Hong Kong Half Marathon: 1 February 2004

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All runners

Pos arrow Name arrow Time arrow Cat arrow Club arrow Graded arrow Pace arrow
1 1 Sally Hodge 2:02:08 FV40 Serpentine 57.2% 9:19
2 2 Ruth Brown 2:16:27 SL Unattached 48.2% 10:24

Report

The Standard Chartered Hong Kong marathon, half marathon and 10k take
place on the same day. The 10k starts early (6.45am in 2004) with the
marathon and half marathon beginning together at 7.45am.

All follow the same course for the first few km, starting from Nathan
Road in Kowloon. Transport to the start is good and the start
organisation (baggage buses, toilet provision, space to warm up) are
all good. The course is all on expressways and the overall gradient is
surprisingly high, including long sweeping bridges, flyovers and
tunnels. There is little support, given that there are few places for
supporters to gather beside the expressways and on the bridges.

In 2004 there were 2180 finishers in the marathon, 5758 finishers in the
half marathon and 6071 finishers in the 10k. There are very few
overseas runners in any of the 3 races. Medals and t-shirts are given
out with race numbers at the Expo on Friday and Saturday prior to race
day.

Although there are km markers they are not very accurate (at least
unless my pace was more erratic than it has ever been). Though
temperatures in Hong Kong in February are not high, and certainly in
2004 the temperature was very similar to that in London and it was
raining, humidity can be a real problem. There are many water and
sponge stations, but runners not used to running in very humid
conditions should take extra care. It is not a fast course and not one
conducive to pbs.

In 2004 the post finish organisation was terrible. Space blankets,
plenty of bananas and chocolate bars were distributed, but the queues
to retrieve baggage were huge and involved up to an hour and a half
waiting (in the cold and rain). If you had run the 10k or were a
quicker half-marathoner you could easily spend longer than your run
time in the luggage queue.

Overall, not a fast or attractive course with good organisation at the
start let down by awful queues at the end. One to consider if you know
you're going to be in Hong Kong but not worth a special visit.

Report by Sally Hodge

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