It was winter holidays, so we had some time off. And after a two week off-season, it was time to get training again. What better way to spend our time than to travel in order to train? It was a chance to go somewhere we’d never been: Hong Kong! So we designed a 4-day training camp program that would allow us a chance to run The 9 Dragons Ultra 50/50 race course in advance of race day, and hit the road.
I loved Hong Kong instantly; from the air, even before we landed. Islands of tall skyscrapers were broken up by towering jade mountains, or perhaps vice versa. We rode into town on a double-decker bus: a city tour on the cheap!
At our hotel, we got a free upgrade to a room with a mountain view, which was every bit as delightful as it sounds.We spent all of our time indoors perched on the window seat, watching the world rush on outside as we prepared our gear.
But we couldn’t be content with just gazing at the mountains. We were in Hong Kong for a reason, and that reason was to run! Enter the KnC 9 Dragons training camp!
9 Dragons Training Camp, Part 1 – The 50 mile course
Day 1: Christmas Eve – 45.3k
Our first day of 9 Dragons training camp dawned especially misty – and magical. We took a classic red Hong Kong taxi across the city as the sky was just beginning to brighten. Our run began in Tai Lam Country Park.
Having heard so much about Hong Kong from friends, we thought we knew what to expect. To our surprise, our trail was not just one long staircase up through the jungle. Instead, the terrain was tremendously varied! It was paved in places, but dirt, mud or stone in others. It was sometimes wide and sometimes narrow; sometimes enclosed in the jungle and sometimes exposed on rocky ridges.
There were so many new smells and interesting sights! We passed a tiny temple on a small pass and dodged giant, damp leaves drooping over the path. We had gotten quite accustomed to a straight-forward, well-groomed path when a sudden left turn us feeling a little lost.
This would certainly not be the last time we got lost on this mission! We quickly found our way, but the character of the trail had changed completely. It was narrow and overgrown and the muddy surface of the steep incline had us sliding backwards with every step.
After only a few hundred meters, the terrain changed again, as we were learning it always does in Hong Kong. It leveled out, and we enjoyed a long stretch of running immersed in the forest. We could hear some sounds of the city, especially airplanes overhead and boats coming into port below. But thick fog and thicker foliage completely hid the city from view.
The first half of the 9 Dragon 50 mile course took us to all kinds of new places. Our route skirted a teeny tiny farm of ponds full of lily pads and storks. We startled deer and buffaloes in some quiet, misty meadows. And we were completely alone in the forest for hours.
Approaching Tai Mo Shan, we re-entered the human world. A mountain biker and a few hikers called greetings to us. Inside the country park, we left the trails behind to climb the steep, paved road to the summit. All of this was surprisingly runnable, much to our delight!
The very top of the mountain was barred by a gate, so we simply continued on the road until it ended, suddenly and randomly. It splintered into half a dozen trails that wove through a grassy meadow around huge, mysterious boulders.
A turn took us slipping and sliding our way down a section of the Wilson Trail towards a village below the mountain. At a temple, Kent bought and downed a bottle of mystery tea.
Running through this village was super interesting, albeit a little intense. We lost the way, and several barking dogs chased us around until a grizzled elderly lady shouted us off of her land.
Eventually, we found our way again. We also found salamanders in a little pond and a pair of monkeys squabbling in a tree. We ran over a gnarly hill following the thinnest trail we’d yet seen in Hong Kong, down into the next village – which was much friendlier!
And then, we reached the last climb of the day: Tai To Yan. Up until this point, I’d been running pretty easily. All day long, I’d been looking for stairs. I certainly found them here.
Thick, damp mist obscured both the mountaintop above and the city below. We climbed into the white cloud. Hands on hips: up, up, and up a little more. This was an opportunity for some educational struggling!
It seemed to take ages to reach the top, but we were so happy when we did! Shifting clouds offered us a few glimpses of our surroundings, and we carried on along a lovely high ridge. This gradually became a descent, and we shifted gears to blaze down into Fanling station!
Although this would just be the midpoint of The 9 Dragons Ultra race, it was our target for the first day of training camp! I raced Kent into the station in just under 8 hours. We finished sweaty and successful – in high spirits and still full of energy, a good sign!
Day 2: Christmas – 43.9k
Starting a little tired – but still excited! – on the second day was perfect for replicating the conditions of the race. After all, during the race we would be a lot more tired on the second day! Once again, we started just before dawn. But this time was a little different!
A little urban running preceded our return to the mountains for day two of 9 Dragons training camp. But all this pavement also meant speed, and a little more tourism on foot!
We finally found ourselves back in our natural mountain habitat, climbing one of the gnarliest trails in Hong Kong. No steps, no railings, no trail markings. Just a thin trail of loose dirt running through a prickly forest of leg-scratching foliage.
