Shorter is sweeter for Mabel Lui as she salutes in Hong Kong 10km Challenge
The 24-year-old posts a personal best time while defending champion Wang Kun takes out the men’s race ahead of former winner Gi Ka-man
Mabel Lui Wai-man was thinking only about the challenges of her new job when the starter’s gun brought the Asics Hong Kong 10km Challenge to life at Tin Shui Wai on Sunday, but just 39 minutes and six seconds later she crossed the line in a personal best time to celebrate her first ever race victory.
The 24-year-old from Choi Hung recently started work as a PE teacher in Wong Tai Sin, where she also teaches English and general studies.
“My preferred distance is the half marathon, but having recently started working full time I’m a little bit stressed out and I don’t have the time to train, so I changed to the 10km distance,” Lui said.
Lui commented that she was simply aiming to break the 40-minute mark, but said she didn’t expect to win the race as her personal best time for the distance previously stood at 39:46.
She said she now plans to run the same distance in the Standard Chartered Marathon event next spring, but predicted that she would need to run at least three minutes faster to win that race too.
Celebrations for Sunday’s race, which featured a whopping 6,000 runners, were somewhat short-lived as Lui had to go home to mark exam papers.
