Top Hong Kong runner Christy Yiu barred from competing in Guangzhou Marathon due to travel restrictions
- Next month’s race in Guangdong’s provincial city would have provided ideal racing conditions for runners to clock fast times
- Yiu still needs a good marathon result to boost her qualifying hopes for next year’s Tokyo Games
Christy Yiu Kit-ching’s road to the Tokyo Games just became harder after she was barred from next month’s Guangzhou Marathon because of travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
The long distance runner was planning to use the neighbouring city event to boost her world ranking after a convincing sixth place in the 2019 Gold Coast Marathon in Australia.
The December 13 race will be raced along the two banks of the Pearl River in the city centre with mostly a flat course enabling runners to clock good times.
But unfortunately no runners from “outside the border” have been accepted by organisers due to the potential risk of Covid-19 infection, according to a letter received by the Hong Kong Amateur Athletics Association.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” said 2016 Rio Games Olympian Yiu of her exclusion. “But there is little I can do especially with the pandemic still a big threat to the community. I can only hope to find another event as soon as possible so that I can continue with my qualification.”