Christy Yiu blitzes half-marathon field in Japan – and smashes Hong Kong record

Christy Yiu Kit-ching made a stunning defence of her Ageo City Half-marathon title in Japan and in the process smashed the 13-year-old Hong Kong record set by Maggie Chan Man-yee.

The 27-year-old led from start to finish in a new Hong Kong mark of one hour, 12 minutes and 57 seconds, shattering Chan’s record of 1:14:22 that was set in Las Vegas in 2002.

Yiu’s time was also the fourth fastest run by a female athlete on the Ageo City course, in Saitama prefecture, and an astonishing 10 minutes faster than the second-placed Japanese runner.

“There was light rain for most of the race, but that was better than the hot sun and gusting winds we had last year,” said Yiu, who lives at Tai Po in the New Territories.

“To be honest I wasn’t expecting such a fast time as I didn’t perform all that well in the recent Asics 10km or the Japan 20km. I’m familiar with this course, so that was a big help to me.”