How the Oxfam Trailwalker unofficial mixed record was set by four runners, cobbled together at the last minute to produce a performance of positivity
- Team Gone Running-Joint Dynamics run the 100km course in 12 hours 45 minutes pushing through pain, despite the race officially being cancelled
The inaugural unofficial Oxfam Trailwalker now has an unofficial mixed team record, set by the Joint Dynamics – Gone Running team in a blistering time of 12 hours and 45 minutes.
“I’m just so proud of the team,” said John Ellis, one of the team members. “You can’t underestimate how tough it is to bring together four elite runners and to make them run as one cohesive unit but that’s what we did. We worked together, cared for each other and then dug deep for each other at the end to get the official unofficial course record.”
The 100km Oxfam Trailwalker is Hong Kong’s oldest and most famous ultra marathon, with 5,000 runners and countless support runners. But the event was cancelled amid ongoing anti-government protests. Undeterred, hundreds of runners turned up anyway to the first unofficial version of the event.
“I could not have asked for a more solid performance than that,” said Ryan Whelan, another team member.
It’s all the more impressive because just the afternoon before the start of the race on Friday morning, November 15, the team hadn’t even known for sure if they would be able to field four runners.
