Why David Wilson started the Wilson Trail: former Governor ‘absolutely astonished’ at pace runners today are completing his trail
Wilson has been nominated at the Hong Kong Trail Running Awards for a lifetime achievement and thinks the explosion in outdoor sports is great
Former Hong Kong governor David Wilson could hardly believe it when he heard runners can now complete his namesake trail in a matter of hours.
Wilson, who was elevated to a life peerage in 1992 after serving as the 27th governor of Hong Kong, set up a 78-kilometre trail from south to north Hong Kong with punishing climbs and descents through some of the Country Parks’ most scenic areas.
When he was told about the likes of the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge, which sees participants run the Wilson Trail unsupported as part of a 298km non-stop ultramarathon that includes the MacLehose, Hong Kong and Lantau Trails, Wilson was amazed.
“I find it absolutely astonishing that people run it all, and at the speeds they do,” he said. “In my day, the only people getting close to those speeds were the Gurkhas. When Trailwalker started they’d be half a mile ahead before others had even begun.”
Wilson first arrived in Hong Kong as a student in 1960, and left in 1992 after serving as political adviser to governor Murray MacLehose and then as governor himself from 1987 to 1992.
