Richard Zinkiewicz - Personal Blog - Hiking the MacLehose Trail

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Hiking the MacLehose Trail – Pushing the Limit

Most people who know me know I'm an outdoor person who specially enjoys hiking a lot. My prime years of this activity were mostly here in Hong Kong after I left Ernst and Young and tried my hand as a quasi entrepreneur. It was from 1991 to '96 that I hiked and climbed the MacLehose Trail, the experiences of which have significantly molded me into who I am today.

So what is the MacLehose Trail? If you only know Hong Kong as a metropolis of concrete and neon signs, the notion of hiking here may seem a bit farfetched. Yet, Hong Kong is a marvellous place for hiking, and the MacLehose Trail is one of its famous hiking routes. Named after the longest serving governor of Hong Kong, Crawford Murray MacLehose, this 100-kilometre long trail crosses over some of the toughest terrain in the capital. It starts in the east from Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung, to the west territory of Teun Mun. The trail is 2 ½ times a marathon (1,000 kms)and twice the height of Mount Everest in terms of elevation change.

My first tackle with MacLehose began when I joined the Trailwalker in 1991. The Trailwalker (now called the Oxfam Trailwalker), is one of the largest fundraising sporting events in Hong Kong which takes place annually in November. Since 1986 it has had more than 58,000 participants raising over HK$270 million to support Oxfam’s various poverty alleviation and emergency relief projects in Africa and Asia, including Hong Kong and mainland China. Historically, when Hong Kong was still a British colony, the Trailwalker was used as an endurance training regimen for the Gurkhas (or Gorkhas) who originated from Nepal and northern India. The Gurkhas were thought to possess physical strength, resilience and aggressive qualities, among other warlike attributes, and were thus recruited by the British to serve in the colonial army.

Getting back to the Trailwalker...basically this is a challenging race consisting of teams of four who are sometimes people you know like friends, but often times they are colleagues; otherwise, they are acquaintances. The trail has 10 sections to it, up and down, and each team must be together through each checkpoint. Mind you, this is not a relay and you all have to finish. Some people walk and some people run. Obviously, there's a core group of kind of very aggressive people who compete all the time. You can imagine that with varying levels of fitness amongst the members, the strongest and most fit would have no choice but to wait for the slowest of the pack to catch up.

I've done the Trailwalker 5 times -- I finished 3 and twice was unable to complete it. My best time of completing the trail is 20 hours. The record I think is 12 1/2 hours. A good time would be anything below 25...in fact, anything below 30 hours is a good time. The maximum they allow is 48 hours.

To be able to compete in the Trailwalker, I needed to train twice a week, after work, and in the evenings when it was cooler. I learned a lot about myself during this time. I learned that I'm very competitive. I learned that when I hit my physical or psychological limit it takes a lot of determination to overcome your desire to quit and to continue and not stop. I learned that as you get older, it gets more difficult to get up and go despite the fact that you have more experience and are thus wiser and more familiar with the track.

The Trailwalker was a good experience for me. I grew up raised by my mother who was a single parent. Anyway, I think I needed some military training after going through some soft discipline back then, so to compensate I underwent 5 seasons of training for the MacLehose. For one thing, it gave me confidence in terms of my physical abilities. It also gave me confidence in my ability to overcome my limitations when I hit the wall, psychologically. It taught me that physical strength is not as important as mental strength.

I would encourage anyone to try the MacLehose or something similar. Apart from discovering your capabilities in pushing the limit, you also learn a lot about team dynamics. It is an interesting experience both in terms of personal and group development.

Interesting story? How about sharing?

Friday, March 20, 2009 5:41:02 PM (China Standard Time, UTC+08:00)

Richard Zinkiewicz
Group Director for International Operations
QI Ltd

Richard Zinkiewicz is Group Director for International Operations on the Board of QI Ltd, a global conglomerate with over 25 offices worldwide, including 3 major centres in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Joining QI in April 1999 as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Zi, as he is popularly known, has been a critical member of the core management team responsible for the Group's expansion through vertical integration of its core businesses, balancing of cash flow needs, and diversification into new business sectors through investment opportunities.

Mr. Zinkiewicz has over 25 years international business experience, initially qualifying as a Canadian Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young), and later on holding key senior positions in Canada, Europe and Asia. It was in the early 90's where Mr. Zinkiewicz gained a deep understanding of the powerful and unique network marketing business model and the art of balancing and managing the needs of the company against the needs of its distributors.

It was this experience that kept him in good stead when he joined QI Ltd, whose flagship subsidiary, QuestNet, operated as an international direct selling and network marketing company. In the years that followed, he helped with the phenomenal growth of the QI Group of Companies, representing the Group as its public spokesperson and advocating the tremendous potential of the network marketing industry in different parts of the world as well as proudly touting its corporate mission of RYTHM (Raise Yourself To Help Mankind) and its consensus management style decision making.

Born in Poland on a farm outside Luban, Mr. Zinkiewicz moved to Canada with his mother and sister at the age of 10. He was significantly influenced by his mother whom he considers his true hero and from whom he learnt his most important lesson, the importance of black and white honesty. He says, "the human mind often tends to rationalise in the grey area, but my mother taught me the importance of simple, straight forward and sincere honesty''.

Surprisingly, apart from his mother, his heroes are not any major world leaders of the past or present, but everyday people that he meets in the course of his life. "I believe you can learn a little bit from everyone, even and especially those you may not like much because those are lessons you will remember always." He counts his elementary math teacher and a former boss in Ernst & Whinney as two significant people who helped shape his thinking. He respects and admires historic explorers, international athletes, and anybody who embodies the attributes of hard work and excellence.

His philosophy in life is simple, "everyday I remind myself it is important I do something positive to help someone and leave the world a better place to live in".

An avid outdoor person, Mr. Zinkiewicz hikes regularly, works out at the gym and loves adventure sports. When he is not zipping around the world closing business deals, he lives in Hong Kong with his wife Vanessa Liu and their two dogs, Oscar and Milky.