Dark 45: Hong Kong Trail Runner’s Guide to the Iconic Night Race

What Is The Dark 45 Race?

Picture this: It's midnight in Hong Kong's New Territories, the air's thick with humidity, and you're toeing the line for a 45km beast of a Hong Kong trail running race—complete with 2,800m of elevation gain, slippery mud from a pre-race drizzle, and zero daylight to guide you. It’s a dream for a Hong Kong trail runner, but it could be a nightmare too!  Welcome to Dark 45—the ultimate night trail run on the iconic Maclehose Trail (Sections 4-8), organized by The Peak Hunter (TPH) crew and led by trail legend Wong Ho Chung.

This isn't your sunny Maclehose—it's a midnight romance from Shui Long Wo campsite (Sai Kung) to Tsuen Kam Au (Tsuen Wan), crossing Hong Kong's wild east-to-west frontier.

• The Twist: Yes the race starts at 00:00 on Saturday night. 900 pieces of 50cm length reflective orange ribbons and headlamps are your only light until sunrise! With a 14-hour cutoff, you’ll be greeted at the finish line with a medal, a well-deserved beer, and breakfast! See how fast you are!
• The Big Big Boss: Like a fireworks finale, the route ends with Needle Hill, Grassy Hill, and Tai Mo Shan's soul-crushing summit, where your mental fortitude and legs are the last resort to success!
• The Crew: The TPH elite squad runs a tight ship, with amazing support and uplifting vibes at each checkpoint. A big shoutout to Wong Ho Chung, Viann, and the whole crew for creating such a special Hong Kong trail running event. It’s not just a Hong Kong trail race; it’s a community in action.
  
  

Why Dark 45 Is More Than A Race?

Beyond the stats and the finish line, the Dark 45 is an elevating journey. What you trade for a good night's sleep is an experience of a lifetime. A deep breath before the start, thinking about how your body feels, your strategy, how your friends or competitors will do, what the weather will be like—it’s a sense of being in your rightful place, like a quiet, almost invisible alignment that holds everything else together. It is perhaps dreaming just enough to stay upright, and to simply walk, run, and exist.

The first hours of the race are a surreal sight: looking up and ahead, a shimmering snake of tiny headlights winding through the dark mountains, a breathtaking galaxy of human stars in front of you. A quick stop from The Lion’s Rock to look backward offers an incredible view of the city lights, a reminder of the world you've left behind. The Hong Kong skyline at night is undefeated—words and pictures won’t do it justice, but it’s an amazingly beautiful thing to witness the city sleeping from above.

Running familiar trails in the quiet of the night is a transformative experience. Without the visual distractions of daylight, your senses heighten. The sound of your own breathing, the soft sound of footsteps, the cracking branch and leaves—it all brings a singular focus to the path ahead, illuminated by a small circle of light from your forehead. At that moment, nothing else matters, only yourself and how you breathe, how you run. You may even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a sleeping animal, undisturbed by the night runners.

And then comes the dawn. After hours of battling the dark, the first hint of sunrise is a profound, emotional moment. It’s a new day! It's a powerful reminder that despite your appetite to push your legs or your fatigue to continue, life goes on. In a simple, almost un-noticeable moment, it is the return of color to the sky, and the morning light revealing the path ahead—it’s a beautiful reward for your perseverance.

Photo by Ccube Andrew

From the Sidelines to the Starting Line

Flashback Rewind to October 2024. We were starting our training for Marathon Des Sables Cappadocia and running down Tai Mo Shan when we stumbled into a race. Little did we know it was the tail end of Dark 45. At the finish line, we spotted Wong Ho Chung cheering on the finishers.

Since we'd met earlier during an interview, we decided to give him a quick "Hi." We told him, "Next year, we will join!" Cut to a year later: That casual "hi" snowballs into a full-blown partnership. We launched the INVISIBLE TRAIL Merino Socks and T-Shirt collab with TPH—just in time for Dark 45 2025.

On October 12, 2025, founders Devana and Flavien lined up for their first Dark 45 race.

What The Dark 45 Race Meant For Invisible Company?

For Invisible Company, Dark 45 wasn't about podium dreams (are you sure?)—it was a double validation.

Validation Number 1: After 12 months developing our Merino running gear, seeing the socks—orange, green, or mix-and-match—on dozens of runners' feet felt like emerging from the unseen!

On that day, the rain turned the trail into a slip-n-slide, but feedback post-race was pure gold. Runners raved: "The socks stayed dry and comfy—no blisters, even after 6+ hours of mud wrestling!", “I didn’t expect that it would be so comfy like this, protecting my feet for the whole race!”

But here's the epic moment: we sponsored prizes not just for the winners of each category (the deserved glory hounds that they are) but for the last-finisher legends—the back-of-the-pack warriors who embrace every joy and pain with one step at a time. Because in trail running, the unseen heroes deserve the swag.

Validation Number 2: Our training and body condition were on the right track to chase the night monster race. The happy ending race moment for the team was Devana's discovery that she not only beat a personal record time but also finished in 3rd place in the female 30-39 years old category! And of course, she was wearing INVISIBLE TRAIL Merino Socks and Merino T-Shirt.

Photo by Ccube Andrew

Photo by Alan Wang for Dark 45

A Word for the Future

Moving forward from our 2024 "hey" to 2025's race and sponsor highlight. What's next? We're doubling down on Dark 45. Our goals:

• Personal Bests: Let’s run faster and beat our personal record time!
• Seeing the Invisible Feet to Tee: We aim to see more runners in the INVISIBLE TRAIL Merino collection. And who knows, maybe the Dark 45 2026 winners will be proudly flashing our company color all the way through the race!
• Impact Mode: We have a bold target—1,000kg of trash collected via cleanups, powered by 200+ volunteers. Because if we're visible on the trails, let's make 'em cleaner too.

Beyond the Sponsorship, Dark 45 reminded us why we started Invisible: Trails are not just terrain; they are unpaved pathways created by self-discovery and transformation. 

They are a place where you set goals, doubt those goals, but double down with grit to achieve them. You go through ups and downs, bumpy roads, moments of fog and clarity. But most importantly, trails are a place where each of us can go and find the inner voice and invisible power to chase a dream!

Ready to find your invisible power? Explore our INVISIBLE TRAIL collection.
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