Three Key Steps to Conquering the Long Trails

Hong Kong Coastal Trail Challenge Prep + Day 1

I grew up on the trails during my childhood in Sai Kung. My parents and their friends are avid hikers and I have countless memories of being on my father’s back on the magnificent MacLehose Trail (sorry Dad!).

A typical view from most trails in Hong Kong overlooking the ocean

When I started racing on the trail in 2010 a couple of years after I moved back to Hong Kong, it was intimidating at first, despite my upbringing. By sharing my journey, I hope I can remove obstacles for those who have always dreamt about tackling the trail.

The first journey I’ll share is a ~64 km trail challenge around the island coastal line called the Hong Kong Coastal Trail Challenge. It is a virtual challenge where you follow the route in an app called TrailWatch, which is designed specifically for Hong Kong trail lovers. The 64 km is broken up into eight sections with mixed concrete road and trail terrains. It is up to you and your team to decide how to complete all eight sections.

Note: Due to landslides, some sections of the trail have been closed off, so the total distance for us came to ~60 km.

Preparation

Find a partner and set dates

Being on the road for 64 km with someone is not a light commitment, but luckily Edith, a friend I met through Lantau Basecamp’s social hike, said yes within minutes and we decided to call ourselves “HK Island Bliss.”

Finding a compatible partner has a few requirements. In addition to personalities (you will want good laughs and chats if you spend so many hours together, trust me!) the two other most important factors are level of fitness and ambition. Edith and I are a happy team on the trail because we both have been doing long-distance running and races for a long time. We are both very confident with our fitness level and experience on the trail, but we also no longer have big egos and just want to have fun. We have missed many great views because we were busy beating our PB (personal best) but not anymore! We decided to sign up for leisure instead of racing and really indulge ourselves this time.

After we made the commitment to go for it, we immediately pulled out our calendars and decided on the dates that we could both be free. We also needed to accommodate other races and training that we had already committed to. The challenge required us to complete all eight sections before Jan. 15, 2024.

Decide on the order of routes

Since the route is a loop, you can start at any section. However, since both of us have other races and training planned, we carefully designed it such that we don't overtrain. The effort of the section is determined by Distance times Elevation. Hong Kong trails can have fast elevations and are filled with steps. You can easily make the mistake of thinking a 4-km trail is short and easy if you are not careful.

After much consideration, we decided to start on Nov. 25, 2023, with the Mount Davis Coastal Walk and Aberdeen Harbour Walk, a total of 13 km with minimal elevation and easy access to the city. We marked another four days across December and early January as placeholders.

Plan gear and nutrition

You want to plan your gear and nutrition in advance just in case you need to make any purchases ahead of the run. For this challenge, I prepared two sets of gear:

1st set: Road shoes and a light running vest for the portion mainly in the city where we would have easy access to hydration.

My light city set and choice for hydration

2nd set: Trail shoes, a bigger running vest that can carry enough water for more than four hours, and a pair of poles for the portion with dirt, rocks, and elevation.

A pair of good trail shoes can significantly elevate your experience.

In terms of nutrition, since we plan to do it relatively slowly and split the 64 km distance into approximately 15 km and three to four hours duration each day, the nutrition requirement is relatively simple. For anything more than two hours, you will always want to bring fuel for your hike, especially if there is no access to stores. Nutrition is a big topic, but if you have just started and don’t plan to challenge yourself too much yet, you can think of your nutrition in three big categories:

Pre-hike meal: this is the last meal before your hike, and you want it to be relatively easy to digest. If it is just a hike, you can eat some solid food like eggs or chicken. If you plan to do some running, make sure it is mostly liquid. Good options are oatmeal, bananas, and toast with nut butter. I personally do very well with fish even if I am running. Remember to do some trial and error before the event as it is the only way to find out what works best for your body.

Hydration: Hong Kong’s humidity means you will be sweating even during the wintertime and just drinking plain water is not enough. Your choice of hydration tablets, powder, or drinks is personal, but make sure you try it at home first!

Snacks: Anything that you can keep in your pockets can hold you over until the next meal. My personal favorite is dates and nuts if I am just hiking. If I am running, then I like banana oatmeal flour muffins, and I cut them into pieces so I eat a piece at regular intervals. I do the same when I do any road race above 10 km.

I get all my gear and nutrition from Lantau Basecamp, where I am an investor.

Day 1

November 25th, 2023

The first day of our challenge was one of those breezy fall days in Hong Kong with beautiful blue skies. Edith and I were both excited to embark on our 64 km journey.

Sections: Mount Davis Coastal Walk and Aberdeen Harbour Walk
Total Time: 2.5 hours
Terrains: Road
Start Point: Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital (10 minutes walk from Kennedy Town Mass Transit Railway [MTR] station)
End Point: Ocean Park
Total Distance: ~13KM

For me, a hike always starts with a pre-hike meal. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and started with my usual 20-minute morning meditation before making breakfast. This time I made a fish congee with leftover halibut and oatmeal with some fish sauce and green onions on top.

My default pre-race and pre-hike meal is fish oatmeal congee. It's easy to digest and full of complex carbs, protein, and other nutrition

Edith and I started at Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital at 9 a.m. We turned on the app and started tracking the route. Five minutes in, we were already going the wrong way, according to the app. We quickly turned around and went down to the road closer to the water and this time we were on the correct official path towards Mount Davis. We hiked up the hill and eventually saw the University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus.

The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus

Mount Davis is home to many luxury residences for prominent Hong Kong families who were unable to live on the tallest hill on the island, Victoria Peak, due to the zoning restrictions in the Peak District Reservation Ordinance 1904.

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Mount Davis Coastal Walk

As we hiked further, we could see Cyberport in the distance. The hike to Cyberport was a relatively easy, flat hike with an unobstructed ocean view on the right. Once we reached Cyberport, the Mount Davis Coastal Walk section was complete, and we could move on to the second section of the day, called the Aberdeen Harbour Walk.

Aberdeen Harbour Walk starts in Cyberport and extends to Ocean Park. All the kids in Hong Kong grew up with Ocean Park, but I have never heard of anyone hiking there, so I love that I can finally say I did!

To leave Cyberport and return to the trail, you must walk past the grassland in front of the Bel-Air Residence. The Cyberport project has been controversial since its inception because the government bypassed the open tender process in awarding the project. Well, a large luxury residential project took up space that was supposed to be mainly dedicated to office space for technology companies.

Bel-Air was built in 2003, comprising three clubhouses and six buildings with nearly 3,000 luxury residences. In June 2020, a single house in the third phase of Bel-Air right in front of the apartment buildings in Cyberport sold for HK$363 million (US$46.2 million).

After Bel-Air, we continued to hike alongside the coastal line. Soon we reached Wah Fu Estate, a public housing estate built in 1967 on a new town concept. These new towns were designed to be self-reliant by including shopping malls and wet markets, such that residents would not need to travel far. The site of Wah Fu Estate was also originally a cemetery so Wah Fu is often associated with ghost stories and eccentric sightings.

After Wah Fu Estate, we passed the Aberdeen Harbour, home to the floating village and seafood restaurants. It is also home to the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market. The market opens at 4 a.m. and is busy until later in the morning. There, you will find trucks with large containers of live fish and shellfish.