2005-07-15
STANDARD CHARTERED GREATEST RACE ON EARTH GRAND FINALE IN HONG KONG
The Harbour Race to determine winners of multi-marathon series

Hong Kong / 15 July 2005 – For a second successive year, the Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) will have its grand finale in Hong Kong with the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on 12 February 2006. This exciting marathon series is returning again in 2005/2006, starting with the first of four gruelling international marathons in Nairobi in October, followed by Singapore and Mumbai.

Peter Sullivan, Executive Director and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong Limited, commented on the return of the Greatest Race on Earth, saying, “As title sponsors of one of the region’s best marathons, we are again honoured and excited to host the final event of the Greatest Race on Earth. The Greatest Race on Earth will attract more of the world’s elite runners to the Hong Kong Marathon, posing a worthy challenge for our top athletes and further raising the status of the event.”

The Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association, co-organizers of the Standard Chartered Marathon, has also confirmed that it will send a four-man team to participate in each of the marathons in this year’s Greatest Race on Earth series. The four representatives for Hong Kong are Choi Tat Ming, Lai Hok Yan, Mo Wai Shing and Lau Kwong Man.

Choi Tat Ming took part in the Mumbai leg of the inaugural Greatest Race on Earth last year, finishing with a promising time of 2:55:29 to help the team finish in third place in the North East Asia region (with a combined time of 11:37:19) closely behind Taiwan and South Korea.

Another of Hong Kong’s leading local runners, Lai Hok Yan, crossed the finishing tape in 2:37:26 this year, quickly followed by Mo Wai Shing, who has returned to the marathon after resting for all of 2004, and the talented Lau Kwong Man, who finished in 2:39:17 and 2:41:20 respectively.

Inaugurated in 1997, the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2006. The event reached a record participation of over 30,000 runners in last year’s race and is hoping to reach a new milestone of 35,000 entrants turning up at the starting line on Nathan Road on Sunday, 12 February, 2006.

As in the past, thousands of local and international runners will wind their way through one of the world’s best-known harbours in what has become Hong Kong’s largest participatory sporting event.

For more information on the Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth please log on to the official website www.thegreatestrace.com.

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Released on behalf of Standard Chartered Bank by Octagon Greater China.

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