Law urges caution over proposals for Hong Kong Marathon route change, switch to 2-day event
Organisers considering moving finish line to Kai Tak Sports Park with recommendation expected this month
The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is considering making major changes, including moving the finish line to Kai Tak Sports Park and expanding the event over two days, but not everyone is a fan.
With organisers expected to make recommendations to the government this month, Culture, Sports and Tourism Secretary Rosanna Law Shuk-pui has questioned whether the roads around the venue could support races that drew almost 74,000 runners this year.
A new route would also be likely to include the Central Kowloon Bypass, which was incorporated into the Streetathon marathon last November and took runners uphill for the last two kilometres to the Yau Ma Tei Interchange.
Law said the roads around the sports park “may not be ideal”, pointing out that the last 10km of a marathon would be “extremely tough”.
Kimmy Leung Hong-kiu, who has finished the 298km Four Trails, ran a personal best one hour, 38 minutes and 47 seconds in the Streetathon and said there had been “far more slopes than I expected, especially that last one, when I just had no idea how much farther I had to go”.
Talking to RTHK, Law said race organisers, the Hong Kong, China Association of Athletics Affiliates (HKAAA), needed to balance difficulty with runner experience when considering new routes.