Hongkonger, 70, is ready for his 16th Trailwalker 100km race. And he volunteers to clean up the trail
Ultra runner Raymond Lo passes on his experience and techniques to younger athletes to help them run safely, and so he can avoid becoming ‘a lonely old man’. The retired architect tells us his nine tips for ageing well
For many people, running a 10-kilometre race is a triumph. But for 70-year-old Raymond Lo, it is just a warm-up. On Friday, he’ll be taking part in the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km race – for the 16th time.
Lo’s endurance is impressive, not simply because of his age. The last eight times he completed this annual fundraising event, run across the hills of Hong Kong’s New Territories, he joined the volunteer “mop-up” crews, returning to the course to pick up rubbish.
His maiden Trailwalker, in 2001, was the slowest, taking 33 hours after stopping a total of seven hours along the way. His fastest, in 2009, was 17 hours 12 minutes. This year, his team – Flying Geezers, with Yeung Wui Man, Kwok Chi Man and Tsui Pak Long – is targeting 20 to 22 hours.
The retired architect, who is also a marathoner, describes himself as a running addict, but he’s more than that. He uses his years of experience to teach novice runners the safe way to run long distances.
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On a rainy Sunday morning in Tai Wai, Lo waits for his students to arrive. Friendly and welcoming, but impatient to begin, Lo teaches the basics inside the railway station until the bad weather passes.
Lo wants to stop people getting injured because of poor technique.
