MTR Race Walking 2009
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Bourree Lam puts her best foot forward for the MTR walking race.
For a city obsessed with efficiency, it seems appropriate that race walking is a popular sport – if not an essential skill – in Hong Kong. A celebration of the sport and the city’s need for speed is about to take place: the annual MTR Race Walking event takes place on Sunday, April 19, around Central station.
Being a journalist with a tendency towards tardiness, I have practised my own version of race walking since living in Hong Kong, spurred on by the general public’s intolerance of strolling. I decided to seek out the city’s race walkers to put my skills to the test.
After carefully studying coach Fung Wang-tak’s 2.5-minute 1980s-style instructional video on the MTR Corp website (which includes great footage of him kicking Central butt as he race walks through Hong Kong station), I meet the race walkers of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (KHAAA) at Kwai Chung Sports Ground – where they are training for the big race.
Hong Kong’s race walking history can be traced back to Bill Purves, an engineer from Canada who gained an appreciation for the sport while attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s. He recalls turning up to a local race in 1982 that attracted only four or five competitors. The sport’s popularity has since grown, with the annual event drawing huge numbers and Hong Kong competitors gaining places at international meets.
Coach Fung, who is referred to as Fung Sir on the field, explains the sport’s rules to me: the forward leg must be straight before it hits the ground and “floating” – both feet leaving the ground as happens in running – is forbidden. Break the rules and I get a paddle. Three paddles and I get a red card: disqualification.
Echo Yeung, a member of the HKAAA race walking committee and a judge for the MTR race, has been placed in races around Asia. She walks really, really fast. For her, the sport is ideal for getting around town. “You’re not allowed to run in the MTR, you know,” she says, “so race walking is perfect – you can even get to work faster.”
“Coordination is the most important,” she advises. “It looks easy but it’s not. It’s really about flexibility and agility and using muscles you haven’t used before.”
After a few test walks, my shins ache and my lower abdominals hurt from all the twisting. Form and control are paramount in this sport. Skilled practitioners look graceful; those with poor technique look wobbly, struggling for balance as they execute the moves. I see Fung Sir eyeing my efforts and can almost hear him – “Knees bent, rookie!”
I’m exhausted and starting to reconsider my race attempt. For starters, I’m obviously going to get my ass kicked. But for some athletes, the greatest contest is with themselves. Edward Tse, a teacher at Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Secondary School , is one of the top local competitors this year. “I just want to beat myself,” he says. His incredible 10km time of 47 minutes 55 seconds (a record for Hong Kong) placed him third in last year’s “men’s international elite” category.
The race that Purves, the grandfather of Hong Kong race walking, is most looking forward to is the showdown between Raymond Ch’ien Kuo-fung, chairman of the MTR Corp, and Alex Moh, chairman of the HKAAA. Ch’ien won last year’s race so he’s apparently pretty good. “He’s willing to put on his short pants and do it,” says Purves.
Now in its fifth year, the MTR Race Walking event draws 400 competitors of all levels from Hong Kong, the mainland, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. The 1km track will circle Chater Gardens and Central Station, with the elite class completing 10 circuits to notch up 10km. Traditionally, athletes compete alongside Legco members and corporate teams, some of whom don costumes for the occasion. MTR Corporation staff compete in the relay and all proceeds go to the Hospital Authority Health InfoWorld for funding health educational programmes.
Fans wanting to cheer on the athletes can watch as they loop around Des Voeux Road to the final stretch on Chater Road. The entire block will be roped off from 7.30am to 2.30pm. And if you’re taking the MTR, avoid exits F and H unless you want to be race walk plowed.
MTR Race Walking 2009 will take place on Sunday, April 19. See www.mtr.com.hk for event details.
http://www.timeout.com.hk/around-town/features/22508/mtr-race-walking-2009.html