Accountants raise HK$1.1 million in annual rickshaw race
All dressed up, accountants take on the annual rickshaw race challenge - and raise HK$1.1 million
Rickshaws replaced cars on busy Chater Road yesterday as many of the city's accountants descended on Central for a day of fun, and fundraising.
There was also a marching band, live music, a costume parade, and of course a rickshaw race - all in the name of charity.
It was the 16th year the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has organised the charity fun day.
Some 37 teams from the city's accountancy firms, companies and universities competed in the 260-metre rickshaw relay.
And competitors put as much effort into their colourful costumes and rickshaws as they did the race. Dressed as a soldier - part of the Sino-Pacific Palisades team's theme - Wallace Ng Chun-wo said: "We are one of the outstanding costume teams every year. And this year, we wanted to bring a little bit of fairytale magic to the race." They were second runner-up in the costume award.
And if you were wondering what the construction workers were doing in the race, that was just the Belle International team. Competing for the fourth year, they were decked out in red jumpsuits with yellow helmets and safety vests, "to build a society with care, love and peace". The team's Jason Leung Wing-kei said: "Our company has been supportive of the race because it raises money for smaller NGOs."
But it was the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu team that won the race, finishing in just 51.09 seconds - followed by Ernst & Young and Sino Group of Hotels.
The fun day raised HK$1.1 million for Jubilee Ministries, Otic Foundation and Project Concern Hong Kong. The funds will be used for projects to help elderly and disabled people in need.
Since it began in 1997, the annual charity day has raised more than HK$12 million, which has gone to many charity groups.
Rickshaws were once a means of transport in Hong Kong - with almost 3,500 of them plying the streets in 1924. That number fell to just below 1,000 in 1953, and by 1997 there were only seven holders of the government-issued rickshaw licences.
