Running helped him quit smoking, now he does 100km ultra-marathons at 62
- His reddish-black fingers and nails were a warning sign for Tsoi Wing-cheung, who had been a smoker for two decades when he chose to butt out
- Running set him on the path to recovery and became his passion; now 62, he runs marathons regularly and trains with a running group to keep in top form
On July 1, 1997, the day of Hong Kong’s handover, Tsoi Wing-cheung laid all of his cigarette packets out in front of him and came to a decision – he would quit smoking. He began to shred them, his resolve growing firmer with each cigarette he destroyed and tossed into a basin of water.
At the time, Tsoi was in his late 30s and smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day. “It was really bad. I smoked so much that my fingers and nails were reddish-black,” he says. “I already felt like I couldn’t do much, that my body was deteriorating.” It’s why, on that historical day, he chose to start a new life without cigarettes.
Today, Tsoi – now 62 and a cleaner and maintenance worker at the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital on Stubbs Road on Hong Kong Island – lives a much healthier lifestyle.
When he isn’t swimming in the sea in his free time, he can be found training for his next running competition, which could be anything from a 10km (6.2 mile) race to a 100km ultramarathon.
