The Year of the Rabbit

HK4TUC | The Year of the Rabbit

Last September I had just finished my second running of the Barkley Fall Classic. It was late into the evening, it was dark, I was tired, I was hungry, and all sorts of muscles were aching from the huge effort I had just put in to run a "mere 50 km". I started my travels home by driving out of the park and back into town where my phone caught back up to civilization with the familiar binging noises signaling that I was back into cell service. When I stopped for food and fuel, I checked my emails and noticed I had one unexpected one message sitting there at the top of my inbox that had just come in. I recognized the name but did not really comprehend why I was getting an email. 

As I read through and realized I had just gotten my acceptance invitation into a very small and lustrous event that is put on every year in Hong Kong around the Chinese New Year. I had been chosen to come and take on the challenge of the Four Trails. As I sat there in my car starring at my phone, and not pumping my fuel, at the service station, I pondered when exactly I had submitted my intentions to run and submit my application as it had been so long ago. In fact, I had forgot I was even in a lottery/application pool for the Hong Kong Four Trails at all. I forgot all about HK4TUC until that moment. The stoke now overtook all the pain and aches in my legs that were still quite beat up from Frozen Head State Park terrain.

Acceptance email from Andre Blumberg (HK4TUC Event creator/director)

Needless to say, as I put my mind around this email from Andre Blumberg I started to get very excited and realized that this was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. Ever since September I have done something I rarely have done in my ultrarunning career. I setup myself an actual training block per say and have been building up towards this event with full intentions. I am travelling halfway around the world to explore a new place and take on this immense challenge. I want to give it my all.

The Challenge

Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC) is a low-key, personal challenge in which participants must run or hike all four Hong Kong long distance trails non-stop, on their own and self-supported. HK4TUC is not a race, there is no course marking and no aid stations. No entry fees. No prizes.

The total distance is 298 km (186 Mi) and approximately 14,500 metres (46,000 ft+) of positive elevation gain. The sequence is Maclehose trail (100 km), Wilson trail (78 km), Hong Kong trail (50 km) and Lantau trail (70 km). Participants cover the trails in reverse direction, from trail end to trail head. The event starts in Tuen Muen and finishes at the green postbox at the Mui Wo ferry terminal on Lantau island.

Participants can have crew support between each of the four trails but not whilst they are on the trails. Here no pacers or outside companions of any kind are permitted. Participants can take rest breaks at their own discretion during the challenge, but the clock does not pause, and the total time also includes the transition time required between the trails. The use of trekking poles and music or sound playing devices is not permitted. Painkillers and anti-inflammatory and performance enhancing drugs are banned.

Anyone who complies with all HK4TUC rules and completes the full distance in under 60 hours is deemed a Finisher. Those who complete in under 72 hours are deemed a Survivor. There are several intermediate time cutoffs. Those who fail to comply with the HK4TUC rules or don't meet the cutoff times are deemed as Retired.

How to follow the event:

• hk4tuc.live -- dot-tracking website of all of the race. It will be loaded up with this year's participants soon and will be live at start of the event. THIS IS THE MAIN SITE TO TRACK
• https://www.instagram.com/HK4TUC | @hk4tuc -- Instagram – should be lots of stories, reels, and pictures posted throughout the event
• https://www.facebook.com/HK4TUC/ | Facebook

Other Resources:

• www.fourtrails.com | Four Trails – a new film about the 2021 HK4TUC edition (just released)
• https://youtu.be/E0A_Ol5zmB0 | The Great Race - NHK Japan Documentary about the 2020 HK4TUC edition
• www.breaking60.com | Breaking 60 – an awarding winning film by Robin Lee on the 2017 HK4TUC edition
• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/HK4TUC - some prior video clips from the race(s)
• Twitter - @HK4TUC

The HK4TUC map explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiEMIzvqh8c 

Thank You 

To all my supporters, especially my family, I appreciate you.

@rabbit -- best running apparel out there! I only have rabbit gear as it is comfortable, functional, and stylish. I am proud to represent rabbit ever since 2017. Monica and Jill you have created a great brand and culture. Happy Year of the Rabbit! 

@VictorySportdesign -- #GreatestGearBagEver - the only bags I ever use for all my events. I have everything packed up into my Grizzley backpack and my Kodiak travel bag for this trek.

@AthleticBrewing -- #WithoutCompromise -- great tasting craft NA beer that is refreshing for all sorts of occasions. 

My Crew -- I have lined up an amazing local support crew person. He is very familiar with the event, running in multiple times himself and been a Survivor (x2). I am proud to have Hong Kong local Will Hayward (@drvertigo) to be my crew in this event.

Thank you to my girls. You give me a why in this crazy sport. If I can show you through example what achieving a goal (or not) is like by putting in some hard work then my work as a father role model may just be worth it someday. I really wish you were all with me in Hong Kong but I will be doing this event with all my girls in mind. Katie I love you! Thank you.

My amazing wife & our 5 beautiful daughters.

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I am excited.

I am nervous.

I am ready.

see you soon Hong Kong.

Happy New Year.
2023 Year of the Rabbit.

