Hong Kong Marathon 2014: Expo and Race Day

Simon - Running For Status

10 years ago

Some additional Hong Kong Marathon Related Links:

Singapore 2014:

Kuala Lumpur 2014:

Hong Kong 2014:

Food Highlights: Wonton Noodle Soup, Beef Tripe Noodle Soup, HK Tea, Sweatheart Cakes

Hong Kong

It was cold compared to KL. 95F vs 60F and 80% humidity. I got through immigration briskly and got on the airport train. There was a long line at the airport so I paid at HK station. It was a long walk to Central Station then MTR ride to Tin Hau. I would be back there later that night to meet up with a friend.

For some reason, I never got my Bib number so I had to wait in line so that they could give me my bib number and then pick it up on the far side of the field. You can also line up to get a last minute entry to HK marathon. Supposedly there are a few runners who sign up at the booth every year. It is a bit more expensive at about 400HKD.

Below was a picture of the bib pickup tent and the line for it.

Hong Kong Marathon

I woke up around 5am to get out at 6am to see the first runners off. My start was at 6:40, but the first group was 6:10. I got to see them off as they ran on Nathan and Austin Road. They started a few minutes late.

Once I was done, walked down to the start. The marathon field was 12000 and there were three groups, so each group had 4k people. It made getting to my coral pretty easy. The sidewalk was not crowded at the time (6am on a Sunday) so I walked right up besides my coral and got in through the tape. I was towards the back as I was trying for a 5 hour marathon and the group is 4-5 hr time.

Both 6:10 and 6:40 group started in the dark (sort of). The sun didn’t rise until after 7am so we were running in the dark for a little while. The only city portion of the race was in the beginning before the turn by Kowloon station and then when you are running by Causeway Bay and into the park towards the finish.

Otherwise, its mostly bridges and tunnels and highways. Crowded start but eased up a bit going north towards the bridge. Awesome cable bridge (fourth picture).

First bridge was pretty tall but after that the elevation didn’t change too much. The next bridge was Tsing Ma, which was huge. Higher elevation towards the bridge (out and back), then to another bridge (cable stayed) in the third picture.

After the third bridge, large decline down the tunnel and onto another bridge. Elevated highways until back in Kowloon, down the tunnel and up the highway to causeway bay.

Amazing to run down towards signs for Hong Kong. The signs mean Hong Kong Island and not the city itself.

It was pretty cool running right in the middle of Hong Kong, but I wished we ran through more of it. The city part of Hong Kong Island is pretty small so I can see why we didn’t run more of it.

The picture right before the finish line.

Afterthoughts:

It was definitely more elevation changes than I expected.
There were stations handing out a cream that smelled like tiger balm.
Cold, cloudy, and humid (60F, 80 RH). This is very typical winter weather in Hong Kong. However, it was not bad running conditions at all. My hands started freezing up towards the end as the wind picked up.
Most stations had both cups of water and small pouches of Watson’s isotonic drink. Watson (pharmacy) also provided the water.
The race was fairly lackluster. Weather was ok and some of the scenery was good. Unfortunately, it was ran on all highways. I wish we ran through more parts of Kowloon or Hong Kong Island.