keeps going until just one runner is left. Given the slow speed needed to get round, it evens out physical capabilities and is all about grit. “It gave me confidence. I consider myself pretty average but stubborn,” Hayward said. “But what the Backyard showed me was I am even more stubborn than most of the stubborn ultra runners. I don’t go fast, but I can move at a reasonable speed. Even when I am tired I can keep going.” Hayward started ultra running 10 years ago. He played basketball and football. He took up road running when he moved to Hong Kong in 1999, and made the switch to trails just as the sport’s popularity began to explode in the last decade. Monumental, life changing, emotional: HK4TUC finishers on ‘breaking 60’ “My mum would say I was pretty slack at school,” he said. “But I’ve always liked being self reliant. Even if we go on holiday, it drives my wife crazy, we never get a taxi anywhere. I want to get the subway. I don’t want to be in a taxi, reliant on someone else. I think that transfers into ultra running. In the HK4TUC, I like the self-reliant aspect.” After 59 hours in the Backyard Ultra, the sun dropped and his world shrank to his headlight bean, then Hayward blacked out. He was found wandering off course. He thought he was running through old villages in Hong Kong. Having already survived the HK4TUC in 2018, Hayward thought he would never return to the 298km event. But after crewing a runner in 2019, and seeing the excitement in the community, he immediately signed up for 2020. “I’d come off the Backyard experience, where I’d vastly outperformed my expectations. So I thought, maybe I could outperform my HK4TUC expectations as well in 2020. But, I’d been pretty destroyed by the Backyard and I hadn’t prepared that well,” he said. To make matters worse, he sprained his ankle four weeks before the HK4TUC. He wasn’t even sure if he could run 20km, let alone the full distance. After the 100km MacLehose, he developed a lean as his body had been compensating for his ankle. By the time he reached 160km, Hayward’s back was locked up. “At first, I thought it’d look bad in finisher’s photos. But then I could hardly walk,” he said. “I couldn’t physically walk by 160km. I couldn’t balance. If I went for a step I’d fall off. I was pretty happy to stop but a few days later I was just annoyed I hadn’t finished.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Will Hayward (@drvertigo) The disappointment “burned” in the back of his mind, so he headed back out a few days later and finished the rest of the course with some other runners who had dropped out. “Not completing it, it’s just really unsatisfying.” This year, Hayward is as fit as ever and confident he can reach the end. Given the 10-year anniversary list of former finishers and survivors, he thinks a lot of runners will push hard to try to beat their previous times. It might mean very fast finishers, but it could also mean a lot of dropouts. Hayward hopes to move from survivor to finisher, but the initial goal is getting to the end. “One of the secrets to Four Trails is not to put a lot of pressure on yourself,” he added. “I’ve seen people come in saying they’ll definitely do a specific time, and those expectations come to crush you. I’ve learned this from the Backyard. I really had no expectations.”