With world watching, masses make Hong Kong Marathon a true success
It's an event that attracts competitors from around the globe but the real heroes are the locals, who show what makes this truly 'Asia's World City'
Forget the moans emanating from the transport lobby and from the tycoons who see their privileged double-parking spots taken away for one, whole morning once a year. Talk to the public and you'll soon find that shutting down the streets on a Sunday morning for an event that attracts 72,000 entrants - and thousands of spectators - is not a problem at all.
From 4am to 6am yesterday, those very same streets were abuzz as athletes or all shapes and sizes - and ability - readied themselves for action. They mingled with the dribs and drabs of the night before in the pre-dawn haze of the MTR, too, where you could find a strange mix of people wondering why they had left home so early and those wondering why they had stayed away from home so long.
Caroline Williams wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about as she made her way back to her hotel from a night out in Central. The 25-year-old, first-time visitor to Hong Kong from London perked up though hazy eyes when told there was a marathon and said she fancied taking a look.
It was probably a good thing, given her fragile state, that Williams got off one stop early - either by accident or design - because once you emerged from the subway at the Victoria Park exit, there was a crowd bustling and a drumming from off in the distance.
Inside the Cheering Zone, thousands were massed behind their colours. To one side there was the Li & Fung Group posse exhausted, one hopes, more from the 10km event than from any stress they might be feeling over their company's struggling fortunes.
Down the other end of the zone, you could find competitors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong being put through their post-race warm-downs by members of the school's faculty of medicine and sports staff.