Primary and secondary students are being encouraged to support local and international marathon running under a promotion project launched yesterday.
It is one of the new activities featuring in the Marathon 101 Education Programme - co-organised by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association for the second consecutive year - to promote the sport to youngsters.
Under the programme, youngsters will also get the chance to be amateur reporters on the day of next year's Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. A race date has not yet been set.
The students will be able to participate in a series of community services to realise the 'marathon spirit'.
A cross-curricular project-based teaching kit on the marathon theme is also available for participating schools. Ben Hung, acting chief executive at Standard Chartered Bank, said the marathon spirit - which he referred to as 'never give up' - was a major component of marathons. He said that although marathons were usually limited to people older than 16, their spirit could be experienced by people of all ages. The programme was to help youngsters understand the sport through education.
HKAAA vice-chairman Alexander Leung Hong-shun said he hoped the programme would help more students to understand the meaning of a marathon. 'Marathon is not only a kind of sport but also an attitude of life,' he said.
