At the heart of The Tinworth Trail lies a deep sense of homage to Nic Tinworth, a remarkable Hong Kong resident who left an indelible mark on the trail running and social media spheres. Nic, a true trail running evangelist, departed from this world far too soon in 2020. Determined to commemorate his legacy, Will Hayward and his friends have embarked on the ambitious endeavor of bringing The Tinworth Trail to life.

The Tinworth Trail spans an impressive 90 kilometers, encompassing diverse terrains and captivating scenery. Beginning at the northeastern corner of Hong Kong's territory in Sha Tau Kok, the trail meanders southwest through the picturesque landscapes of the New Territories. Crossing the bay, it then continues its course, revealing the breathtaking wonders of Lantau Island. Designed to ignite the adventurous spirit within Hong Kong's runners and hikers, The Tinworth Trail promises a fresh challenge, beckoning both seasoned and aspiring outdoor enthusiasts to embrace the thrill of exploration. 

We had the opportunity to speak with Will Hayward and gain insight into the inception of The Tinworth Trail.

Hi Will, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Could you tell us the story behind your journey into trail running? How did you become involved in trail running sport?

“I’ve always run but earlier in my life it was to get fit for sports like football and basketball. In my 30s I started to run more and ran my first ultramarathon when I was 42. I’m now 55 and have run 42 of them! My day job is a university professor of Psychology; currently I’m the Dean of Social Sciences at Lingnan University, which means I manage four Departments at the university.”

Can you share your role and involvement in the exciting new Tinworth trail project? What was your vision or inspiration for creating The Tinworth Trail?

“The Tinworth Trail was a mash-up of two ideas. First, our friend Nic Tinworth passed away in 2020 and a few of us thought it would be great to find some way to commemorate him. Nic was a central person in the establishment of the Hong Kong trail running scene. Second, I started look at maps of Hong Kong’s famous Four Trails and wondered where a 5^th trail would go. As I played with the map a new route emerged. Pretty quickly we had the thought to combine these ideas and create the Tinworth Trail.”

The Tinworth Trail, a newly introduced 90km course, has generated a lot of interest. How did you go about finding the route and establishing the necessary connections to create this unique trail experience? How did you select the location for The Tinworth Trail, and what makes it unique? What are the key features and highlights that runners can expect along The Tinworth Trail?

“Initially we thought about trails in Hong Kong that are not on the other Four Trails; places like Robin’s Nest on the northern border, Tai To Yan between Fanling and Kadoorie Farm, and Lo Fu Tau (Tigerhead) above Discovery Bay. As we tried to join them up it became clear there was a Northeast to Southwest line that we could create. Then it was fun exploring all the trails in between and seeing how we could link them up but stay off the other Four Trails. In the end we have about 4km of the Maclehose Trail and 700m of the Lantau Trail and the rest of the Tinworth Trail stays off the other ones.

The Tinworth Trail is all on public land, but we were able to choose some parts that are little more challenging than you’ll find on the other Four Trails. In 3 or 4 places the trail winds its way tightly through trees and shrubs so runners and hikers will have to push through them to find their way. These “shiggy” trails were a great favourite of Nic’s and so we think including them is a fitting tribute. Because we stay off the Four Trails, we often give people new vantage points to see Hong Kong from an unusual perspective. For example, even though the trail goes over Tai Mo Shan, just like the Maclehose Trail, we found a back trail above Kadoorie Farm that gives a very different view north than most people will have seen. Hopefully we can give people attempting the Tinworth Trail a new perspective of the place we all call home.

One feature of the Trail that we’ve borrowed from the Four Trails is to break it into 10 sections, each of which has a start and a finish. So, most people will do 1-2 sections of the Trail at most on a single day. This presented some additional challenges to ensure that we could break the overall Trail down into smaller units that were more tractable.”

Are there any interesting stories or anecdotes related to the development of The Tinworth Trail that you can share?

“A group of us spent last summer trying different trails to figure out the best ways to connect them all together. At one stage we rerouted it to avoid some aggressive dogs. Another time we changed a section in order to run past a shop where you can get food and a cold drink. Finally, we included a part of Section 5 which in the village of Chuen Lung goes right through a restaurant – not many other trails do that!

One interesting development has been that the trails have been changing since we launched the concept. Some of the very rough trails have been upgraded by the government in Sections 1 and 3. Some of the shiggy sections have had more people through them and so the vegetation is not quite so dense. The Trail feels quite organic, changing shape as people use it more.”

What has been the response from the running community regarding the Tinworth Trail, considering we already have four well-established major trails?

“When we launched the trail, we had no idea if people would actually want to do it, but the response has been excellent. After we launched in November 2022, we had lots of people hiking and running it over Christmas and Chinese New Year. We get lots of people checking out the website each week and we can see people completing sections on Strava. Increasingly I’ll hear about someone who heard of the Trail through friends or social media, so it is propagating through Hong Kong and beyond.”

Do you anticipate the Tinworth Trail becoming the fifth official trail, recognized and marked by the government?

“The Tinworth Trail is a community-led initiative – as such, we haven’t sought any official recognition, which allows us to maintain maximum flexibility. This means there are no physical signs, but our website provides GPX files that you can download for your phone or smartwatch, and this seems very effective for people.”

Now that the trail is established and your website is up and running, what are your next steps? Are you actively monitoring trail usage? Do you have any plans to organize events on the Tinworth Trail?

“We have led runs and hikes on the Trail and plan to do more of that. Eventually we’d like to generate media content from the trail, e.g., photos and video, given that much of the Trail is absolutely stunning and really shows off the beauty of Hong Kong.”

TRAILME has recently made their courses available on the App. Can you share your thoughts on the collaboration between TRAILME and the Tinworth Trail?

“We want to improve people’s ability to access the trail and record their experiences upon it. TRAILME is a nice way to do that and will provide the route to a new group of users. We are really excited to allow more people access to the Trail and hope to work with TRAILME to create a good model of how that can be done.”

https://www.tinworthtrail.com/

_{^{Photo credit to 仁在野}}