Trailwalker is a charity event, now organised by Oxfam. Since 1981 it has raised over $80 million to help the poor and disadvantaged in Hong Kong, mainland China, Asia and Africa.

Four-person teams walk the MacLehose Trial. This trail is 100km long and goes from Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung to Tuen Mun. Along the way it goes over the top of most of Hong Kong's tallest hills, including Ma On Shan, Lion Rock, Needle Hill and Tai Mo Shan.

Originally organised by and for the Gurkhas, it is now a popular public event ¡Ð hence the queues. Only 800 teams were allowed to register and many hopeful competitors were turned away. Among the successful applicants were three teams from Crime Wing.

On most weekends from July to October Crime Wing participants spent at lease one day walking the hills. When they became familiar with the MacLehose Trail, they varied their training by walking on Lantau or Hong Kong Island and on one or two occasions walked through the night.

As well as familiarising themelves with the route and getting fit, the training taught them a number of useful lessons, such as why it is a good idea to carry spare batteries on night walks, and where to apply Vaseline to prevent painful chafing.

At last the day (13 November) arrived and all three Crime Wing teams were assigned to begin the 3pm start (half the teams started at 11am).

There was an immense crowd at the starting line but the field gradually thinned out as they walked through the most scenic part of the route along the sea cliffs and beaches of eastern Sai Kung. They made good time and had to notify their first support team to come earlier than anticipated.

From Pak Tam Au it seems that there is one hill after another, each steeper and longer than the last. After Ma On Shan legs stiffened and seemed weighted with lead. They reached Gilwell Camp just before the halfway point, at 3am. Here there was a large checkpoint with food, drinks, first aid, and even a team of physiotherapists to massage sore muscles.

They reached Beacon Hill just as dawn was breaking, braved the troops of monkeys on Golden Hill (walking sticks have many uses), skirted the bunkers of the Shing Mun Redoubt and tackled the endless climb of Needle Hill - perhaps the most heartbreaking because of its series of false crests. At Leadmine Pass a welcome breakfast from their trusty Support Team, and the realisation that the worst was behind them, gave all fresh spirit and even Tai Mo Shan did not seem so formidable.

The trail from Route Twisk to the end is mostly flat or downhill and seems to go on forever. The approaches to Tuen Mun are not among the most scenic parts of the trail but the path turning off from the water catchment and leading to the finish line was certainly a welcome sight.

Two of the teams had decided to go as fast as they could; one finished in 26 hours and 52 minutes, the second less than an hour later. The third had sensibly decided to adopt a more leisurely pace and finished 35 hours after starting. It was especially pleasing that all 12 members finished.

The three teams raised over $50,000 in sponsorship money. In time the blisters, aches and pains will fade away and it is not unlikely that some will be queuing up on that Yau Ma Tei street again next year.

¡Ð Chris Bilham

The route is a fairly remote one and CASEVACs were arranged with the assistance of both GFS and Marine.

The race started ten minutes before schedule due to bitter winds with 98 officers (nine men's open invitation and three ladies' open invitation teams) eager to cover the distance in time for a decent shower.

The field was an interesting mixture of rarefied and committed athletes down to the occasional plodding "how-much-further?" die-hards who must have doubted the wisdom of swapping a nice comfy office for the rigours of a two-hour mini-mountain marathon.

As a consequence, the race quickly spread out with the fastest runner PC APTDIST Wong Wing-kuen back home in 1:01:59, and the slowest completing the course in a modest 2:16:25. (Last year the fastest and slowest times were 1:8:00 and 2:16:00.)

Winning woman runner WSgt Wong Yin-yee, LT DIST

The second and third fastest men on the day were PC APT Chan Man-for (1:05:03) and PC APTDIST Wu Chung-keung (1:05:13), no doubt benefiting from familiarity with the course. In fact, among the first 12 runners, nine were from APTDIST.

WSgt Wong Yin-yee of LTDIST (the only female officer taking part) finished with a very creditable time of 1 hour and 24 minutes. She was the fastest last year with the same record.

Acting RC NTS Ian Nicholson presented winners with trophies and awards, and APTDIST took the team trophy from KWTDIST.

Thanks goes to all those assisting units, in particular Jim Walker and his staff from S&R, LTDIST personnel, especially Lung Hon-shing, DSRO/PCRO who kindly arranged catering for all the runners, and, finally, Marine Region for saving the Marshals a long walk-in-and out!