“Hong Kong has more to offer than most people realise. Over the past couple years I’ve begun to explore more of what it has to offer and even after a lifetime in HK have only recently seen areas and views for the first time. Saturday morning was once a time to lie in with a pounding headache but is now generally a time to enjoy the outdoors and push further. That’s not to say those hangovers don’t still happen, just maybe not as frequently. Currently, I’m running to take part in ultra-marathons – after all the longer you go for the more of the outdoors you get to see. And that’s why I run.” – Ben Lee

Anyone that lives in Hong Kong knows that finding clear, un-polluted and colourful weather is hard to come by, so to find these moments, this film project took us a year to complete. But when these days do arrive, there is nowhere is the world quite like Hong Kong. It’s famous skyline is what has made Hong Kong so famous but also, one of the only things people think of when the hear of Hong Kong. What people don’t know is that 40% of HK consists of country parks and nature reserves and that you can find spectacular views and trails only 20 minutes from the city. It was our goal to showcase the other side of HK and that is not just a home to one of the worlds most famous skylines.

There are days that I find myself craving the winding, rolling, hairpin traverses of the single track.  I am a runner, but I am not the type of runner who trains on a schedule or races towards goals.  Ney. I am a runner that loves the freedom I feel when I am zipping past overgrown meadows, or swinging Tarzan style on low lying branches, or launching myself to do side kicks off some rollies (must be the skier in me).  I run to be free.  I have no training schedule, no timers, no watches, and no idea of how far I am going to run that day.  Just running for hours. Well mostly running.

When I get to a trailhead, my regimen usually consists of lacing up my kicks, turning on that perfect playlist and then hitting the dirt.  Here is my dirty little secret: I find myself being pulled into the music and the trail so much I break out and start dancing.  Yeah, that’s right.  Dancing.  Even for a few seconds just to drop the beat and then I am pounding the dirt again.  It has become an addiction.  I find myself doing handstands, popping off tree stumps, using trees as imaginary dance partners; you name it.  By the time I know it, a few hours have gone by and I feel glorious! It’s as if the trail has a story to tell and I am its evolution witnessing the changing scenery and discovering what’s just around that corner.  I am celebrating the journey.  It is here that I have found my happy place.

It hasn’t always been this way.  I used to run on a training schedule, with watches to measure my pace and with a goal in mind.  Rarely, did I finish a run with the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. It felt like work.  Lately, that smile is guaranteed and instead of work it feels like play. The craving I get is not a craving for the physical act of running. It’s a craving for the experience, the feeling I get when I am in that mode, in that place, getting lost in the magic of the trail.