Oxfam Trailwalker 2026: Hong Kong’s 100K Returns November 20 After a Housing-Estate Fire Halted the Race

Hong Kong

1Oxfam Trailwalker 2025 Was Canceled, but the Fundraising Rankings Still Came Out

On March 24, 2026, Oxfam held the awards ceremony for the 2025 event. Even the name was different: an awards ceremony doubling as a thank-you event for the Tai Po fire “Solidarity Support Programme.” More than 1,700 households registered for the Oxfam-run program, and each received HK$5,000 in emergency aid.

On stage were the standings from a race no one got to walk. Hyatt Hotels Corporation finished first overall in fundraising, followed by BANDS Financial Limited at No. 2 and Bank of America at No.

3. The convenor of the Oxfam Trailwalker Steering Group said participants’ actions showed that “the Trailwalker spirit extends from the mountains into the community.” Oxfam counts the 2026 race as the 41st edition, explaining that the event itself did not go ahead in the mountains for five years.

Since 1986, more than 100,000 people have walked it, raising over HK$600 million. That’s why this race is different from the moment a team signs up. Every entry comes with a commitment to raise at least HK$8,000.

Oxfam TrailwalkerFri, November 20, 2026 · D-51 · Hong KongSee race details

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2The Teams That Took On the 100K on Their Own the Year the Race Was Canceled

When the event was canceled, Team 0002, going by the name BofA Bulls, decided to walk it anyway. According to footage posted on the Patrick Law YouTube channel, the team covered 58 kilometers in 13 hours and 56 minutes on day one and 42 kilometers in 9 hours and 55 minutes on day two. That added up to 23 hours and 51 minutes, with 4,850 meters (about 15,900 feet) of elevation gain.

They carried their own food and resupplied only twice: after finishing the first day and at Tsuen Kam Au on the second. At 34K, the team member in the video looked at ease: “Feeling strong after 34 km. Looking forward to the rest.”

The team raised HK$360,000 for Oxfam and people displaced by the Tai Po fire. A team including the host of the Chinese running podcast 跑者日历 also covered the full MacLehose Trail, carrying all of its own supplies. The channel description mentions hypothermia at night, short sleeps, and run-ins with troops of monkeys, and notes that the group split between those who sensibly came down off the mountain and those who kept going.

Team 0499, made up of alumni, waited until the following year. On April 18, 2026, it set out on the same 100K route, self-supported.

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3Reading the Oxfam Trailwalker Course Through Team 0002’s Water Stops

The race starts at Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung. It follows most of the MacLehose Trail, plus the paths that extend from it, running from distance post M001 to M174. Trace the spots where Team 0002 refilled its water, in order, and the course’s skeleton appears: Sai Wan at 15K, Pak Tam Au at 25K, Shui Long Wo at 34K and Lion Rock Pavilion at 50K.

Day two brings Lead Mine Pass at 68K, Tsuen Kam Au at 78K and Tin Fu Tsai at 87K. Past M174, the course leaves the trail for the Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail, passes the Tai Tong barbecue area and climbs the Tai Lam Forest Track. The finish is at Harrow International School Hong Kong in Tuen Mun, and just before it comes a long staircase dropping down toward Tsing Ying Road.

On race day, there are nine checkpoints and one control point. Neither the start nor the finish is near an MTR station. The 2025 transport guide listed special race-morning buses to Pak Tam Chung: the 33R from Tsuen Wan, the 96R from Diamond Hill station and the 289R from Sha Tin Central, with the regular 94 also passing through.

From the finish, participants leave on regular buses along Castle Peak Road. Hong Kong’s average November temperature is 21.6°C (about 71°F). The 2024 race was held in rain, wind, and mud, and Oxfam called it one of the toughest editions in recent years.

Before you pack, check the rain forecast.

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4All 4 Team Members Must Finish Together to Record a Time—48-Hour Cutoff

All four team members must stay together between checkpoints and check in together. If even one member hasn’t arrived, the other three can’t leave the checkpoint. Every checkpoint has a closing time, and the rules say participants who arrive after it can be disqualified.

Organizers assign each team one of four start times—8 a.m., 9:30 a.

m., 11 a.m.

or 12:30 p.m.—and it can’t be changed without their approval.

Rule 12 defines the race. A team’s time is taken when its fourth member reports to the finish officials, and no individual times are recorded. That changes how a team gets faster.

Pushing the fastest member harder doesn’t help much; cutting the slowest member’s stops does. In 2024, 2,877 people started the 100K and 2,022 finished, a finish rate of 70.3 percent. The winning team finished in 11 hours, 42 minutes, and 53 seconds, and the last team came in at 47 hours and 28 minutes.

More than 35 hours separated them. Somewhere in between, at 46 hours and 46 minutes, one team came in. It was a special-school team that has been bringing students to the race for 12 years.

They made it with 1 hour and 14 minutes to spare before the 48-hour cutoff.

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5HK$120 Application Fee, HK$8,000 Minimum Fundraising—Even Teams That Don’t Start Must Meet It

There are three payments. The HK$120 team application fee is nonrefundable, even for teams that miss out in the ballot. Teams that get in then pay a HK$1,600 entry fee by the deadline.

On top of that, every team must raise at least HK$8,000 and hand it to Oxfam by December 23, 2026 (Pledge Teams, which commit to at least HK$50,000, are the exception). Registration for 2026 opened at 10 a.m.

on May 6 and closed at 6 p.m. on May 20.

The general ballot was drawn on June 2, with results announced June 3. Successful teams had from June 9 until 6 p.m.

on June 30 to pay the entry fee and submit details for all four members; after that, their spots went to teams on the waiting list. Entrants must be 18 or older on race day and hold a Hong Kong identity card or a valid travel document. The rules single out two categories worth knowing.

To enter as an Elite Team, at least three members must have finished within 24 hours at one or more of the last three editions (2022, 2023 or 2024). The other is fundraising: teams that raise HK$38,000 or more get priority entry the following year as a “Special Team.” The heaviest line sits in parentheses in Rule 5.

The HK$8,000 minimum applies equally to teams that don’t show up on race day and teams that drop out along the way.

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6Oxfam’s 50th-Anniversary 20K Debuts on Tai Mo Shan on November 21

One category exists only in 2026: the Oxfam Hong Kong 50th Anniversary 20K. It starts on Saturday, November 21, from the Rotary Park parking lot on Tai Mo Shan and finishes at Harrow International School, the same finish as the 100K. There’s one checkpoint and an 8-hour cutoff.

Teams go off in waves every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to 2 p.

m. Teams are still made up of four, but the bar is lower. Only the team leader needs to be 18 or older; other members can be as young as 14 (those under 18 need parental consent).

The application fee is HK$80, the entry fee HK$1,600 and the fundraising minimum HK$6,000. A team with three members under 18 is placed in the youth category. One more line in the rules is worth noticing.

A 20K team that raises HK$38,000 or more also gets priority entry as a Special Team for the 2027 100K. In other words, walking the short course can get you around the 100K ballot. The 40th-anniversary category, held once in 2024, had a winning time of 5 hours and 46 minutes, but only 47.9 percent of starters finished.

A shorter race doesn’t mean everyone makes it to the end.