Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon

Hong Kong Marathon belongs to my personal favorites. I participated there in 2010. It started early in the morning shortly before sunrise, but already at this time we had about 25 degrees Celsius and a humidity of 95%. The course is characterized by impressing bridges and tunnels you have to pass. On the last kilometers you also have nice views at the scenic skyline of Hong Kong. As the whole city spreads over mountainous terrain the run is the hilliest city marathon I ever did. Because you are running on highway roads to a great extent you cannot expect a lot of spectators. Only just before the finish line there is a very good support of cheering people. In conclusion: It is a very special marathon in a very special city. And it is a very good reason for a short escape from the European winter.

Plenty of aid stations while minimal crowd support since it is mostly on the highways. Awesome views over the bridges. Can be quite humid so be mindful, have a proper hydration plan because I have seen many runners collapsing along the course. I ran the marathon in 2023 and 2024

Nice course, and the organization was mostly okay. One big problem though: On the last ca. 15 km the Marathon merged with the Half Marathon field (which had started much later). It was then totally crowded and very difficult to run my own pace, because the way was often blocked by the slower runners. It might have been better if they had put me in one of the first Marathon starter blocks, according to my goal time of 3:40, so that I would not have to pass thousands of slower runners. But instead I had to start in the last Marathon block, maybe because I was registered quite late as a charity runner.

A very well organized marathon!

First Time Sub 4 Great weather in 2019. Always hot in HK marathon.