Message from the Chair – Jul 2020

Dear AVOHK Members

July has not been a great month for good news. We need some good news.

This month saw the passing of Club member John McKinven. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Josephine his wife and Elisha their 7-year-old daughter. Thank you to all the Club members for the wonderful response for donations to the Nesbitt Centre to assist with the future education of Elisha. For those members that would still like to donate, the details are in this month’s newsletter. Please give what you can afford. John’s funeral will be held on Sunday, 9th August. A viewing at Hung Hom followed by a cremation service at Cape Collison. AVOHK will be represented. Due to COVID-19, numbers to attend will be extremely restricted and at this time it is looking unlikely a wake can be held. For any further details, do not hesitate to contact me: chair@avohk.org.

A few weeks ago, the Committee decided, due to the impact of COVID-19, it would not be possible to hold the 2020 AVOHK Comprador 5K Series. This is not only a big disappointment for AVOHK but also the Hong Kong running community who supported this very popular series. A big thank you to our sponsor Comprador who understands the reasons for cancelling and to Freeman Lee the Race Director. Subject to all restrictions being lifted, AVOHK will be back with the 5K Series in 2021.

This month’s newsletter is a very interesting read with articles on a new Athletic Association, “Heard at the Track” has a good selection of snippets of global athletic information. Articles also on the Toronto virtual meet, 26.2m Bear Crawl, power of sleep and running twins with severe autism.

Good luck to those AVOHK athletes competing in virtual events. Please do let us know how you get on and maybe write a few words on your experience for the newsletter.

On the admin front, AVOHK has renewed the lease on our Godown at Wong Chuk Hang for a further 3 years and the landlord has given the Godown a fresh lick of paint.

Not surprisingly there will be no social run in August.

The current situation is tough on us all, but I am sure if we comply with the COVID-19 restrictions we can get through this together. There will be better days ahead.

To all members and their families, Stay safe and stay healthy.

Yours in Running

Colin Whittington
Chairman