This trail was by far the toughest we’d encountered so far, and it took us almost an hour to move the 5 kilometers up and over the hill. This was the perfect terrain for breaking out the poles…and definitely not the perfect time to discover that one of mine was literally broken.
After swatting our way through the aggressive plants that continued on the other side of the peak, we found ourselves on a sidewalk once again. Miles from anywhere, high on the mountain slopes and deep in the wild. The pavement was a surprise, but a very welcome one for our bloodied shins!
Thanks to that prickly beginning, everything else felt easy! We sailed down through a sleepy trekker’s campground and past a large reservoir. Then we sailed up the next little hill, accompanied by a faint melody. At the top of the hill, there was a little lookout point where a barefoot man sat cross-legged on the ground, practicing the ocarina!
Down to a river, then up again. But everything was flowing smoothly and we were able to maintain a good pace. And the scenery on the third hill of the day was amazing! At first there was a plunging drop to the right of the trail, where mist swirled up between us and another mountain. Then we emerged onto a pretty plateau of dewy grass and puddles!
The descent continued to delight my senses. We could hear – and sometimes see – a river splashing noisily down alongside the trail. A few crossings provided even better views of massive peach boulders in a sparkling stream. Here we also crossed paths with a few other ultra runners!
Then we got to the section that had puzzled me most on the course profile for The 9 Dragons Ultra. What was this completely flat area? It turned out to be a beautiful seaside trail at the edge of Plover Cove Country Park, where we had views across the water of a sprawling city on the Chinese mainland. Low-slung clouds and a few buffaloes on the beach made this magical!
This was also the only area of the whole course that we’d seen so far with shops. And we needed a DIY aid station to refuel, so we took a significant stop here. Kent refilled our liquids, while I patted a sleepy cat and admired the power of my pink t-shirt to stain everything it touched!
The next short section of our 9 Dragons training camp took us up and over a pass to Bride’s Pool. We couldn’t see this pool, but we could hear children shouting and adults laughing and smelled the smoke of countless barbecues. It seemed like a popular spot to spend Christmas for many Hong Kong families!
Then we began the best part of the day: our exploration of Pat Sing Leng Country Park! This park was absolutely gorgeous and completely captivated me right from the start. At first we simply climbed through the forest, but it was clear we were climbing up towards a big ridge.
Once on top, the fun really began! From the first peak, our ridge looked like the back of a dragon: a roller coaster of steep ascents and descents with drop-offs to either side of the trail. I absolutely loved it!
My delight meant that we took way too many photo stops and proceeded at what could only generously be called a training pace. But Kent was grateful, as he had a sore knee – possibly from carrying 3 liters of water all over these mountains! So we proceeded in little bursts of speed and plenty of stops to admire the scenery.
It was hard to leave this area behind, but there were more adventures ahead! There was a huge staircase to get down from this mountain – immediately followed by another massive staircase to get up the next! But Cloudy Hill was our final peak of the day, so we gave it everything we had. I dashed up and down dozens of steps (a painted sign claimed 956 of them on the descent alone!) while soaking in those iconic HK views.
With our water stop and our decision to morph into tourists in Pat Sing Leng, we were a little slower in to the finish than the previous day. But we wrapped things up at Tai Po Tao Playground in just under 9 hours, whereupon I presented Kent with the large leaf of perseverance award – the most prestigious 9 Dragons training camp prize. And then we were off: to feast and to fly!
(Insert idyllic Sri Lankan interlude here! That adventure to be found at a later date and another section of the blog.)
9 Dragons Training Camp, Part 2 – The 50 kilometer course
Day 3: January 3rd – 34.1k
A new year and a new course to run! We were back in Hong Kong and this time, we were running our 9 Dragons training camp in preparation for The 9 Dragons Ultra. Once again, we planned to split it in two.
Feeling all fresh after our amazing escape to Sri Lanka, we set off super early. We were back at Tai Po Tau Playground well before dawn. For the first time, we had to use the headlamps we’d just carried around up to this point!
The beginning of the 50k course of The 9 Dragons Ultra is the same as the end of the 50m course – only in reverse! So we had a lot of fun right off the bat: hiking hard up those 956 steps, and then running into the weeds on our favorite prickly mountain. (By this time, I’d added a borrowed teaspoon to my running kit – the perfect tool for opening and closing my broken trekking pole!).
Running this route in reverse didn’t feel nearly as tricky, so we made good time through the initial section. And then it was time to revisit Tai To Yan!
I am so glad we did, because Tai To Yan was my favorite part of the day! The perennial clouds hung slightly higher in the sky, allowing for great views of the ridge ahead and the surrounding slopes! I was ready for a new experience in a familiar place.
