Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon kicks off with expo at new sports park

The starting gun for this year’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon fired at 5am on Feb. 9, 2025 at Tsim Sha Tsui, but the Expo that launched this year’s race was still buzzing with excitement at Kai Tak Sports Park.

The expo held from Feb. 5 to Feb. 8, 2025, was the first of its kind. In the past, runners would collect their  marathon packs individually, but the expo provided a carnival atmosphere ahead of the marathon.

With over 40 booths and a dedicated 'Runner's Wall' featuring the names of 74,000 past and present participants, this expo captured the spirit of the marathon: Challenge and Love.

Dickson Cheung, a half marathon runner, brought his daughter Sue to the expo. “I am so happy to find my dad’s name on the board,” Sue said.

Sun Xiao-tong, 37, a salesman from the mainland with his friend, Luo Hua, 28 came to Hong Kong for the race  “I have taken part in other marathons before but the Hong Kong marathon is my first international race and I am also accompanying him,” Sun said.

Burson Hong Kong, a PR agency in charge of the marathon said the expo allowed the entire community to take part. 

A special cheering recording team was designed for the expo so that members of the public could record encouraging messages for the runners

A recording team walked around the venue inviting visitors to record their messages for the runners.

Sunny Yeung, a worker from Standard Chartered marathon community said they have collected more than 1000 messages by the end of the expo. “The energetic and positive voice will be present near the exit of the Western Harbour Crossing to encourage runners,” Yeung said.

Participants in both the marathon and the half-marathon had to run through the Western Harbour Crossing as part of the 35 km stretch. The 3km after exiting the tunnel, runners have to climb from -30 m to 20 m above sea level. This is a recognised "wall zone" where the mental limits of runners are challenged. “Our team came up with the idea to help overcome this challenge”, Yeung said.

Jeff Hon, ran the Standard Chartered Marathon for the sixth time. “The cheering recording is quite meaningful, encouraging each other including myself,” Hon said. “After the Western Harbour Crossing comes the most exhausted track of all, I hope I can hear my family’s cheers there.”

This year’s slogan was “Together, We Run Further”. Bob Jolin, a Dutchman, working in Shenzhen, took part in the half marathon last year, but this year, he decided to challenge himself in the full marathon. “Just having fun and enjoying the game,” Jolin said.