The 2018 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon kicked off as scheduled on the morning of January 21. This year's race course is the same as last year. The full marathon and half marathon started in Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui one after another. Runners will pass through Nathan Road, West Kowloon Kilometer, Western Harbour Crossing and the roads around Victoria Park. The temperature today is between 17°C and 21°C. The weather is very good and it is very suitable for runners to participate in the marathon.
The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was promoted to the highest level of the "Gold Level" by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) in 2016, which is the same level as Tokyo, Boston, London Marathon and other events. Guan Qi, chairman of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletics Association, said he hopes that more world-class high-level runners will participate in the event.
This year's Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon has 74,000 participants . Compared with previous years, the most important change this year is that with the total number of entries unchanged, has added 1,000 full marathon places. increased the number of full marathon places from 17,500 to 18,500 to encourage runners to challenge long distances. The number of public welfare places has been increased from 300 to 500. 1000 public teams will be drawn for the 10km race.
All-Malaysian race and 6:10 am started off at Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Commissioner of Police Lu Weicong officiated at the firing ceremony.
The champions of the men's and women's sub-groups of the 10km race are all representatives of the Hong Kong triathlon. In the men's category, Guo Rukeng won the championship in 31 minutes and 57 seconds. He said that he was very happy with the results,At the same time refreshing his personal record, I feel very tired after the game.
Half marathon, the men's and women's sub-group championships are won by mainland runners.
The champion of the men's category is Li Chunhui from Inner Mongolia. The time is 1 hour and 10 minutes. He said that this is the first time he has come to Hong Kong to compete. He lives in a plateau and the environment in Hong Kong is difficult for him to adapt.
The champion of the women's group is Hao Xiaofan , a physical education teacher of Yangzhou University, with a score of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 13 seconds. It is also the first time for Hao Xiaofan to compete in Hong Kong. She believes that the most difficult part of the track is that there are more ramps, but the atmosphere along the way is good, and the cheering of the audience is her motivation.
In the end, Mongla from Kenya won the men's championship with a 2:13:38.
