Coroner in race death inquest queries why Hong Kong Marathon organisers did not get participants to self-evaluate their health
- Wong Wai-kuen asked why runners were not provided with questionnaires to assess their health
- Ng Cheuk-yue died one day after taking part in the marathon’s 10km race in 2015. Race organisers say this race has claimed the most lives in the event’s history
A coroner in an inquest into the death of a long-distance runner on Thursday flagged concerns about participants not being asked to self-evaluate their health before taking part in one of Hong Kong’s most popular races, after being told the entry-level race claimed the most lives in the past 19 years.
Coroner Wong Wai-kuen heard that the deceased, Ng Cheuk-yue, died one day after taking part in a 10km race at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on January 25, 2015.
The inquest, the first involving deaths at the annual sporting event, also learned that, despite the 10km run being the shortest category, it had experienced the most deaths in the 19 years since its inception.
Ng’s race began at 7:15am, the court heard on Thursday. But an hour later, he was found having collapsed near the end line in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay.
The young man was first brought to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai, before he was transferred to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, where he died the next day
His death prompted Wong to ask whether the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (HKAAA), the race organiser, had provided runners with questionnaires, a way the coroner said might have given them a chance to assess their own conditions and risks before the run.