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Lottery Season

Lottery Season Is Upon Us

The Countdown(s) Begin…

The average American shopper is running around today for Black Friday, whether it being in stores or online, I am sitting here looking up data for the upcoming ultramarathon lotteries. Whether it is to see how many high the entry count has become, or just to confirm which dates I need to tune in for results, I find myself starring on my computer for a different reason than the typical Black Friday enthusiast out there.

I have been a passive ultra lottery participant to this point typically. I started my venture into the Western States (WSER) lottery a few years back – luckily – because I knew one day I would like to challenge the course. Other than this my lottery participation has been spare or somewhat random until the past 2 years where I am now starting to “target” which ultras I eventually want to do since it often requires sequential lottery entries in order to be successful.

 

Anyway, so where do I stack up for my 2023 season? Well let’s take a closer look:

RACE	Race Month	My Entry	Total Entries	Lottery Spots	% Chance	Result	Comment
HURT 100	Jan	2nd	99	26	26.3	NO	Year2= 3 kukui nuts in lottery
Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge	Jan	1st	unknown	10-30 invites	invite by RD choice	YES	Sent in my application/intentions back in Feb-2022. Got an email in Sep. to confirm entry!
The Barkley Fall Classic	Sep	3rd	unknown	~500	unknown	not yet	This process in an unknown procedure. I did not get drawn in the initial pull for 2023, but people regularly get in all the way up to race date itself.
Western States	Jun	4th	7,169	271	~7.8%	Dec-03	Year4= 8 tickets in lottery.
Hardrock	Jul	1st	1,727	55	~0.4%	Dec-03	Year 1= 1 ticket in "NEVER" lottery.
The Divide 200	Sep	1st	250	101	~40.4%	Dec-05	Inaugural year of race. Had to submit application for lottery which was accepted. Applicaitons open until Dec-04.
Angeles Crest 100	Jul	1st		230		Dec-19	I may enter if no WSER luck. Lottery opens Dec-05 to Dec- ??
Tahoe Rim Trail 100	Jul	1st		unknown		Jan-01	I may enter if no WSER luck. Lottery opens Dec-04 to Dec-18.
Leadville 100	Aug	2nd		unknown		Jan-09	Slim chance via open lottery, but will put in again.
Cascade Crest 100	Jul	1st		unknown		Jan-22	May decide to enter, t.b.d. Lottery opens Jan-01 to Jan-17.
Wasatch Front 100	Sep	1st		unknown		Jan-29	If no luck at Divide 200 lottery, I may enter this. Lottery opens Dec-01 to Jan-04.

One day I’d love to get in and run Western (WSER) and have come to realize this is a long process of persistence of simply accumulating and participating in the lottery for 5-7 years (if you happen to get in before that, consider yourself lucky). In fact I see it trending longer as the popularity of ultrarunning continues and the fact an individual can take a bye year now without losing their current ticket count. Looking at the numbers this year I still have a only a 7.7% chance and this is my 4^th year in the lottery process.

Secondly, I love mountains running and exploring the new areas that come along with mountain ultras. I finally got myself an official Hardrock qualifier done this year (2022 High Lonesome 100 finisher), and so now I can start my endurance process of the HR100 lottery. Most likely this one as well will be closer to a decade long process, but at least the qualifiers are good for 2 seasons. You don’t have a chance unless you are in the lottery and so I began the process this lottery season.

One wild card is of course the infamous Barkley Fall Classic (BFC) as I did not get in on the initial drawing of participants. This leaves me somewhere on the unknown process of still being in the remaining lottery/waitlist. It has been known that people get into BFC all the way right up until race day, being pulled in late October does not matter much – except for the comfort in planning far ahead. This first year I ran it (2021) I didn’t get an invite until June. My second year (2022) I did get pulled initially in October and so I had an entire year of the race being planned on my calendar. So when do I get my invite from Laz for 2023…?...well that remains to be seen, but I am aware that it may come anytime until next September.

Couple of other lotteries that are on my bucket list but have no place in my 2023 plans or schedule would be the UTMB® (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) and TOR330 (Tor des Géants®). With my overseas travel to Hong Kong already booked in January there is no way to justify another big trip in 2023. I also need to collect some running stones to continue my entry process for UTMB. These bucket list destination races will remain on my to-do list for the future.

 

Results

The lottery season is exciting and full of anticipation as my season will begin to take shape starting essentially next weekend as December arrives and the results start to occur.

One big focus goal for the season has already been defined by an initial invite selection I got back in September. I was honored to be given an invite into Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge (HK4TUC). This is a very small niche event that occurs around Chinese New Year every year in the Hong Kong region by linking together the 4 main hiking trails in the region. I am humbled in learning more and more about this challenge and everything it entails, logistically and physically. Due to the COVID travel restrictions this is the first time in three years international runners have been allowed to participate in the event again, which makes me even more humbled to have been selected from whatever pool of applications the RD received.

Besides my January plans (noted above), I am hoping to notch a race slot for either June or July (or both). Since Texas is stupid hot during that time period, I hope to escape somewhere a little more moderate where we could make a family trip out of it.

 

What lotteries have you put in for? What ultra events excite you? Tis the season to brush up the bucket list and hope you get a slot in one of the lotteries as this sport continues to grow in popularity.

 

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