Hong Kong 298km Four Trails: Jacky Leung ‘breaks 50’ on history-making ultra run
- Jacky Leung surpasses even his own expectations by being the first runner to go sub-50 hours on the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge
- Salomon Wettstein learns about the balance of head and heart when ‘time becomes irrelevant’ on epic challenge
Jacky Leung Chun-keung became the first person to run the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC) in under 50 hours when he reached the postbox in 49 hours and 21 minutes. The Hong Kong runner burst into tears, sobbing as he hugged the event organiser while adoring fans looked on.
“During the final run down, I thought why should I cry? I have no reason to cry. But when I touched the green post I knew I was the lucky one,” Leung, 37, said.
‘Every drop of blood’ – Han digs deep to finish HK4TUC, again
The HK4TUC is a challenge like no other. The 298km run links the MacLehose, Wilson, Hong Kong and Lantau Trails. There is no support, nor checkpoints, though runners can have help when travelling between the trails.
“No, never, never thought of breaking 50. Maybe my target was under 55 hours and I’d be happy. But last night, before the start of the Lantau Trail, the time was 39 hours,” he said, giving him about 11 hours to break 50, a tough but not impossible task.
He was met at the Lantau Trail start by one of his sponsors, Julien Bonnard, of Overstims nutrition. Bonnard pointed to the time and said: “You could be the one to make history”.
“That was a new dimension that I did not imagine for myself,” Leung said. “Now it feels just like a dream.”
He ran the 70km Lantau Trail in 10 hours and four minutes, overnight, while all the shops and kiosks were shut so he was unable to buy supplies.
He spoke openly about how he runs with his head, not his heart. Before the run he said: “If I’m struggling on a run, [people] think they should just encourage me and cheer ‘great job!’ That doesn’t mean anything to me. If people come to me and say they saw how I approached it, how I did speed training, my nutrition and have some suggestions, then great.”
But this all changed. The Swiss runner was on the Wilson Trail an hour and a half behind schedule with inflamed quads.
“My goal was gone. I had already quit,” he said. “But then something happened. My wife, Manu, came and she played all these messages and I burst into tears. I’m not an emotional person. All different kinds of runners, all different kinds of friends, and I was blown away.”
He finished in 51 hours, 53 minutes, the second fastest ever time. Recalling the messages, he was barely able to choke back the tears.
“For me, this is the summary of the Four Trails,” he said. “Four Trails is way bigger than individual goals, any time, any victory or any achievement. It’s all in here [the heart].
“Everywhere when I was on the trail, people were cheering ‘Salomon, Salomon’. Ninety-nine per cent, I didn’t even know. Even down here from Sunset Peak, 50 people, I have no clue who they are, and they were screaming my name. It was just unbelievable.”
Wettstein does not regret his scientific approach. Without the defined goal, he would not have got to the start line.
“But I definitely want to take this into the bigger picture, that yes, there are also emotions, there are wider bigger goals and the people make running what running is.”
“When I knew breaking 50 was not going to happen, time became irrelevant,” he added. “But I was so happy that Jacky passed me and look so strong, I wanted someone to prove it was possible and it didn’t have to be me.”
