Persistence finally pays off for patient Sam Kong in women's 10km
For Sam Kong Lai-ming, it's more like "10th time's a charm".
After running the Standard Chartered Marathon "more than 10 times", she was relieved to run a personal best and finally claim victory in the women's 10km in 38 minutes and 33 seconds.
I think it's not my best performance yet and there's still room to improve
With defending champion Christy Yiu Kit-ching running the marathon distance, the winner's spot in the women's 10km field was ripe for the taking. And Kong, 29, was adamant she was not going to miss the opportunity.
"I expected I could be the champion of the field today," admitted Kong, a physical education teacher. She started in front and kept it that way all to the finish, almost a minute ahead of her competition. "I was running by myself today - it felt good."
She's been on a winning streak in recent months, taking first place in the Mizuno Hong Kong Half-Marathon Championships last month and bagging two important podium places in November - first in the Unicef 10km race, followed a week later as the first local runner home behind two Kenyans in the Mizuno Shek Mun 10K Race.
"I think it's not my best performance yet and there's still room to improve," she said. Kong hopes for a time "around 36 minutes" next year, which would pit her against Yiu's 2014 mark.
