Places for wheelchair athletes in marathon
Wheelchair athletes will be able to join the Standard Chartered marathon for the first time next year, but only experienced racers need apply.
Marathon chairman William Ko Wai-lam said the steep course made it unsafe for first-timers.
'The steepness of the slope on the competition route just reaches the minimum international standard. There have been a lot of measures adopted to ensure safety,' Ko said.
To qualify for the race, which is to be held on a 10-kilometre course separate from the main marathon, wheelchair entrants must have competed in at least one similar event.
The last time wheelchair athletes entered a Hong Kong marathon was in 1998 in the event held to mark the opening of the new airport, but that course was easier.
Yukio Seki, an international technical official from the International Paralympic Committee, was invited to travel from Japan to Hong Kong to give technical and safety advice for next year's event. 'The level of difficulty of the Hong Kong route is just average compared with other similar races. However the hilly layout could be quite tough for less experienced contestants,' Seki said.
He said the wheelchair marathon would be conducted separately from the other events to avoid the possibility that wheelchairs might run backwards on the uphill sections and hit other contestants.
Ko said safety pads would be set up on the slopes to minimise the chances of injury if contestants ran out of control.
There are 20 places up for grabs in the wheelchair event, allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Starting at 4.30am, the race will run along the Island Eastern Corridor to Victoria Park.
The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has received 65,000 applications this year, the highest number of participants ever for the main event.
