Oxfam Trailwalker: thousands take to Hong Kong’s MacLehose Trail for city’s largest annual fundraiser
- Some 3,400 people take part in the annual event, which leads competitors on a 100km trek across the city
- First to complete the route from Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung to the Crossroads Foundation in Tuen Mun are Team TTR in 12 hours, 42 minutes and 47 seconds
Thousands of runners and walkers took to Hong Kong’s MacLehose Trail on Friday for the annual Oxfam Trailwalker, which takes competitors on a 100km trek across the city.
Some 3,400 people in about 850 teams started Hong Kong’s largest hiking fundraiser throughout the course of the day, with their journey taking them from Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung to Crossroads Foundation in Tuen Mun.
They had 48 hours to complete the gruelling task, which crosses 20 of the city’s highest peaks.
But the top teams finished late on Friday, led at 8.42pm by winners Team TTR (charity organisation Trailwalker Teaching Room) and followed 45 minutes later by Team 8129.
Among those taking part were a teacher from Hong Chi Lions Morninghill School, who had teamed up with three 18-year-old students with mild mental retardation or autism spectrum disorder.
Four medical students from Chinese University also formed a team, while in addition to local competitors, there were participants from overseas and mainland China, including two hearing-impaired individuals from the Beijing-based Best Social Work Institute, which supports disabled women in China.
Bernard Chan, the OTW steering group’s convenor, said the focus of this month’s walk – the second in 2023 but the first without any restrictions since Covid hit – was combating climate change.
“The funds raised through OTW will go towards various poverty alleviation, emergency relief and advocacy projects, which support impoverished populations in Hong Kong and worldwide to improve their living, particularly those affected by extreme weather events,” he said.
The Oxfam Trailwalker began in Hong Kong in 1981 as a military training exercise for the elite Queen’s Gurkha Signals Regiment.
In 1986, Oxfam Hong Kong was invited to co-organise the event and in the same year the event was open to the public. Oxfam Hong Kong later took over the event and this month’s is the 39th edition.
The leading teams had emerged before the 60km mark, first among them Team TTR, made up of Leung Shing-tung, Leung Wai-yip, Ye Xiaoming – who is from Zhongshan in mainland China – and Lam Kin-ka.
Their winning time of 12 hours, 42 minutes and 47 seconds was slightly slower than last year, when their team – with Tang Kwok-man in place of Lam – finished third in 12 hours and 40 minutes.
In second place, at 9.27pm and clocking 13:27:55, were Team 8129, comprising Faton Laurent, Bonnard Julien, Foucher Nicolas and Wong Wai-hung, who had finished fourth last year.
The Team 8132 group of Lee Wai-kin, Tsui Sheung-kan, Chan Wing-to and Norman Lee were third, at 9.47pm, in 13:47:09.
Fourth were the all-women combination Team 8111, made up of Cheung Man-yee, Wong Ki-chun, Leung Hong-kiu and Angie Yan. They were timed at 13:52:38, completing the gruelling race at 9.52pm.
