FKT: Jo Lodder - Hong Kong 5 Trails (HK5Trails) - 2023-03-05

Athletes
Route variation
Standard route
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
4d 22h 34m 14s
Videos
Report

I started at 12.05 am on Wednesday 1st March 2023 from Tai O to start with running the Tinworth Trail backwards. A guy called Pili joined me who I had never met and he ended up running the whole trail with me. We had a pretty good day of running, the weather was hot but not too bad for Hong Kong and we made good progress to complete the day with little issues in just over 17.23 hrs - approx 93km and +5,000m of elevation. After a good night's sleep at a friend's house, I started the Wilson trail backwards at 5 am and had a great run with a few different people joining me for part of the route. Again apart from a couple of points the whole day went smoothly and I completed the 83km and +4,600m of elevation in approx 16.20 hrs and was feeling very strong. I stayed at another friend's place who also kindly dropped me off at Stanley Beach the start of the Hong Kong Trail (the shortest trail of the 5) - again I had a very good run, feeling strong and running way faster than I should have again with occasional people joining me for parts of the trail. I was due to run the last 2 km with some of the disabled people we were raising money for however as I was so fast arriving at this point I had to wait nearly 2 hours for them to arrive - at this point, I started to stiffen up in my right knee a little. Also as there was press there recording this part I stayed longer than I should have however I finished the 50km in 8.52 hrs and then my good friend picked me up and drove me to Sai Kung where I stayed with him and started the Maclehose at 4 am on Saturday 4th March. The first 40km went well, I was feeling a little stiff in my right knee however I was feeling pretty good when a buddy joined me and I crashed. My knee locked and I felt very weak. I managed to hobble to the halfway point at Sha Tins Pass a place where you can buy food and cold drinks and very kindly the woman made me some fried rice, I changed my shoes and felt a different person and completed the last 50km in 8.30hrs to complete the 103km +4,600m of elevation in 19.16 hrs. I was very happy to have completed this trail and in the end was pretty broken. My wife and Dan (who had been filming me throughout the 5 days) were there to greet me and I could not have been happier. We headed home for the last night before my home trail - The Lantau Trail - 68km with +3,300m of elevation. I woke feeling tired but determined. At the famous green post box at the start of The Lantau trail quite a crowd had gathered and I was super pleased to learn that quite a few would join me, throughout the day many runners and people came out to cheer me which was amazing. My knee was locking at weird times however it held out and was a lot slower than I anticipated I became the first person to complete the 5 trails in 5 days - there was a large crowd of well-wishers at the finish which made my day and we also had raised the money for the charities - I completed this in 15.10 hrs and in total - 4 days 22 hrs and 34mins - finished pretty exhausted but elated and feeling very fortunate to have so many amazing people in my life!!