The Gurkhas Set the Pace
Trailwalker was started as an endurance training exercise by the Queen's Gurkha Signals Regiment in 1981. The challenge was originally to complete 100km of the Maclehose Trail in 24 hours (not the 48 hours that is allotted to walkers today). It was initially envisaged as an exercise to test fitness and teamwork - but was quickly adapted to raise funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
In 1981 the soldiers raised $80,000 which was enough to build and supply a library in a poor village in Nepal as well as provide a sizeable donation to the Spastics Association of HK.
Trailwalker was cancelled in 1982 due to the Falklands War but in 1983, 45 teams raised $67,000. Evidently in that year there were 19 checkpoints (including four "secret ones"). 1985 was the first year that non-military teams were invited to join the Gurkhas and 55 teams raised $98,000.
Trailwalker was opened to the public in 1986 and Oxfam became a co-organizer (receiving, at that point 1/3 of the donations). A total of 100 teams (69 Gurkha and 31 civilians) braved near-typhoon conditions to raise $208,000 and a civilian team won!
Ten years later, a total of 700 teams raised $10 million. This was the Gurkhas last year to participate and it was a sweet victory to see one of their teams win with a time of 13 hours and 28 minutes.
Last year Trailwalker had a record-breaking 2,3000 applications (more than 5 times the maximum quota) and 657 teams completed the race (88% of participants). The final tally of funds raised for Oxfam was more than $20 million. The fastest time was 11 hrs, 57 min and the longest was 47 hrs 52 min. One can have nothing but admiration for the tenacity and spirit of those teams who, although slower than the rest, continue to the finish almost 48 hours after leaving Pak Tam Chung. The last team's chosen moniker, "Courage", seems most appropriate!
The Hong Kong event has inspired other Trailwalker events worldwide. When the Gurkha regiment returned to the UK in 1997 they established a similar Trailwalker event on the South Downs and after building it to be the largest ultra-distance marathon in the UK, they again invited Oxfam to partner with them. In 1999 Oxfam Australia started Trailwalkers in Sydney and Melbourne and additional international locations are rumoured to be starting soon.
No one would have thought, 24 years ago, that a simple training exercise in the hills of Hong Kong could have sparked one of the largest fund raising sporting events in the world and - put Hong Kong on the map for its natural assets.