On February 16, several Hong Kong artists including Annie Liu (劉心悠), Oscar Leung (梁烈唯), and Joel Chan (陳山聰) participated in the annual Standard Chartered Hong Kong ten-kilometer marathon. Each had their own goals in mind and was overall satisfied with their results. Annie completed her run in one hour and seven minutes. Although she lost to her previous record of one hour and six minutes by only a minute, Annie expressed she is already very pleased since she was not in her best condition this time. In an interview after the run, she appeared exhausted and exclaimed, “It was very cold and tough! My fingers were freezing as I ran.” On the other hand, Oscar participated in the marathon by leading a blind man along with him. The two ended up finishing the run in fifty-eight minutes. This was also not Oscar’s first marathon, since he had participated in one up in the Arctic last year. Comparing the two runs, he expressed each had its pros and cons. “I had to wear a lot of equipment in the Arctic, and felt like I was dying! But my mood was relaxed since I was sightseeing along the way. Here in Hong Kong, there’s no sightseeing to do with so many people. I had to dodge my way around the streets to avoid accidents.” Oscar laughed and pointed out he never noticed Hong Kong’s roads are so bumpy while driving in the past. Joel decided to battle the run in a tank top and sunglasses. His niece came from Macau to cheer him on, and was waiting for him at the finish line. In the past, Joel admitted he had only taken part in half of a marathon, where he ran five kilometers in one hour and forty-five minutes. Since this is his first time doing a full marathon, he did not want to pressurize himself and allowed four hours to complete the run. Joel came fully prepped with food and even carried around some table salt. He explained, “Ram Chiang (蔣志光) taught me this. He said it’s easy to get a cramp while running, so it’s important to bring salt around.” Creds: Oncc
