Super Sundays: Extra day mooted for Hong Kong Marathon
Organisers are looking at staging the showpiece event over two Sundays to accommodate more runners and improve the overall quality
A total of 73,000 participants have registered for the January 25 showpiece in three categories - the 10-kilometre run, half-marathon and full marathon. All spots were snapped up within three hours of online registration.
"Under the current routings and traffic arrangements, I don't think we can expand any more," William Ko Wai-lam, chairman of the organising committee, said on Wednesday.
"If we want to make it a better event with more runners for the two marathon competitions, we may have to separate the 10-kilometre run, probably in two consecutive Sundays.
"This is one of the possible solutions and, of course, if the police can allow us more time for using the roads, we can also achieve the aim of recruiting more runners.
"But this is not going to be easy. Nonetheless, we will continue to work with other parties to find the best arrangement for the event's future."
There has been little change in quotas for two years. The 73,000 limit was set for both this year and next year, a small increase on the 72,000 in 2013.
But this year, organisers cut 1,500 places in the 10-kilometre races and allocated them to the marathon (1,000) and half-marathon (500) to allow more people to run the longer races.
"We not only want to see an increase in numbers but also in the quality," said Amateur Athletics Association chairman Kwan Kee. "That's why we are encouraging more people to progress from the beginners' 10-kilometre race to the half-marathon and then the full marathon."
Organisers also hope to raise the event's profile by being awarded a "IAAF gold label" for 2016. "We have met most of the requirements laid down by the world governing body to elevate our status from silver to gold label for 2015.
"Unfortunately one of the top runners missed the race at the last minute [this year] and we failed to make it," said Kwan.
While the Hong Kong event has stringent requirements such as safety measures, time-keeping, distance measurements, supply stations and media coverage, it also needs to recruit a minimum of five elite men (with a best time of under two hours and 10 minutes in the past three years) and five elite women (2:28:00) to qualify for a gold label. Only nine turned up at the start this year after a no-show from a female runner from Eastern Europe.
"We have invited eight men and nine women through an international agent to avoid any hiccups this time," said Kwan. "Also, both the men's and women's defending champions, Ethiopians Feyera Gemeda and Rehima Kedir, have agreed to return."
Kwan said the event would also double as the 2015 Asian Marathon Championships.
"This will be the fourth time we have run the Hong Kong International Marathon along with the Asian Championships, but since the decision was made only last month we are still working on how to get the top Asian distance runners for the event."