Hiking For Freedom is a 4-day challenge starting at midnight on March 24/25, 2021, traversing the long-distance trails of Hong Kong – the Maclehose, Wilson, Hong Kong and Lantau Trails – a total of almost 300km, with more than 18,600m of elevation gain/loss.
Lantau residents Catherine Cormack and Jo Lodder aim to not just finish but in the process raise at least HK$100,000 for Hong Kong charities: Stop Trafficking Of People (STOP) (https://stophk.org ) and Team for Animals in Lantau South (TAILS Lantau,
Why these charities?
STOP is working to end all forms of human trafficking, and supports its victims in Hong Kong, while TAILS Lantau finds forever homes for dogs and cats on Lantau. Catherine and Jo’s experiences of the work these hands-on charities do to fight abuse of people and animals has made them passionate about supporting them to do even more.
Who are Catherine and Jo?
Both are residents of Mui Wo, Lantau Island with a shared mania for hiking. Catherine is from Inverness in Scotland and is a veterinary clinical instructor at City U.
Besides loving to hike and run, she is also an avid climber. She has competed in the Lantau 2 Peaks, Lantau 50, Lantau 70, Hong Kong 100 Half and TransLantau 50 trail races, but Hike For Freedom will be Catherine’s longest challenge – further than all those races combined!
Jo Lodder is from Warwickshire in England and is a managing partner in SnowDog Village, a dog-friendly resort on Niseko, Japan. He takes his own dogs for a walk most mornings but sometimes doesn’t get back until the afternoon! He too has never hiked this sort of distance before but has shown form during lockdown, brushing off a broken collarbone during a 50km bike-and-hike challenge, and doing Lantau tip-to-tip with Catherine.
For Catherine and Jo, freedom is the right to live as we wish. They believe that extends to every human being and also to our pets, which is why they have chosen to do this challenge for the charities STOP and TAILS Lantau.
How can people help?
Catherine and Jo are asking for moral and monetary support.
Like, follow and share their events page:
Join them: help drive them between trails, keep them supplied or just hike a few kilometres
in support by reaching out through the Facebook page above.
