Plant-based ultramarathoner Wong Ho-fai on how he fuels his body for long races – ‘I love peanut butter’
- The 36-year-old Hongkonger says going vegan in 2017 ‘helped me with everything, not just sports performance’
- Wong says he now follows a plant-based diet and lifestyle where sustainability is the driving factor
Wong Ho-fai remembers growing up and his parents giving him a precious gift: a love of the outdoors. While his peers were busy studying and spending time doing homework, Wong said he was encouraged to get outside, immerse himself in Hong Kong’s natural environment and get a bit dirty.
“After a while I was not afraid to be outdoors, be in the sun, sweat and in nature,” said the 36-year-old. “When I was younger I had a lot of friends who were scared of things like flies and bugs and beetles. But since I was always playing outdoors I just wasn’t very scared of these things. It also gave me a sense of being peaceful and calm in the outdoors compared to city life.”
Being a kid is one thing, but being an adult means getting a real job. In 2002, he went to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he studied engineering, looking to get into a career in the field, but Wong said he had more fun being part of a hiking club he joined while on campus.
“I was spending five days a week organising different outdoors experiences with my schoolmates. We did different adventures like climbing, mountain biking, hiking, camping and doing things like building campfires.”
But reality set in and after graduation Wong felt he had to get a regular job, which meant moving to Macau and working as an engineer in the construction industry. Wong said it was quite clear early on he was not going to make it.