Local athletics officials hope the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Half Marathon will evolve into an annual event with various distances, and even see participants running beyond the Hong Kong section of the bridge in the future.
The inaugural event will see 8,000 runners traversing the 55-kilometre (34 miles) bridge, which opened in 2018, on Sunday. Of the 2,500 places reserved for a “Challenge Group” – the elite contingent – there will be 18 runners from eight overseas countries.
“It’s our vision to have an annual event for this iconic bridge going forward,” Kwan Kee, chairman of the HKAAA [Hong Kong, China Association of Athletics Affiliates], said. “We’d also like to see more distances and quotas become available, too.
Kwan added it was his “ dream” to let competitors run beyond the Hong Kong section of the bridge and even hinted there had been discussions with relevant authorities in Guangdong and Macau.
“Whether it can be done depends on the government because there are a lot more involved when runners go over the border,” he said. “There are technicalities to deal with too, like ventilation and emergency medical services if we are to run through the six-kilometre tunnel.”
Among the local elite participants are veteran runner Chan Ka-ho and his disciple Candy Tsang Hiu-tung, who had trained under Chan systematically for six years. It will be the first time for Chan to don the Hong Kong jersey together with his running class students.
“It’s like watching [Lionel] Messi at the last World Cup, his teammates were so young when he was at his peak,” the 39-year-old Chan said. “Here we are running together when I’m about to retire.
“Obviously, I am far from my best condition, it will be better if I have more time to prepare for this but this is probably my last outing for the Hong Kong team so it feels like a perfect ending for me already.”
As for Tsang, who is making her national team debut, the Hongkonger believed the cool and dry weather of late is an “advantage” for her as she aims at going under her career-best time of one hour, and 22 minutes.
Sunday’s race will begin at 7.30am for the elite runners, with two other groups of amateur runners to start at 8.10am and 8.50am respectively.
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