Hong Kong Half Marathon Challenge: Lam claims shock win as record holder Wong quits early
- Education University postgraduate student Vincent Wong claims title at race in Penny’s Bay
- City’s fastest man over the distance, Wong Wan-chun, drops out before halfway
Vincent Lam stole the spotlight at the first Hong Kong Half Marathon Challenge on Sunday, claiming the title in a race which the city’s fastest man of that distance failed to finish.
Wong Wan-chun, who set a record time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 57 seconds in San Diego in June, managed just three laps of the course before crashing out.
The 26-year-old did not reveal to officials why he had stopped running, and left the Penny’s Bay course without answering questions.
In his absence, Lam won in a time of 1:12:45, with Cheung Yiu-leung and Chan Ka-ho finishing placing second and third in 1:13.24 and 1:13.36, respectively.
Lam, who is also 26, was just as surprised as everyone else when Wong dropped out, and said the record holder had been keeping pace with him in the early stages of the race, which saw runners compete on a 3km loop around Inspiration Lake.
“At the beginning of the race, Wan-chun kept pace with me along with other runners in the lead group,” Lam said. “We were surprised that he did not finish it after running the first three laps.”
“My coach [Cheuk Kin-san] and I both agreed to set our target at sub 70 minutes. Nevertheless, this is a new route for me and the weather is a bit humid that I could not entirely perform at the initial target pace.”
