Does the HKAAA even care about trail running? It’s living up to its name of ‘Amateur’ over world championship farce

Our top runners are desperate to represent Hong Kong at the Trail World Championships but are being stymied for no good reason, while the decision to only send two instead of a full team has no logical basis either

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Leung Ying-suet and Wong Ho-chung won the qualifying race to represent Hong Kong at the Trail World Championships, but are still waiting for confirmation they can compete. Photo: HKAAA

Published: 8:00am, 13 Feb 2019Updated: 12:16pm, 13 Feb 2019

The International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) announcement of a new partnership with trail running added legitimacy to the sport at a crucial time as it becomes increasingly professional. But while the trail running world at large saw the potential for a new era, Hong Kong has only seen indifference.

The IAAF is organising the Trail World Championships (TWC) on June 8, but each country’s athletics body is in charge of picking their athletes. Inevitably, this leads to a new level of bureaucracy that trail running is not used to, but the barriers here seem like excuses from the Hong Kong Amateur Athletics Association (HKAAA) rather than growing pains.

The HKAAA’s job at this stage is to officially name its runners for the race in Coimbra, Portugal. It held a qualifying race, which was won by Wong Ho-chung and Leung Ying-suet, so they have their candidates.

But in farcical scenes, the duo don’t even know if they’ll be going yet. And what’s more, only nominating two runners, while other countries send teams, is inexcusable.

Leung Ying-suet wins the 2018 The North Face 50. She could be representing Hong Kong in Portugal, but is waiting for confirmation. Photo: Ben Young