Pleasure and pain: on trail of Hong Kong ultra-marathon runner as she faces city’s 100km challenge
- Sayaka Matsumoto, who switched from hiking to trail running two years ago, was one of 1,800 competitors in January's Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race
- Yet can the Japanese-born property agent – who takes to the hills to escape stresses of daily city life – get to the end?
For joggers who stick to their fitness plans for a year, completing a half-marathon (21km, about 13 miles) race already ranks pretty highly.
For property agent Sayaka Matsumoto, running more than 30km, 50km or even reaching the benchmark of 100km over mountainous terrain is something to look forward to – a 16-to-18-hour break from life’s stresses with an earthen trail underfoot, undergrowth along her path and the open sky.
Completing ultra-marathons requires passion more than profession.
At weekends she finishes her 25km training runs in time for a sunset beer overlooking Repulse Bay – in addition to carrying out weight training, cycling and yoga from Monday to Friday.
The humble way she describes her two-year running career belies some impressive results: in November Matsumoto won the Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong mixed race, starting in Sai Kung and the following month finished third in the North Face 100, starting and finishing in Tai Mei Tuk.
“With every race, I learn something,” says Matsumoto whose latest race was last month’s Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race – one of the world’s top trail competitions –following a carefully plotted, hilly countryside course.
