Hong Kong team manager Ng Fai-yeung last night admitted he had taken a race-number bib from a male team member so he could join Sunday's Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon field and 'cheer up' a female member of the team in the critical latter stages of the race.
Race organisers last night confirmed they were investigating allegations that two runners in the race were found to be wearing the same number.
Ng said he believed he had been acting in the best interests of the Hong Kong team when he acquired one of the race-number bibs issued to Hong Kong team member Lau Kwong-man and used it to join the field at the 33km point of the 42.195km race, which attracted a field of about 7,000 runners. Ng said he had earlier taken part in one of the 10km races.
'I won't say I wanted to be a pace-setter, but it is an open secret that many runners have their own pace-setters and I just wanted to try and cheer up Ada Leong Yuen-fan,' Ng said.
'Leong was in a good position to help Hong Kong achieve a good placing and I wanted to do all I could to help her.'
Lau and Leong were both members of Hong Kong's team competing in the Greatest Race On Earth marathon series, which sees teams compete in four international city marathons.
