Hong Kong Marathon Mishaps

This year’s Hong Kong Marathon attracted a lot more negative attention than past years, due to the bad air, 2 serious casualties, and large number of minor mishaps. I ran in the full marathon and saw the collapsed man on the on-ramp of the TsingMa Bridge. Someone was performing CPR on him and that was scary. But I later learned that he was not an inexperienced runner, and have participated in other marathons before. He is probably not someone who did not know what to expect.

About the thousands of people getting medical assistance, a large number of them were probably quite minor, like mine. I did stop for a bandage at about 15km for a blister, and later to get a dose of ointment for my tired legs which were threatening to cramp up. To me, these are not unexpected risks regularly associated with rigorous sports. In sports, we always try to push ourselves to be faster, stronger, more enduring, more agile, more something or the other. There are always hurts to endure and risks to take. Nothing comes without a price.