The Standard Chartered Marathon, started in 1997, grows from strength to strength in the past nine years with a record of entries achieved in each year. Now it becomes a signature international sporting event in Hong Kong and was recognized as a "Brand Hong Kong Event" by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

1997
Standard Chartered Marathon, running from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China symbolizing the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, was staged as a cross-border race. Starting in Sheung Shiu in Hong Kong, running through the border of Huanggang into Shenzhen, China, attracted over 1,000 entries, drawing at the time a large international field of runners ever invited to a distance running event in Hong Kong.

1998
Marking of a super structure ever built in Hong Kong, the Marathon took place in the newly built Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok , with the Start on the Tsing Ma Bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world) and ended on the Airport runway. Due to the scenic route along the route, this event attracted over 6,000 participants.

1999
Moving the Marathon into the heart of city, the race started in Central District on Hong Kong Island on Chater Road and finished at Shamshuipo Sports Ground on Kowloon side. Running through the Western Harbour and Cheung Tsing Tunnels for the first time, the number of runners increased to nearly 7,000.

2000
The Standard Chartered Marathon in this year featured a special harbour-front start, with the runners taking their marks in the shadow of the Cultural Center in Tsim Sha Tsui. Following the start, the course covered some of Kowloon's most famous real estates, including stretches along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade and across the Ting Kau Bridge, before finishing at the Shamshuipo Sports Ground. In this year, the event also introduced three different races: a marathon, half marathon and a 10km race and resulted in breaking another record of entry.

2001
A significant year of break through the use of Nathan Road (one of the oldest roads on Kowloon and finished at Golden Bauhinia Square (where the hand over ceremony of Hong Kong took place in 1997) on Hong Kong Island. Running through two tunnels (Cheung Tsing & Western Harbour) and two bridges (Tsing Ma and Ting Kau), the number of runners broke the 10,000 barriers.

2002
With the success of the Standard Chartered Marathon in the past 5 years, Hong Kong hosted the 8th Asian Marathon Championships at the same time, with a record of over 24 Asian countries/territories taken part in this event. Time Bonus and Asian Best Times Awards were introduced. Japan and China took the Men and Women Asian titles respectively. Total participants again reached a record high of over 13,000 runners.

2003
Celebrating 150th Anniversary of Standard Chartered Bank, the prize money was topped up to US100,000. In terms of runners, an 18 times from 1997 of more than 18,500 runners!!

2004
This year the entries had increased over 24,000 runners. The weather on that day was the coldest that had never seen before; it gave the greatest challenges to the runners, volunteers, organizing groups and the organizer!

2005
The record of entries broke through once again in this year which attracted 31,330 fans to run! This year, Standard Chartered firstly launched "The Greatest Race on Earth" which was a challenging virtual relay race across their four established marathons in Hong Kong, Singapore, Nairobi and Mumbai. It was so honorable that Hong Kong served as the finale, in which attracted over 60 elite international marathon runners to compete.

2006
The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2006 was staged on 12 February 2006, with a total of 40,174 entries. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon since its first launched in 1997. In celebration of this milestone, Standard Chartered Hong Kong offered special prize money of over HK$144,000 to local runners (permanent residents) in this year's event. Once again, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon served as the finale of "The Greatest Race on Earth" (GROE), the international marathon challenge held in four different cities around the world. Hong Kong Team took the second place in North East Asia Region of the GROE in this year challenge!

2007
There were two new competitions in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2007 - the 10th Anniversary Handover Cup and Media Challenge Cup. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary Handover of Hong Kong to China, a special 10th Anniversary Handover Cup was presented and 18 District Councils were invited to form teams to participate in the competition. Also, another new initiative, the Media Challenge Cup, was introduced in 2007 and the media were invited to take part. Including the District Councils, Publication, and general public, the total entries had increased to 43,956, breaking the record of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon once again this year.