first person

Andy Yeung Chun-pong, 26, a marketing officer, is among 37,000 people taking part in Sunday's Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon, half-marathon and 10km race. He explains what inspired him to join the event and how he hopes it can set an example for young people.

There is a lot of talk about how children watch too much television and don't do enough sport in Hong Kong but I think there is a lot more choice nowadays and a much wider range of sport available to young people. There is more diversity and children are doing more exercise, not less.

They can play rugby, they can go bowling, they can play volleyball. When I was younger, I never had as much opportunity to do different sports. When I was at school, there was football and basketball and nothing else.

Today, there is that choice and parents can pay for their children to do different sports, such as rugby or baseball. People assume that because they're not playing traditional sports that they're not doing enough exercise but I don't think that's the case. I think there's just more diversity.

The Hong Kong marathon sets a good example for young people. Children are too young to do that kind of long distance run but they may be influenced by their parents if they take part. They may even train with their parents and get into a habit of running. I think it's a good thing if parents take part as a way of getting their children interested and involved in sport.

Pollution can be a problem when you're training. I'm lucky because I train along the seashore and there is no pollution there usually. But when you are running along busy areas like Central or Causeway Bay some people if they have respiratory problems can find it quite a challenge. If you do more sport, and exercise more regularly, I think you can overcome that. I hope that on Sunday we get sunshine and a decent breeze.

This is going to be the first time I have taken part in such an event. I've known about the event for years of course but this time I wanted to give it a shot myself. It's a big event and I wanted to take part in it to feel the atmosphere and see what it's like to be involved.