No alcohol, thanks: the running enthusiasts who snub the party scene in favour of a sober life
- One is a lifelong teetotaller, others partied hard after moving to Hong Kong – where alcohol use is rising – until they got a wake-up call and quit drinking
- Runners talk about their experiences with alcohol and how they chose running over drinking
Growing up poor in a notorious part of Glasgow, Scotland, where employment and education standards were low and crime commonplace, Hong Kong’s Mo Devlin saw enough in his youth to set him on a path of lifelong sobriety.
“In my formative years I witnessed the effects of alcoholism on my parents and siblings,” said the 54-year-old. “It frightened me and I associated alcohol with violent, dysfunctional family behaviour. I thought that if I had even one drink I would end up like my parents – so I refrained.”
At the age of 14, Devlin took up running to overcome a debilitating health problem.
“I grew up with a serious asthma condition which often required hospitalisation and restricted my ability to participate in sport. I was told that the best thing to do was to strengthen my lungs, so I started running … [which] also helped me to escape the daily stress of my childhood.”
He started on the roads, building up from five kilometres (3.1 miles) and then went to a marathon, and clocked a personal best of two hours and 30 minutes back when he was still in his teens.
In 2004, he moved to Hong Kong to help develop soccer coaching in the city. A year later he joined the English Schools Foundation as a physical education teacher at Sha Tin College.