Hong Kong’s New Northern Metropolis Marathon Is Checking Its Course for Loose Dogs

Organizers of Hong Kong’s first Northern Metropolis Marathon will send patrols over the course in the days before Sunday’s race to look for loose dogs, on a route through the New Territories, where two people have died in dog attacks since August.

Ricky Chan, the race coordinator, told the South China Morning Post on Monday that government departments had weighed in on the plans. “Various government departments were very concerned about this issue and gave us a lot of input,” he said. Notices went out about two weeks ago to car parks and other sites on the course asking that dogs be kept under control, and he added: “Patrol teams will also inspect the course days before the race to re-check the area.”

On Aug. 20, a 33-year-old woman was killed by a dog at the licensed pet hotel and training center she ran in Ta Kwu Ling; the dog had arrived for adoption only nine days earlier, The Standard reported. Then, in the early hours of Sept. 20, a 27-year-old woman cycling home from Yuen Long MTR station was found with severe bite wounds on Pok Wai South Road and was pronounced dead in hospital. CCTV had caught three or four dogs chasing her minutes earlier, and police and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department caught eight dogs in the area over the following days. As recently as Monday, a dog bit a 26-year-old worker on the leg in Yuen Long, according to the Post.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told lawmakers on Oct. 14 that the government is reviewing its dog-control laws and looking at heavier penalties for abandoning animals and for failing to control a dog. In the meantime the AFCD’s advice is simple enough for anyone heading out on a long run: keep a safe distance from unowned dogs and report them on 1823. Marathon Handbook’s guide to what to do if a dog chases you covers the rest, and the risk is not confined to Hong Kong: a runner in Brisbane was mauled by two dogs on an evening run.

Sunday’s race is organized by the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk to mark its 100th anniversary, and it doubles as a showcase for the Northern Metropolis, the government’s plan to turn 30,000 hectares (about 74,000 acres) of the northern New Territories into a hub for housing and industry. The same land clearance that is making room for the Northern Metropolis has added to the stray population: in July, the Post reported residents and businesses leaving pets and guard dogs behind ahead of government clearance deadlines.

A Course Built on New Roads

About 15,000 runners have registered across a full marathon, a half-marathon, a 10K and a 1,600m race. The marathon starts at 6:30 a.m. at the Heung Yee Kuk New Territories Building in Shek Mun, Sha Tin, follows the Tolo Harbour waterfront and the Lam Tsuen River in Tai Po, then turns at the 24.8K mark inside the Lung Shan Tunnel, which at 4.8K (3 miles) is the longest road tunnel in Hong Kong, according to the government. Runners have to reach that turn by 10:10 a.m. or be pulled from the race.

The final stretch runs along the Fanling Bypass, a 4K (2.5-mile) road that only opened to traffic in May as the first large transport project of the Northern Metropolis, before finishing at the North District Sports Ground in Sheung Shui. The half-marathon starts at the Hong Kong Science Park and finishes on the bypass itself.

Entries in the Marathon Challenge category needed a qualifying time, and the top five in each age group share prize money, with HK$6,000 ($770) for each winner, according to the official race site. The Hong Kong Observatory’s forecast for Sunday is 25 to 29 C (77 to 84 F) with humidity as high as 90 percent, which will make the late miles hard going.

Hong Kong already has its established big-city race in the Hong Kong Marathon, and the Kuk’s chairman, Kenneth Lau Ip-keung, would like the new event to go further still. Organizers have studied cross-border options, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the Lok Ma Chau Loop beside Shenzhen, and Lau told the Post the obstacles were logistical. “Cross-border events are not a problem at the national level, but it depends on practical arrangements,” he said. “Hong Kong is small and holding a full marathon involves busy roads, which makes it very difficult. We hope the Northern Metropolis Marathon will get better and better in the future.”