Martin Kennard's euphoria at winning the men's overall title in the AVOHK Reservoir Series at Wong Nei Chung Gap yesterday was dampened by the fact that he will not be competing in Sunday's Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.
Kennard, a 37-year-old primary school teacher, has enjoyed his best season, which included a personal-best time of two hours, 36 minutes and 22 seconds in December's Fukuoka Marathon, and also second place in the China Coast Marathon last month.
'I was planning to run the Standard Chartered Marathon, but by the time I made my mind up in November the field was already full,' said a disappointed Kennard, who ran the 11km course in 44:27 yesterday to seal the Reservoir Series title over second-placed Matthew Jones. 'I have entered the London Marathon in April so I'll probably focus my training on that race instead,' said Kennard.
Ironically, Darren Benson, the man who beat Kennard into second place in the China Coast event, has also failed to get into next week's 42.2km event, as the quota was also full by the time he sent in his application. 'I contacted the HKAAA to see if I would get an elite start, but was told I wasn't even in the race,' he said.