Hong Kong athlete of the year Christy Yiu eyes North Pole Marathon
The Olympian says she doesn’t know when she’ll compete again but would like to try running in extreme conditions
Hong Kong Olympian Christy Yiu Kit-ching has no idea when she will run a competitive marathon again but she has a good idea where – the North Pole.
“This is not a real competition but I want to accompany my husband to go for [the North Pole Marathon],” said Yiu, 29, who was voted Amateur Athletic Association’s women’s athlete of the year for 2016 yesterday. “He has not run a marathon for a long time and this is a good opportunity for him to pick up again. After all, it seems an interesting concept, running in extreme conditions.”
Her husband, Chan Ka-ho, is also a Hong Kong long-distance runner, holding the 3,000-metre and 3,000-metre steeplechase records.
Yiu, 29, who finished 36th at the Rio Games marathon, said her priority was to have a child before resuming competitive marathon running.
Another Rio Olympian, Chan Ming-tai, won the men’s award. The long jumper said his target was to improve his Hong Kong record of 8.12 metres, which he set last year, by at least three centimetres in order to meet the qualifying mark for the World Championships in London in August.
