Hong Kong runner completes Japan’s 1,200km Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage in just 27 days
- Catherine Sun runs equivalent of an ultra marathon every day for nearly 1 month to complete mammoth task
- ‘Time is a luxury for me, so I did something challenging enough that won’t kill me,’ the 53-year-old says
A Hong Kong-based woman ran an ultra marathon every day for almost one month to complete the 1,200km Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan.
The 53-year-old Catherine Sun, who grew up in mainland China and moved to Hong Kong in 2002, finished her mammoth 27-day task on Wednesday.
“People said ‘you’re crazy, why you are in such a hurry?’ Well, time is a luxury for me,” Sun said. “I don’t have that much time, so I did something challenging enough that won’t kill me.”
The route – which is usually hiked over the span of several months – circles Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four major islands, and walkers visit 88 different temples en route.
First noted in the 12th Century, the present route was formed in the 16th or 17th Century.
Such a long challenge was nothing new for Sun – she completed the famous 800km Camino Santiago trail in Spain in 2017, which is also a pilgrimage.
Upon completing that task, she was told about a “sister” route in Japan.
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Unlike in Spain, however, Sun was self-supported in Japan, and there were often 80km stretches with no shops. To make it more difficult, every few days it rained.
Sun was running around 60km a day, and had a book which she would get stamped upon reaching each temple – but sometimes had to wait after missing the 5pm cut-off point.
“A lot of the times I got there, 4.50pm or 4.55pm. I was so happy,” Sun said.
“The problem is the next day, because they open at 7am. For a long day, usually, I get up early and leave around 5am. But if I have to stamp my book at this temple, then in the morning I cannot leave early.
“That’s my limitation and I have to wait and leave late. And then if I have 50 or 60km that day, I had to do night running.
“I did it a few times. Then one day was 20km on the highway after sunset – it was really, really weird.”
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According to the website FKT (which stands for Fastest Known Time and registers records in running), a woman named Leonie van den Haak ran the Shikoku Pilgrimage in 14 days in 2021. However, van den Haak had support, so Sun may well be the first person to run it all unsupported, carrying her own supplies.
“I had to carry whatever I needed – food, water, all the clothing, batteries, phone, backup phone and all that,” she said. “But I tried to reduce the weight in order to be able to run.
“I lost two to three kilograms in body weight. The first few days my bag was 10 per cent of my body weight.”
When Sun finished, she felt at peace.
“Actually, surprisingly, I feel quite calm and peaceful. There’s not much excitement or over-joyousness,” Sun added. “Content, that’s the word. I’m happy.”
