Wonder woman Chow defies the odds at Hong Kong Marathon

Of the 647 participants who sought medical help yesterday, it's a surprise Alison Chow Chi-ngan was not one of them. The 32-year-old defied the odds to finish as Hong Kong's leading woman in the marathon - five weeks after having knee surgery.

Chow had a cyst removed after suffering acute pain and then had to fight "mental illusions" to finish in two hours, 52 minutes and 56 seconds. It placed her sixth out of the 14 top runners in the Asian Marathon Championships, run concurrently with the marathon, and more importantly secured her elite funding at the Sports Institute as she pursues a dream of representing Hong Kong at the Olympics.

Chow showed her toughness by resuming training only one week after the surgery.

"I did a 35km pre-race trial in Sha Tin alone. It was so difficult and tiring but I knew if I couldn't overcome it I wouldn't be able to finish today's distance. And I completed the trial in the end," said Chow. "I had worked hard before and I am familiar with the running rhythm. I am glad I could get this ranking as the Hong Kong route is really hard."

The 2010 Asian championships bronze medallist said she wanted to give up at the half-way point. "Tiredness almost beat me. My strategy was to keep telling myself that the signals of running out of energy were only mental illusions and I am capable of finishing the race. I kept my pacing and the strategy worked well."

The Hong Kong team runner was a secondary school teacher before she turned full-time pro in 2010 to try to qualify for last year's Olympics.She failed to win a ticket to London but joined forces with former Hong Kong team head coach Paul Wright and also took up a teaching post at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.