Extreme boredom: Hong Kong's top runners blast 50km 'ultramarathon' on a single street
Monotonous and boring is the verdict of local stars
“It will be boring and very difficult, if not dizzy, for the runners who will have to do 25 laps of the same stretch of road,” said Thomas Kiprotich, record-holder in the half-marathon race at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.
“A one-kilometre stretch is far too short. Ideally it should be at least 2.5 kilometres so that each leg is five kilometres. This would only mean running up and down 10 times, but doing it 25 times is far too much.”
Another top distance runner, Michelle Lowry, said: “I don’t mind monotonous courses, but this is a bit extreme monotony for my tastes. I would say that it takes a special kind of runner to want to do this run. I am not an ultra-marathoner, and I am recovering from injury, so I will not take part.
“However there could be benefits with crowd support and family and friends could come and support without much effort. I think organisers should survey the entrants to see if they find the course appealing or if they want a less monotonous course,” Lowry added.
Top men’s runner Stefano Passarello added: "While the support from the crowds will make it less monotonous, what I’m more worried about is the pollution.”
The Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association which is organising the race for the first time, has defended its decision to hold the race on a one-kilometre long section of Lung Wo Road in Central saying “it was the first trial of this distance” and that they had plans to increase the length in the future.
More than 300 runners have registered for the individual race which will be held on March 1.
