Hong Kong Marathon chiefs apologise as ‘slowcoaches’ complain about cut-off times for elite group

The Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association apologised on Monday for the late notification of cut-off times for the 1,500-strong challenge group in the half-marathon on Sunday, but insisted only a small number of runners will be affected at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.

Organisers only informed the “elite group” over the weekend there would be two cut-off times for the 21.097 kilometres – one hour and 15 minutes at the toll plaza at the Western Harbour Crossing and two hours at point two at the junction of Hung Hing Road Marsh Road. And this ‘elite’ group will have to finish at Victoria Park within two hours and 25 minutes.

Some members of the group, however, were not happy and threatened to take their complaints to the Consumer Council.

The organisers said they introduced the new standard because they did not want “slow runners” in that group blocking the leading pack of the fastest full marathoners – a situation which would affect the event’s gold label status awarded by the International Amateur Athletics Federation.

“We have already cut down the size of the challenge group to 1,500 runners from 3,500 last year to avoid any potential blocking,” said association executive director Dennis Ng Yu-ho. “But then we were informed by the IAAF that the situation will affect our event status and that’s why we have to introduce the standard. The notice time is not ideal and we apologise and will have to improve communication with participants in future.”

“If you have some basic training, you should be able to finish within that standard for a half-marathon race,” said Chan, who completed last year’s race in 1:11:11. “You enter the challenge group because you want to do better, but two hours something to finish a half-marathon is nothing to boast about.”

It is believed the standard would only affect a small number of participants who entered through the association’s member clubs but were afraid they could not make the standards.

Public entry for the challenge group requires proof they can finish the race in 1:59 (men) or 2:07 (women) if they are 70 or above, but the association relied on its member clubs to screen their own participants.

The organisers said they may allow these slower runners, estimated to be around 100, to change to two other half-marathon groups which have no in-race cut-off times but only an overall three-hour limit.

Meanwhile, the police warned airport users on Sunday to plan ahead as traffic congestion would be expected because of road closures.

The organisers will start closing roads at midnight on Saturday until 1.30pm on Sunday.

“The traffic on Sunday morning will be seriously affected for those who travel to the airport,” the police said. Details of road closures can be found on the Transport Department website on Friday.

The annual showpiece boasts a maximum 74,000 runners in three categories – the 10k, half-marathon and full marathon. The first 10k race will begin on Hong Kong Island at 5.45am, while the marathon will start in Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui at 6.10am.