Opinion | Left Field: Splitting Hong Kong Marathon in two is not Solomonic wisdom
Switching shorter races to a separate Sunday would surely create more problems than it would solve
Organisers of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong International Marathon have for years raked in the dollars by linking the race with the 10-kilometre run which has greater mass appeal. Now they want to stage the "Marathon" over two Sundays to "make it a better event" according to William Ko Wai-lam, chairman of the organising committee.
Hong Kong's largest participatory sporting event has reached maximum capacity with 73,000 runners entering the January 25 showpiece.
During Occupy, main streets of Hong Kong island were blocked and we still went about our lives
More than half will take part in the 10-kilometre race, with the marathon and half-marathon claiming the rest.
With an average entry fee of around HK$300, this is a bumper payday for the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association. Of course it wants to keep the popular shorter distance race going, even if it is on another day.
Staging the races on separate Sundays might be one way to go, but then organisers will have to stop calling the shorter distances the Hong Kong Marathon. For years they have held the other two categories under that umbrella and reaped the financial benefits.
But having run out of roads and time, and with the field bursting at the seams like a stuffed Billy Bunter, organisers are trying to squeeze their way out of a tight situation by attempting to manipulate the marathon name.
