Created between the 1970s and the 1990s, Hong Kong has four renowned hiking routes – the MacLehose, Wilson, Hong Kong, and Lantau Trails. Each trail reveals a different face of the city—whether it’s the volcanic shores of Sai Kung, the steep peaks above Repulse Bay, the green ridges encircling Hong Kong Island, or the misty summits of Lantau.
For some, these routes provide an escape from the Hong Kong as we all know it – the neon metropolis – and serve as a success story of early conservation movements in the city. For others, it is a challenge to escape from the everyday and sink into a pursuit of an arbitrary distance of a 100km.
For a globally select few, it is the collective backdrop to dreams and nightmares simultaneously. The Four Trails Challenge is Hong Kong’s most legendary endurance hiking feat—an informal, non-commercial challenge that pushes participants to complete all four of Hong Kong’s major long-distance trails back-to-back, without outside support and within 60 hours. It’s not a race, there are no medals, and there’s no official organiser. Instead, it’s a test of resilience, planning, and pure determination that has become a rite of passage among the world’s most committed hikers and trail runners.
Those who complete all four trails within the 60-hour limit are known as Finishers. Those who go even further and complete the journey entirely on foot between trailheads—no taxis, buses, or ferries—are rightly considered Survivors.
The challenge is as much mental as it is physical. The lone trudging through the dark with only the mind as a companion. The documentary focuses on the picture at the end. And this is different for each of the competitors. It could be for a page in the history books but it could devolve into a crusade to find a post box of any kind (the finish line is a postbox). It may be for an arbitrary personal best, and when that can’t be reached, something even more arbitrary – sentiment.
Commentary from officiators, hikers and experts builds a narrative expectation for the audience. Unlike sports analysts on, say, ESPN who can break down statistics of past games and concoct somewhat of a prediction (albeit rarely accurate), at the extremes of any field, patterns break down.
Needless to say this brings about a logistical challenge. With limited cameras and a range of competitors, who should the focus be on? This practical constraint dictates the framing of the documentary. During a post-screening Q&A, director Robin Lee outlines that the surprises on screen were equally shocking in real time. That being said, this does not stop the director from using a few gambits to misdirect viewers to let the audience hand in their bets. Spoiler (but not really), a unicorn ends up winning the horse race.
Lee builds on the foundation of Breaking 60: Challenging the Impossible made two years prior, and adds the logistical challenges of the HK4TUC of both challengers and the crew. The final result is a gripping story, and what will be considered as one of the great portraits an extreme sport.
Four Trails opens in cinema across the U.K. from November 6th.
Check out this website for archives of trail and ultra-running.
Image credit: Four Trails & Atlas Production.
