Message from the Chair

AVOHK’s big event of the year the 2024 China Coast Marathon and Half Marathon will take place on Sun 4^th Feb 2024 under the careful eye of Race Directors, Catherine Leonard and Dave Smith.  This is an AIM’s certified course and this historic event was first held in 1981.  I would like to highlight this is a wonderful  opportunity to take part as an AVOHK Club Member and wear your AVOHK Club vest.   If you are entered in the Marathon you will also be competing for the John Lane trophy, which is presented to the first AVOHK runner home. This is the only Marathon and Half Marathon in Hong Kong that offers the full range of 5 year Masters age categories from 35+ upwards and allows you to compete within your age group.  Being an AVOHK Club Member you get the entry fee discount.  Support your club, AVOHK  by entering here https://avohk.org/index.php/2023/11/16/welcome-back-to-the-china-coast-4-feb-2024/

AVOHK Christmas Party 7pm on Thursday 14^th Dec 2023 at Museum Cafe8 (Above Pier 8).  Thanks to those that have signed up already.  There are still places available and a great opportunity to catch up with other club members.  Zenneth the Magician will be keeping us entertained.  This event is subsidized by the club and is a bargain at HKD 250 for members and HKD 350 for guests which includes 2 drinks, a sumptuous buffet and a raffle.  See the flyer in the newsletter and names to me please at chair@avohk.org .

The Four Trails documentary a Private viewing for AVOHK members and their guests is due to be held at Museum Cafe8 on Wed 29^th Nov 2023.   It is now sold out.  A big thank you to Catherine Leonard for organizing this club event.

AVOHK Athletes have been very busy in the last month,  first at the 8^th Hong Kong Masters Athletics Championships held at Wan Chai Stadium where AVOHK had a great showing coming away with 21 Golds, 8 Silvers and 3 bronze medals. Special mention goes to Aldo Kriel M40 who also won his age category overall, Frank McNamara M70  who won 4 Golds and Mick Wong M50 with 3 Golds.  AVOHK Ladies acquitted themselves well with Glory Yau W45 coming away with 2 Golds and a great victory by the AVOHK Ladies in the W40 4 x 100m.  A big thank you to Aldo Kriel for volunteering as the Team Manager and rounding everyone up.  A big thank you also to the Pacers Club and other volunteers for putting these championships on.

Secondly in early November 12 AVOHK Members  out of a team of 46 went to Clark in the Philippines to represent the Hong Kong, China Masters team in the 22^nd Asia Masters Athletics Championships.  A report is in this month’s newsletter and a very nice review of these championships by Bill Purves.

AVOHK Swimmers, Andrew Waters and Ronald Thompson recently competed in the Round the Island swim.  Yes,  45km and Ronald did this solo and Andrew as part of a team relay.  All for a very worthy cause and both raising substantial donations.  Andrew has written about his experience in this month’s newsletter.  A big congratulations to Andrew and Ronald for this amazing achievement to our community in Hong Kong and putting the AVOHK name out there.

On 11^th Nov 2023 AVOHK held their first Reservoir race for over 3 ½ years at Aberdeen.  A relatively small field of runners but everyone enjoyed themselves and hopefully the club will consider putting more reservoir races on in the future.  Well done to the Race Director Phil Booth and thank you to the many club volunteers that came out to make the Aberdeen Reservoir race a success.

Our 2 club Honorary Members have been in the news recently.  A special celebration was held at the 2023 New York City Marathon to mark the occasion 40 years ago that Rod Dixon won the race in dramatic style.  A finish that has been replayed thousands of times over the years. Rod of course graced AVOHK with his presence as our Guest of Honor for the 2019 China Coast Marathon.  Dave Bedford OBE was invited back to Crystal Palace recently to the venue where just over 50 years ago in 1973 Dave made history by breaking the 10,000m World Record by over 8 seconds.  Crystal Palace has been in decline in recent year’s but plans are afoot to restore Crystal Palace back as a centre of Athletics excellence.  Dave was AVOHK’s Guest of Honor for the 2017 China Coast Marathon.

