They clearly had the genes: brothers run the length of the Great Wall of China, 35 years after

Publish date: 2024-06-27

A Briton, Lindesay completed the journey unaided, relying on the kindness of strangers for accommodation and supplies, including a hospitable farming family the brothers visited on their trip.

For Lindesay senior, this was venturing into the great unknown, with sketchy maps, no mobile phone, basic equipment and the knowledge that a fall and injury in an isolated location would put him in deep peril.

The adventurer was arrested numerous times and, at one point, deported – only to secure a new passport, come back and continue the quest.

Three-and-a-half decades later, sons Jimmy, 28 and Tommy, 21, had the luxury of a backup crew, vehicles and supplies, but faced the hostility of villagers en route who were wary of outsiders during the pandemic.

The determined pair stuck it out, overcoming extreme weather and having to camp out in the wild. It took them 131 days, from midsummer to midwinter, to jog from the far western Great Wall outpost of Jiayuguan in Gansu province to the most easterly section, at Shanhaiguan, where the wall meets the ocean at Old Dragon’s Head.

“It was harder when my dad did his run – it was an entirely alien country and language,” says Tommy. “We understand a lot about how things work, which made it easier, and speak the language pretty fluently.

“Having said that, we have lived in China all our lives and made road trips before to all sorts of locations and met a lot of local people, but [we] never thought we would face so much hostility.

“You can see the distrust and fear in people’s eyes when you walk past them, but there is still a minority who are open-minded and will hear your story before making any judgments.

“We have had people help us by giving advice and information.”

The brothers’ two-vehicle support crew at times became an unexpected liability.

The runners were able to breeze past village barriers set up to deter outsiders – including a road that locals had blocked with rocks and dirt piles – and leg it across a particularly unwelcoming county.

Their transport did not have that flexibility and the vans were forced to take long, circuitous detours, with up to nine hours of driving in one instance.

Remarkably, the pair stayed injury-free, their bodies attuned to distance running from an arduous, pre-expedition training regimen. Before setting off, they also enlisted sponsorship from STEPN, a lifestyle and fitness app created by an Australian cryptocurrency company.

“Before the journey, I thought the biggest challenge would be the mileage and getting injured,” says Tommy. “Three years ago, we ran Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England.

“It was only three consecutive days of running – 45 kilometres, 30 kilometres and then 60 kilometres – but both of us got tendinitis. So the prospect of running 3,000 to 4,000 kilometres along the wall on consecutive days was daunting.

“Our daily routine was to run 1.5 kilometres and then walk 500 metres to keep the rhythm going. On average, including rest days and delays, we did 25 kilometres a day; on most running days we were doing 35 kilometres plus as we got fitter.”

Over the years, the pair had traversed long sections of the wall with their father as they hosted tour groups and filmed drone footage for documentaries. Lindesay senior is considered one of the foremost experts on the Great Wall and his sons are also deeply knowledgeable about it.

Not many people realise that the wall is, in parts, made of rammed earth and not the Ming dynasty brick of popular perception. Nor is it just the west-to-east 3,262-kilometre line that the brothers followed; there are various spurs that lead off the main route.

An official survey showed that the Ming Great Wall – the most visible parts of the barrier – alone totals a staggering 8,000 kilometres.

Even though they know the wall intimately, the lads are still regularly awed by its majesty, as they were on numerous occasions during this long-distance journey.

“There was one day in Shaanxi and it was really great weather, there were awesome clouds, the sun was shining through, visibility was amazing. We could see all the layers of mountains and the wall,” says Tommy. “We sat on a hill for 10 minutes just to take in the moment.

“In Hebei, [along] a well-preserved section which is one of our favourites, we didn’t see another person the entire day as we walked 10 kilometres and passed through 40 watchtowers. It was awesome.”

On the final leg of the trip, from their home base of Beijing to the coast, the decision was made to drop the support vehicles. Instead, the brothers bought a baby stroller to carry gear – an HK$8,000 (US$1,000) piece of finely engineered machinery, with disc brakes.

“I got the idea from the pilgrims who go to Lhasa [in Tibet], they push those big carts with five wheels that are almost like a cupboard on wheels to carry all their possessions. The one we bought, from [e-commerce platform] Taobao, was great!” says Jimmy. Taobao is owned by Alibaba Group Holding, which also owns the South China Morning Post.

Once at their final oceanside destination, the indefatigable explorers originally planned to head north to tackle yet another section of the Great Wall. That plan was foiled by a formidable series of checkpoints which made it impossible to progress.

Instead, they celebrated with pizza, a World Cup game and a few glasses of single malt Scotch whisky supplied by their beaming dad.

There were a number of groundbreaking achievements to toast: the first brothers to run the length of the Great Wall, the youngest to complete the run, and the first family where two generations have completed the trip.

Needless to say, William Lindesay, 66, holder of prestigious awards from the Chinese and British governments for his work preserving the Great Wall, as well as a citation from American-based international society the Explorers’ Club, was pleased as punch to see his sons succeed against massive odds.

“They have confounded me in their ability to do the mileage day after day and to avoid injury, and also the creative ways they went round obstacles and talked their way through certain situations,” says William.

“People ask me if I ever got lost when I did the run, and I say I was always lost! It is only when I got to bigger places that I knew where I was.

“My big concern was that, in the Covid environment, they would be lucky to progress for a couple of weeks. But they were determined. They have made me proud, they clearly had the pedigree and the genes.

“A year before they set off, I thought ‘Wow, this will be more of a luxury adventure than an expedition’, but fate had it that it turned into a hell of a psychological challenge that they endured, which was equal in magnitude to mine.

“In 1987, it was the challenge of China being closed to foreigners. Ironically, 35 years later, the whole of China was closed to foreigners and Chinese.”

Along the way, Lindesay, wife Wu Qi and Jimmy’s wife, Huiting, caught up with the lads to hand over a copy of the veteran explorer’s latest book, Wild Wall – a two-volume memoir documenting an adult life spent exploring the Great Wall, leading guided tours along it and being involved in conservation efforts.

Lindesay’s offspring are not ones to let the Wild Wall grass grow under their feet. Their life plan is to embark on a major expedition every five years, the next one from Beijing to the UK overland by bicycle.

Adds Tommy: “We are not elite enough to win medals but we love these adventures and it is a unique way of seeing the world. I think running and the Great Wall, and sports generally, will be a big part of our lives.

“The Chinese call the Great Wall Wanli Chancheng, which actually translates as ‘The Endless Wall’. There’s so much of it, and we can decide when we want to explore more.”

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