This time, this mountain absolutely thrilled me! I delighted in the same long, runnable ridge, and absolutely loved the peak! For the first time, we got to see beyond the exciting railings and chains to the plunging drops below. It was a blast to run!
After Tai To Yan, it was climb to climb Tai Mo Shan again – but on a new and different route! In my notes, I’d described this as the monster climb of the 50k – and indeed it was. It was the longest section of strict hiking that we did during our entire 9 Dragons training camp recce.
By the time we returned to familiar ground – that epic, misty boulder field on the high slopes of Tai Mo Shan – I’d formed a strong impression of the 50k. Having to pack a lot of elevation in over a shorter course makes the 50k race, at least in the beginning, tougher per kilometer than the 50m.
But for the moment, we were descending. We zipped down and through Leadmine Pass, and then we were back in new territory. Two hills awaited us. First, we were able to maintain a steady run up the pavement towards Grassy Hill. Then, after dipping down low again, we began our approach to Needle Hill.
Did I already choose a favorite for today? Can I choose two? Because I adored this climb! It was love at first sight. A very sharp peak stuck out above a sea of rounded hills – and a straight line of stairs ran right up to the top.
We did our longest pause of the day on top to celebrate this super fun mountain. And then it was all downhill to the reservoir in Shing Mun Country Park, where we stopped the clock after 6.5 hours.
Day 4: January 4th – 19.5k
The final day. I felt incredibly excited to see some a few more brand new country parks – but I wasn’t ready for our Hong Kong adventures to come to an end! Our 9 Dragons training camp was wrapping up, but my infatuation with this running destination was just beginning.
With a shorter run on the books, we decided to set out a little later than the previous day. It was back to the reservoir, and then back on the trail!
The first thing we had to do was climb one of those deceptive uphills that looks basically flat but feels hard. I tucked this into my memory bank for race day. However, it wasn’t a grind: I loved getting back into thick forest in Kam Shan Country Park! We even had a few glimpses through the leaves back down to the reservoir!
In the race, the time between the fourth checkpoint at Shing Mun reservoir and the finish line will be just 3 hours (plus any accumulated buffer time). So we set out to run the last part of the race at top speed. This meant less photo stops, but a great sustained level of effort on this shorter run.
Finally on a visible downhill, we blazed down towards Eagle’s Nest, passing another large reservoir and a dozen volunteers setting up an aid station for another ultra! On this stretch of paved road, there were also hundreds of monkeys sitting out and grooming one another.
Our route then meandered around the hills above Kowloon – and we were treated some more awesome views! The best of these were at Beacon Hill, where we could look down at the gleaming towers of the city, or across the forest to the towering peak of Lion Rock!
We saw the sun for the first time in Hong Kong at Shatin Pass! However, this did not mean fine weather (although it must be said: perfect weather for running. No complaints!). The wind whistling down from the hills above blew Kent’s cap right off his head and down the road. We pushed hard to go at a good pace against this driving wind.
But not for long. The trail changed, as it does so often in these Hong Kong hills! Countless steps led down the shady side of the mountain. The trail wrapped around and through a pass before completing its final descent on the road.
We made it to Shing Fung Studios in 3 hours and 1 minute after a fast and furious run. With this run in the bag, we celebrated the end of our 9 Dragons training camp in Hong Kong. We could not really celebrate leaving our new favorite city – but we were glad that we were headed straight back!
Fast facts
Distance: 142.8k – ever so slightly less than the predicted sum of The 9 Dragons Ultra 50m and 50k courses (143.6k)
Elevation gain: 8773m – just slightly over the predicted 8620m
Time: 26 hours and 19 minutes – but spread over over 4 days in 2 distinct sessions
I readily admit that I fell head-over-heels for Hong Kong. I can hardly wait to go back. In fact, I’d be delighted to live there! It’s a trail paradise above a super interesting city…that also happens to be full of wonderful vegan restaurants. Yep, when we weren’t running (or preparing for running or cleaning up after running or discussing the running), we were out’n’about being foodies! A rare treat, and a delicious one.
Our recce of the 9 Dragons race routes made us both really happy. We were surprised by how runnable several of the sections are, and awed by the beauty surrounding the tougher parts. Our training camp was a terrific adventure in its own right: I personally love these self-supported runs where its just Kent and I, the forest and our thoughts, more than anything.
Our recce served its purpose to get us super stoked for 9 Dragons. But did it adequately prepare us for the challenges that lay just a month in our futures? Find out right here! That race, along with this particular training sesh, also helped prepare us for the Hong Kong 100 in 2020.
Hopefully now you’re excited to run in Hong Kong too! Maybe you should run the next edition of 9 Dragons – find out more here! Definitely also consider checking out a future edition of the Hong Kong 100k.