Membership renewal.  No increase in Club membership fees yet again. For those on an annual membership renewal, now is the time to renew for 2024.  Please try and renew early.  RENEW Here:  https://app.joinit.com/o/athletic-veterans-of-hong-kong/members

The AVOHK Club monthly Social run is held on the first Wednesday in the month. Next one is at 7pm on Weds 6^th Dec 2023.  Meeting outside the BMW Shop (formerly, HSBC) for further details, contact Norman 9249 1452 or Frank 9423 5422.

On a couple of final notes, last Friday, I was supporting Team green at Trailwalker at a point between stages 2 and 3.  Club member Mark Redfern pacing another team came past wearing his AVOHK Club vest.  A vest for all terrains and distances.  Thank you, Mark.  Just a reminder to all members the new AVOHK Club vest is available. https://avohk.org/index.php/avohk-merchandise/

Well done to club member Gi Ka Man on being the first Hong Kong runner home in the inaugural Macau Bridge Half marathon in a time of 1hr 9 mins 23 secs.

Yours in running.

September was a turbulent month for weather with a super typhoon and black rainstorms to contend with. This resulted in AVOHK having to postpone the first race in the AVOHK 5K series. Good news was to follow and AVOHK held the rearranged Bowen Road 5km on Saturday, 23 September 2023. Freeman Lee, the Race Director, rounded up the volunteer helpers (thank you to all) to make the race a success. One hundred and seventy runners toed the line for an 8am start. Some very credible results in all age categories which can be found here:

https://avohk.org/wp-content/uploads/filr/3365/2023%20AVOHK%205k%20Series%20-%20Race%201%20-%20Bowen%20Road.pdf.

Thank you to Watsons Water for sponsoring the series and to Freeman Lee for nailing the race organization. Just confirmed Race 2 of the 5k series will be held at Tai Tam Tuk on Saturday, 7 October 2023. 8am start.

Last shoutout to represent AVOHK at the 2023 Hong Kong Masters Athletics Championships which are being held at Wan Chai Sports Ground from 27 to 29 October 2023. Entries need to be in by Friday, 29 September 2023. Contact Aldo Kriel, the club captain, for this event at vicechair@avohk.org. 20+ club members have signed up.

Enter now and get training for the 2024 AVOHK China Coast Marathon and Half Marathon which is being held on Sunday, 4 February 2024. The usual early-bird discounts and club discounts apply. Please enter and support AVOHKs biggest event of the year which was first held in 1981. Enter online here: https://avohk.org/index.php/2023/09/15/welcome-back-to-the-china-coast-4-feb-2024/. Dave Smith and Catherine Leonard are the co-race directors.

Details on the new AVOHK Club Vest and availability will be announced shortly. A big thank you to Phil Booth for seeing this project through.

AVOHK are looking at the possibility of holding a reservoir race at Aberdeen Reservoir on Sunday, 11 November 2023. Watch out for further details.

Date for your diary. The AVOHK Christmas Party will be held at Museum Café (old Café 8) at 7pm on Thursday, 14 December 2023. We plan to arrange some entertainment and the usual Lucky Draw, HKD 250 for Club members and HKD 350 for guests. This includes 2 drinks and a sumptuous buffet. Thank you to Aldo Kriel who has volunteered to co-ordinate.

Rod Dixon, an AVOHK honorary Club member, 4-time Olympian and running legend, will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of his heroic 1983 New York City Marathon win on Sunday, 5 November 2023. Described in many running magazines as one of the greatest ever marathon victories, Rod lives out his accomplishments through his Rod Dixon Kids marathon foundation, taking his programme to many schools in the US and his home country of New Zealand. You can contribute here: https://www.kidsmarathonfoundation.org/tcs-new-york-city-marathon-2023.

Social Events

The monthly Club Social Run is held on the first Wednesday in the month. Next one is at 7pm on Wednesday, 4 October 2023. Meeting at the Hopewell Centre outside BMW Shop (formerly, HSBC). For further details, contact Norman 9249 1452 or Frank 9423 5422.

An AVOHK Club Social Gathering for members to relax and chat about running and athletics will be held at “Bobby’s Rabble” at 46 Wyndham Street. Starting at 6pm on Thursday, 19 October 2023. For further details, contact Aldo Kriel 6125 7913 or vice-chair@avohk.org .

Committee

The next AVOHK Committee meeting will take place on Monday, 16 October 2023, at 7pm.

