Wheelchair athletes join the fun at Hong Kong Marathon

Fung Ying-ki has every right to rest comfortably on the laurels he accepted as a multiple gold-medal-winning Paralympian in fencing but almost seven years into retirement from that sport, he showed yesterday that he had lost none of his appetite for a contest.

The 33-year-old won the wheelchair half-marathon after covering the course in one hour, nine minutes and 56 seconds.

Fung said after a decade of competing at the very top level of fencing - during which time he collected three golds at the Paralympics in Sydney in 2000 and two more in Athens in 2004 - distance events had brought with them a welcome change of pace.

"I still like to compete," said Fung, who has been racing for three years. "But these days I do it more for fun."

While last year's wheelchair event raised eyebrows - and the ire - of athletes due to congestion and collisions, race organisers seemed to get things right this time around.

"It was windy out there, especially once you came out of the tunnel," explained Fung. "It made it tough. The good thing for us was the event was much better than last year. The organisers separated our starting time from the able-bodied runners so we weren't running into them. Last year that was a big problem, this year we were able to enjoy the race and not worry about that happening."