Nov 30 2008
Disneyland? Yes. Fun rides? Maybe next time.
It was six AM on a cold winter morning. The sky was dark. The winter morning air was cold and dry. The hearts were nonetheless warm for charity and the love of running. It was the annual UNICEF Hong Kong Half Marathon and 10km race held this morning at the Hong Kong Disney Resort. It is the only race officially started by Mickey and Minnie in Hong Kong. More importantly, it is also the fastest half marathon course in Hong Kong and also one of the most successful fund-raising events for UNICEF Hong Kong. Following their very successful relief programmes to the AsianTsunami victims in 2003 and other relief programmes, UNICEF Hong Kong has been one of the more trusted charity organization in Hong Kong and their fund-raising campaigns are generally well supported. This morning, in addition to the sight of usual local participants of running races, we saw many new faces: the families strolling the beautiful Disney resort while taking photos, young children racing each other and trying to lose their parents, over-weight business executives walking and panting, while still supporting the charitable event with an excellent mood and a smile of their face. The half-marathon was won by Thomas Kiprotich with a record breaking time of 1 hour seven minutes and forty two seconds. The local participants, your humble blogger and his better half included, were rewarded with fresh air, nice weather and a very cheerful crowd today.
photo credit: http://i.cs.hku.hk/~veronica/photoicon/061210unicef15km.jpg
