Message from the Chair – Dec 2022
As the year draws to a close, the focus for many masters athletes in Hong Kong in 2022 has been on the track rather than the road. The reopening of Scheduled Premises, such as sports grounds, has made it relatively easier to organise events within these premises, while permits and exemptions for road races have still proved elusive. The recent announcement that The Standard Chartered Marathon is able to increase its entry field slightly gives us some hope that things can change in 2023. Now is a good time to make sure that your AVOHK and HKAAA memberships are up-to-date in order to give yourself the best chance of getting on start lists in 2023!
7th HK Masters Track and Field Championships
Congratulations to the AVOHK team who took part in the meet at Tin Shui Wai earlier this month. Our women finished 5th overall and our men were 6th out of all the clubs participating. We had many verystrong performances and special mention must be made of members Lau Hoi-lam who was the overall champion in W35-39 and dominated the field events. Yau Tsui-fun was the overall champion in W45-49 and broke the 400m record in the process! Full results can be found at www.pacers.org.hk.
2023 World Masters Short Course Cross-Country Championships
We don’t yet have any Hong Kong representatives for the event which will take place on 18-19 February 2023 in Bathurst, Australia. There are full details on the AVOHK website and any questions should be addressed to Colin Whittington, who is planning to attend the event, at vice-chair@avohk.org.
2023 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, Torun
With the recent easing of travel restrictions, Hong Kong will be sending a strong team to The World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland. There is a great website with all the details at https://wmaci2023.com. The deadline for entries is 31 January 2023, so there is still time to enter and
any athletes who were born before 26 March 1988 are eligible. Hong Kong has a great tradition of sending large delegations to these overseas meets. If you have any questions about the meet, you can contact Bill Purves at billpurves@alum.mit.edu.
I hope that you all have a lovely time over the festive period. We look forward to seeing you in 2023.
Elaine Hall, Chair AVOHK