Sarah Pemberton will be embarking on more than a ‘simple’ 298km run over Lunar New Year in February. She will run the final chapter in a four-year “coming-of-age” journey. She is the youngest person to complete the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC), as a 26-year-old in 2020, and is returning for the 10-year anniversary. The HK4TUC is a 298km challenge like no other. It links the four major trails in Hong Kong – the 100km MacLehose, 78km Wilson Trail, 50km Hong Kong Trail and 70km Lantau Trail. There are no checkpoints or support allowed, though runners have help travelling between the trails. Runners are deemed a “finisher” if they reach the green postbox in Mui Wo on Lantau in under 60 hours. They are a “survivor” if they reach the end in under 72 hours. Pemberton, a Hongkonger, completed the challenge on her third attempt in 70 hours, 45 minutes . This year, to mark 10 years of the HK4TUC, only finishers and survivors have been invited. There are fewer than 20 people taking part. There is no entry fee or prize. It is not a race, but a personal challenge. “If I had the choice to survive on my first try, rather than on my third, I’m sure I would have been delighted. But I also would have missed out on these years of introspection, purposeful training and thinking about what success actually means to me,” Pemberton said. The only requirement for entry is to write an essay for the organiser about why you want to run the HK4TUC. ‘Average but stubborn’ Hayward returns to 298km Four Trails “If you’d told me at the beginning I’d do it for three years, I’m not sure if I would have done it. Each year, I really did mean it to be my last. I didn’t choose to go on this introspective, coming-of-age journey, it just happened. The process of writing the application essay distils this,” Pemberton said. In her first essay, Pemberton wrote about resilience and wanting to do a challenge that was so far beyond her norm that completing it was not a given. With that in mind, she felt if she meant what she said, she had to return. After the second attempt, Pemberton was done. She did not apply, but instead wrote a letter thanking the organiser. In a time when she had changed career path from law to consultancy and moved from Hong Kong to New York, then to Lombok and finally London, she was grateful for the stability that two years of HK4TUC had provided. To her surprise, the organiser replied saying a place was waiting for her if she wanted it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 彭雪 Sarah Pemberton (@sarahjpemberton) “On the one hand, maybe it is because I’m in my 20s, so I’m naturally in this introspective, ‘what do I want to do with my life’, phase. But I also think part of it was just the way four trails is designed – it’s such a journey. “You’re going on this deeply personal, introspective, mental journey for three days.” When she reached the end, finally surviving after three years of effort and despite getting on the wrong ferry, ending up on Peng Chau instead of Lantau, Pemberton told the organiser: “Do not accept me for a fourth time, even if I apply.” Learning from failure and weakness, Leung returns to 298km Four Trails But given the special 10-year anniversary set-up, no application was necessary. It was just first come, first served. The date to submit names coincided with Pemberton quarantining after returning to Hong Kong from London, so she had plenty of time to dwell and reflect. Against her better instincts, she could not imagine watching this unique occasion pass without being involved. Of all the runners, Pemberton was the first to submit her name. To succeed, she will have to strike a balance: during her first attempt, she did not respect the distance, training as and when she pleased. On her second attempt, she took it too seriously and sucked the fun out of running. Her successful attempt was about being fit, but also being positive, happy and relaxed. Persevering Pemberton puts ‘perceived deficiencies’ to bed “I’ve had three years of experience, so I know what I’m getting myself into. But I also know how much I enjoyed it last year,” she said. “I focused a lot on how lucky I am to be here, how lucky I am to have a body strong enough to do this, how lucky I am to be from Hong Kong so I feel that connection to the trails and have this particular community supporting me.” Pemberton has a survival time in mind and is feeling in better shape than ever. But with all her experience, she knows not to put too much emphasis on a particular outcome. “Each time I’ve gone for Four Trails, I’ve come out with something different from what I expected. This time I’m going in open-minded. But I am expecting to feel different as it’s this particular group of people and this particular moment when we’re particularly separated from normal life,” she said. “So much of Four Trails unfolds in unexpected ways.” Pemberton insists this really is her last year. If she sticks to her word, then this is the end of a character arc and beginning of ‘who knows what’. “Four years is a long time. It’s the length of a university degree,” she said. “I never intended for it to be like this. I do think about what comes next. It won’t be as easy as picking another race, or a traverse and working towards that. This has been organic. “But I do love the consistency it’s given me, it’s been a constant yardstick to measure myself against. “I’ll look back and I’ll be grateful for that. It’s given me something concrete. The growth I’ve had in four years, I couldn’t have anticipated that. After each year, I’ve given myself so many months to reflect, so even after this one I won’t know what comes, but I won’t think about it for a while.”