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Hong Kong Marathon 2015
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Participants look for their name on the runners' wall during the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon Carnival 2015 in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Photos: Edward Wong

Occupied in Causeway Bay, but this time with Hong Kong Marathon runners

Race route will pass through a recent protest site; organisers hope any political activism won't affect competitors

CHAN KINWA

Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay will be reoccupied next Sunday, this time by thousands of runners - but organisers admit they will be powerless to prevent possible protests along the route.

After organisers had long pushed for a wider, more spectator friendly route leading to the finish at Victoria Park, the end of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon will now take runners along Hennessy Road and Yee Wo Street, one of the sites of the recent Occupy protests.

"There will be more room for the runners along that part of the route and the change will also allow more people to come out to cheer for the runners," said William Ko Wai-lam, chairman of the organising committee.

If people want to use the opportunity to display their political demands, we cannot stop them as long as they don't block runners
William Ko Wai-lam

"I am sure the change will be welcome as we have been trying to get permission to use the new route [for the half-marathon and marathon events] for the last couple of years but were only given the green light by the authorities recently."

Previously, runners had to go through the smaller Lockhart, East Point and Great George roads.

With more people able to watch, it is possible that some spectators - and even participants - will take the opportunity to try to gain attention with political signs or yellow umbrellas. Ko admitted they could do little to stop people from doing so.

"We are running a sporting event and the organisers are apolitical," said Ko. "If people want to use the opportunity to display their political demands, we cannot stop them as long as they don't block runners.

"The same thing applies to the runners as there may be participants who want to wear yellow ribbons or political slogans. Wearing costumes is a characteristic of [the fun part] of a marathon race and the organisers would not stop them unless they blocked other runners.

"Also, we will have workers who will persuade people to leave the course if these people are not running a race. We believe most of the participants who join the event want to run and our objective is to put on an excellent event so that they can enjoy running the race, from start to finish."

Ko said there would be more than 30 quality overseas runners taking part, many at their own expense and not invited by organisers. He is confident the strong field will meet IAAF benchmarks to elevate the event to "gold label" status next year.

Kwan Kee, chairman of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (HKAAA), Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), May Tan, executive director and chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) and William Ko Wai-lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Marathon organising committee officiate at the opening of the marathon carnival in Victoria Park.

A total of 73,000 participants have registered in three categories - the 10km run, half-marathon and full marathon. All spots were snapped up within three hours of online registration.

The final part of the 10km wheelchair race was also changed as participants will now enter Victoria Park via Paterson Street and Kingston Street instead of crossing the demanding Tai Hang Road Flyover.

[These] are flat roads which will make it easier for the wheelchair runners approaching the finish," added Ko. "They will also be given 10 more minutes to finish the race, which should help the flow of runners."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Occupied again, but this time with runners
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