‘Add oil, dad’: Hong Kong Marathon local winner Gi Ka-man writes message of support for sick father on hands
- The 39-year-old veteran’s father has been in hospital for 10 weeks after suffering a stroke late last year
- Gi beats his major rival Wong Wan-chun to become first local finisher in Sunday’s full marathon race
Gi Ka-man hoped his success at the Hong Kong Marathon could help inspire his father who has been in hospital since last year because of a stroke.
The 39-year-old veteran, who set a Hong Kong record in Spain in 2021, finished the race in two hours, 24 minutes and 45 seconds – the fastest local runner in the 2023 showpiece, and in eighth place overall.
His major rival, Wong Wan-chun, the previous Hong Kong record holder, was a minute behind in 2:25.59 while Cheung Yiu-leung was third in 2:26.03.
Gi later revealed in a post-race media scrum he had written a message on his hands, saying “add oil, dad”.
“The result is important not only because this leaves me with no regrets for my career but it’s also a mental boost for my father who has been in hospital for 10 weeks because of a stroke,” Gi said.
“If I can make it at such an age, I hope my father can also recover from the disease as he is laying in hospital.”
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It was only the second time Gi had attempted the full marathon at the Hong Kong showpiece, after last joining the same event in 2010.
In between, he mainly took part in the half marathon with a second place in the last event in 2021 when no overseas runners competed because of strict Covid-19 measures during the pandemic.
“As a Hong Kong runner, it’s important to win at least one time as the home champion in this flagship event, isn’t it?” he said.
“Although I am a long distance runner, I am not too willing to run the 42km one and hopefully with this result, I can spare spending more time on it.”
Gi said he has still not decided if he will take part at the next Hong Kong Marathon, slated for November this year.
“There will be the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October and of course if the association picks me for the Games, which I want to go to, I won’t race in the Hong Kong event because the two are too close,” he said.
Gi had been running behind Wong for most of the race but overtook his rival after the 35km mark.
“I didn’t have any specific game plan but just hung in there to do my best as I am not young any more,” he said.
“Wong is much younger than me and was too fast in the opening stages for me to stay together with. But I felt the legs were still there in the closing stages and therefore pushed myself. It worked.”
Wong was disappointed with the result, insisting his form had been disturbed by a lack of sleep because of some commercial projects.
“I did once consider not taking part in the event,” the 27-year-old said. “There have been some problems in my commercial projects which are still unsolved. My form could hardly be any good for this event.
“I had planned to train in Europe next month with one marathon and one half marathon race. I don’t know if I will continue with it now.”
In the women’s event, Wong Cheuk-ning was the first local runner to cross the finish line with a time of 2:50.02, followed by Leanne Szeto Siu-yan in 2:59.27. Wong Wing-yin was third in 2:59.43.
The victory lifted Wong’s morale after a disappointing race on the Gold Coast in Australia last year.
“The result not was my personal best but a victory in such a big event is something you look for to boost your morale,” the Chinese University fourth year student said.
“I turned full time with my training last year and now I want to set my sights on the forthcoming Asian Games.
“I want to thank my coach for devising a training plan for me during this period, and it worked. Hopefully I can build on the success and go further.”
