Singapore Marathon Date
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 will take place on 6 December in its is 8th year with the title sponsor. If you want to brave the heat and humidity in the city nation, you are likely to join a race studded with world class athletes. We expect further details in July and we will keep you posted.
 
Collision Course

For those who do not want to travel as far south, Macau has something to offer: Macau International Marathon 2009 will take off on the same day - 06 December - this time colliding with Singapore rather than UNICEF Half on Lantau, which proved to be major drain of participants for the former Portuguese enclave in 2007.
 
HKDRC Half Marathon Course
Some of our readers were interested in the route of Hong Kong Distance Running Club Half Marathon 2009. The organizer confirmed that it will be the same as last year. It is similar to the course of Hong Kong Half Marathon Championships, just without the stretch on Plover Cove Reservoir Dam. >> See detailed map.

Follow Us on Twitter!

Brief updates on long distance running events can now be found on twitter. The "tweets" are even "fresher" than our newsletter and cover events beyond Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the mainland of China and Singapore (which is our target region of the website).

Of course, we will continue to send our newsletter to your e-mail address also in the future!

First Half Marathon of the 2009/10 Season

The 32nd Hong Kong Distance Running Club Half Marathon 2009 is set to be the season's opener again. The traditional race will start at 7.30 am on 08 November 2009 in Tai Mei Tuk. We hope to see last year's winner Stefano Passarello at the start. Registration starts in September and we will keep you posted.

UNICEF Half Marathon Date Fixed
Mark this date in your calendar: UNICEF Disneyland Charity Run for Children 2009, the flat race which met enthusiastic response from many runners and marked the first of a string of wins for Thomas Kiprotich last year, will take place on Lantau on 29 November 2009. More information will follow soon.

Standard Chartered Marathon Likely on Last Weekend in February

According to people in the know, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2010 will be held on 28 February 2010. The date is not officially approved yet. However, with its landmark status and powerful sponsor, this should be only a formality. Registration for runners will start in late summer and is normally full within one month. So stay tuned to avoid missing the kick-off!

Winners of Hong Kong Marathon

Kenyan Cyprian Kiogora Mwobi, who finished already second at Macau Marathon last December ran to victory in 2:14:57 at Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon 2009. South African Tubei John Chirchir was second in 2:15.23, followed by another Kenyan, Rotich Nelson Kirwa (2:16.16).

Thomas Kiprotich, also from Kenya, ran to an unchallenged victory over the Half-Marathon distance in 1:09:17, though more than 1.5 minutes slower than at his win of UNICEF Half Marathon.

Winnie Frida Kwamboka Nyansik (Kenya, 2:41:25) and Kuniko Nakamura (Japan, 1:23:49) won the respective Women competitions.

End of the Road?
Chuck Cosman won the Hong Kong leg of "King of the Hill", ahead of Jeremy Ritcey. Chor Kin Law, ending his wining streak of KOTH Tai Po and Sai Kung, came in 14th and missed the chance to seal the overall KOTH title already. There are still a handfull of runners, who can (at least theoretically) win the overall KOTH title at the last race in Sham Tseng.
Bik Sai Li won the Women's competition and sure to become "Queen", after finishing 2nd and 3rd in the previous two races.

Interestingly, Bik Sai Li is the wife of Chor Kin Law. They seem to be posed to become proper King and Queen soon...

New Challenge for Prince
When Thomas Kiprotich is not in town, there seem to be no-one to stop Stefano Passarello from winning half marathons. See his last performance at China Coast. On Sunday, he will try his first proper full marathon at Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Let's hope his Achilles tendon will not cause him too much of a headache. Read our full interview with Stefano Passarello to learn more about this amazing runner!

Winners of the China Coast Marathon 2009: In absence of Roberto Veneziani and last year's winner (Gunnar Rethfeldt), Andrew Hennessy from Great Britain won with a comfortable margin of 9-10 minutes, second: Ka Wai Wong, third: Tung Hoi Yip. (Pictures.)

Similar situation in the Half Marathon: top two of last year's event as well as Thomas Kiprotich, shooting star of the season, didn't start. Stefano Passarello, last year's fourth, improved his time by more than six minutes and ran home an untroubled victory. It is his second in this season (after HKDRC half). Running up where Adrian Horvath and Tat Ming Choi, who defended his third place of 2008.

Results and Photos are online here.

Just in time before his next race tomorrow morning (Mizuno Hong Kong Half Marathon Championships), we are glad to publish a first extensive interview with Thomas Kiprotich, Hong Kong's new long distance running star.