Ivan Li gains strength after being robbed while training in Kenya
Young athlete learns expensive life lesson during camp for high-altitude running
Ivan Li Chun-yin is so determined to make the podium in the senior 10km at tomorrow's Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon that he spent almost two months in Kenya to prepare - and as well as boosting his fitness, he learned an expensive lesson in being wary of strangers in a foreign country.
The 19-year-old from Chai Wan, who won the junior half-marathon at last year's event, graduated with a foundation diploma in business at IVE Chai Wan last summer. He was given an opportunity by Ivan Lo Ching-hin, a triathlete in the Hong Kong team, to train in Africa.
"Coach Lo has connections with the Robertson brothers, Zane and Jake, both top runners from New Zealand who base themselves in Kenya for high-altitude training.
I was forced to pay them 60,000 shillings, which is about HK$6,000, to settle this incident. I knew that if I didn't give them money I and my two coaches would go to jail
They agreed to coach and take care of me and I could train with their running group," said Li, who gave up the chance to study sports administration at IVE to head to Iten in December, a town with an altitude of 2,400m where many of the world's best long-distance runners train.
But the education came at a hefty price after an amateur runner from Somalia took advantage of the naive youngster.
"I was not alert enough and this guy from the same running group was trying to make friends with me. At first he always accompanied me to town and in January he partnered with a policeman to assist me to get back what he claimed was 'overpaid rent' at the guest house," said Li.
"But in the end, I was forced to pay them 60,000 shillings, which is about HK$6,000, to settle this incident. I knew that if I didn't give them money I and my two coaches would go to jail."