The 67-year-old Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star, who completed the 10km event at February’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, finished his first half marathon in 2:27.56.

Organising committee chairman Simon Yeung Sai-mo was already turning his mind to doing it all over again after giving staff and officials “100 marks” for their efforts.

“I spoke to some runners too, including those from overseas, and they all believed the route is good and agreed it is a great event by us,” Yeung said. “This is our first event, and I believe it was a successful one, but there are definitely things we can take a closer look at if we are to do it again next year.

“There are two aspects we will need to improve. First is the placement of toilets on the bridge because some runners reflected there were not enough at the starting line, so it was inconvenient.

“We thought the runners could use the toilets at the Asian World Expo before heading to the bridge, and we had concerns that placing too many on the bridge might push back the time to unblock it for public users.

“Secondly, our transports sending runners to the starting line, and picking them up from the finish line, could be better too, so that runners do not have to wait too long after their race finished.”

Gi Ka-man finished as the fastest local runner in 1:09.23 in the men’s race, and the 39-year-old revealed he was ready to bring the curtain down on a career which has lasted more than two decades, at the Valencia Marathon next month.

“The drop in stamina was obvious after turning 38,” Gi said. “I needed a much bigger effort to just keep up. The younger runners are able to train twice a day, but I am done after a morning session.”

Gi, who will be 40 in January, has signed up for the half-distance event at January’s Hong Kong Marathon, but admitted he may not even race, suggesting it was “time for something new”.

“I have been running for over 20 years, all my records are now gone and honestly I don’t think I can reclaim them, there’s too much pressure to carry on,” he said. “I plan to pick up diving, I’ll hike and maybe give myself a try at triathlon but it will be for fun only.”

“It’s a flat and easy route, quite an easy one to run on,” he said. “We have to go up a slope in the final two kilometres but it wasn’t too demanding so I’d say it’s a good event.

“I was here to show my support, but my aim is the full marathon in Spain. It’s an ultra-competitive field with no less than 150 runners who can finish under the 2:20 mark.”

Of the 18 overseas runners competing on Sunday, 12 of them reached the podium in their respective categories.

Toroitich was ahead of Evans Mayaka and Ronald Kirui, who crossed the line 15 and 20 seconds behind their compatriot, respectively, in the men’s race.

Kenya’s Gladys Chepkurui was the women’s runner-up behind Chelangat in 1:09.48, and Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui of Kazakhstan took third with a time of 1:12.14.

Christy Yiu Kit-ching was the fastest local female runner in 1:19.32, with the mother of two running her first competitive race since giving birth to her second child in April.

“The route is wide and simple compared with the Hong Kong Marathon, which could be quite confusing for the runners with those turns in the final kilometres,” 35-year-old Yiu said.

“But with only one turn at the halfway mark, it was difficult to gauge the remaining distance at times.”

Sunday’s event also doubled up as the inaugural East Asian Half Marathon Championships, with Xie Dongsheng and Xu Shuangshuang completing a double victory for China.

Xie took the men’s title in 1:07.40, finishing ahead of Hiroto Hiyashida of Japan and Kim Hongrok of South Korea.

Xu, who finished in 1:13.13, edged out Japan’s Saki Harada by six seconds. Shinetsetseg Chuluunkhuu of Mongolia was third, 14 seconds ahead of Hong Kong’s Yiu.