No rush: City's first Colour Run is just for fun

The Colour Run is not your ordinary race. Participants are not concerned with pace.

The untimed race only has two rules: wear white and finish plastered in paint in all colours of the rainbow.

More than 16,000 people will take part in the first Hong Kong version of the event today at AsiaWorld-Expo, part of a phenomenon that has swept the world since the first event in the United States four years ago.

Dubbed "The Happiest 5km on the Planet", the Colour Run has grown into 250 events, held in more than 50 countries with two million participants - and double the number of Facebook fans. It was inspired by the Indian holy spring festival of Holi, a carnival where participants play and paint themselves in colour.

Hong Kong's Colour Run has been long awaited, explained Nick Freyer, senior vice-president of events organiser IMG, as it took more than 18 months to secure a big enough venue.

"We could have held the race earlier for half the amount of people, but we knew the demand was too strong and would have left too many people sad for missing out," he said. The initial batch of 14,000 tickets sold out in eight hours; the remaining 4,000 VIP tickets sold out in two days.