Robinson, who worked at the Joint Dynamics gym in Hong Kong, was admitted to hospital on May 4 last year, diagnosed with cancer on May 17 and died on May 22.

“It was such a shock. You go through a whole range of emotions trying to process something like that, that happened so quickly,” Oliver Marks, one of Robinson’s friends, said.

Robinson had planned to return to the UK for a few months in 2022 having been trapped in Hong Kong by the city’s strict Covid-19 rules, but had set himself the challenge of running the four major trails in four months.

The Northern Irishman completed the 45km Hong Kong trail, 68km Lantau Trail, the 78km Wilson Trail and had just the 100km MacLehose Trail left to do in May last year.

“It’s quite incredible that he managed to do it, to actually complete the Wilson Trail when he must have had stage four Lymphoma,” Marks said.

Robinson’s friends decided to complete what he had started, by running all four trails in the same amount of time.

Of the group, Eddie Robinson, no relation, and Alex Neyrinck finished all of the trails, while Marks and Mel Wong completed three, skipping the Lantau Trail.

Others involved in a running or supporting capacity included Meaghan Lau, Sam Nunn, Harry Tabor, Jon Kav, Dorian Gabler and Wilson Scott.

Those not running some trails supported the others with food and water on the trails.

“Simon loved Blue Girl beers – it was his favourite beer brand in Hong Kong. He had a Blue Girl beer halfway through the Hong Kong trail at Parkview, and then carried on,” Marks said.

“So we tried to do that as well and just tried to take them as they came, like Simon would, and just enjoy it.”

Marks says Robinson put his heart into everything he did. Whether it was his career, his trail running, at parties or anything, it was always 100 per cent.

“I guess that’s how he was able to complete those three trails, just through sheer strength of willpower,” he said.

“He was seriously positive, energetic, just an all around great guy.”

The group have been brought even closed by the death, Marks said. Running the four trails was good fun and a great sense of achievement. But it was tough too.

“Finishing was a weird feeling,” Marks said. “There was a mixture of insane happiness and relief but a lot of sad emotions there as well.”

“We ran in his memory, to keep his spirit alive, to do something for him, to remember him, just to kind of make him proud in a way. As we were running the trails to just chat about him. We’d remember funny stories about him,” Marks said.

Marks had run two of the trails before, but the month turn around between each was far tougher than he expected. By the end of the Wilson Trail, he was battling knee pains.

“We had a huge amount of support, which made me realise the amazing things about when Simon did it,” he said. “He just seemed to be able to just rock up and with little to no training, just casually go and smash these trails.”

After the group finished the four trails, they held a fundraising event at El Charro, a Mexican restaurant in Cyberport.

Countless companies donated prizes for a raffle, such as a Mandarin Oriental free night stay for two, gifts from Shady Acres and Joint Dynamics gave physio sessions

“The success of the event just goes to show how impactful Simon was on everyone in Hong Kong. His energy and positivity was infectious and so many people loved him here. All these sponsors were so happy to help,” Marks said.

“Simon, he’s one of those people that was just able to put his heart into absolutely everything.”