Sheer Maddess - family finishes, baby and all

A 10-month-old baby girl beat a lot of runners home yesterday - thanks to her dad.

Michael Maddess, race director of the Action Asia Foundation, carried his daughter, Amber, in his backpack as he made it a family day to remember. Also running with Maddess were his father, Glen and wife, Margie.

'She has a seatbelt on and it's on very tight so there was no chance of her falling out,' said Hong Kong-based Canadian Maddess. 'I had to put her down and let my wife take care of her for a minute, while I used the toilet during the race. Actually, it's great training for me because I intend to compete in the Hong Kong Greenpower 50km race coming up in two weeks' time,' he said.

'She's pretty heavy. She's over 20 pounds [9kg] definitely,' said Maddess of his baby. 'It's not so much the weight, it's trying to run with the weight.

'I didn't see anybody else carrying a baby. A lot of people kept coming over to us and taking photos with their mobile phones, which surprised us. I thought it was more difficult for my 67-year-old father to run the 10km race.'

The Maddess family finished the race in 1:20. 'My father wanted to run in it. He wouldn't run without us, so we all ran together.'