Yours in running

Colin Whittington
AVOHK Chair

Yes, AVOHK does have an active swimming section. Congratulations to Club member Doug Woodring who competed in the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Fukuoka earlier this month. Setting four Hong Kong M55 age group records. Read more about Doug’s achievements in this month’s newsletter.

RACES AND COMPETITIONS

Sign up now: The 2023 AVOHK 5K Series. Online Entry is live with over 250 runners already signed up. The first race will be held at Bowen Road at 8am on Saturday, 9 September 2023. This series has the full age range with masters categories in 5-year age groups from 35 years up to 80 years+. For the youngsters, you must be at least 12 years of age to enter. The series is sponsored by Watsons Water. Race Director is Freeman Lee.

https://mylaps-registrations.com/w/1689/p2e265050baa31e025caf218e38722b9d

Final call: The 2023 Asia Masters Athletics Championships will take place at New Clark City in the Philippines from 7th to 12th November 2023. Historically, Hong Kong have always had a large team for this event. There are no qualifying times/distance.

This is “Sport for All”. So far, 37 have signed up. AVOHK requires entry and payment by 31st August 2023. An email went out recently with details. If anyone is still interested in taking part, please email me soonest at chair@avohk.org.

Get Ready: The 2023 Hong Kong Masters Athletics Championships are due to take place at the Wanchai Sports Ground from 27th to 29th October 2023. Details at http://hkmac.org/2023HKMAC_DraftR4.pdf (English is at the back). Entry will be open from 1st September 2023. Aldo Kriel (vice-chair@avohk.org) will be the AVOHK Club Captain for this event and will be contacting Club members shortly.

2023 World 24hr Masters Championships in Taipei, 1st/2nd December 2023. Details are here:

http://www.ctau.org.tw/news/2023-12-01-02-iau-wma-24h-world-championships/.

Contact: chair@avohk.org if interested in entering.

2023 World Masters 50k Championships in Hyderabad, India, 5th November 2023. Details are here: https://nebsports.in/iau-50k/.

Contact: chair@avohk.org if interested in entering.

SOCIAL EVENTS

The Monthly Club Social Run is held on the first Wednesday in the month. Next one is at 7pm on Wednesday, 6th September. Meeting at the Hopewell Centre outside BMW Shop. For further details, contact Norman (9249 1452) or Frank (9423 5422).

An AVOHK Club Social Gathering for members to relax and chat about running and athletics will be held at Bobby’s Rabble, 46 Wyndham Street. Starting at 6pm on Wednesday, 20th September 2023. For further details, contact Aldo Kriel 6125 7913. August’s gathering was well attended and even “The Railbird” put in an appearance.

COMMITTEE

The next AVOHK Committee Meeting will take place on Monday, 11th September 2023, at 7pm.

Good luck to all those athletes competing for Hong Kong, China, in the upcoming 2022 Asian Games being held in Hangzhou.

Yours in running

Colin Whittington
AVOHK Chair

Races and Competitions

The 2023 AVOHK 5K Series Online Entry has been launched with the first race being held at Bowen Road at 8am on Saturday, 9th September 2023. This series has the full age range with Masters categories in 5-year age group from 35 years up to 80 years+. For the youngsters, you must be at least 12 years of age to enter. The series is sponsored by Watsons Water. Race Director is Freeman Lee. Enter now!!

https://mylaps-registrations.com/w/1689/p2e265050baa31e025caf218e38722b9d

Preparations for the 2024 China Coast Marathon and Half Marathon are progressing. This event will be held on Sunday, 4th February 2024. This is AVOHK’s biggest event of the year and the Club looks forward to having a large group of AVOHK members competing. For the Marathon, there is the special John Lane trophy for Club members to compete for. John Lane was one of the original founding members of AVOHK in 1982. We will let you know once online entry is available.

2023 Asia Masters Athletics Championships will take place at Clark City in the Philippines from 7th to 12th November. Historically, Hong Kong have always had a large team for this event. There are no qualifying times/distance. This is “Sport for All”. Entries close on 8th September 2023. An email went out recently with details. If anyone is interested in taking part, please email me at chair@avohk.org.

Date for your diary.

The 2023 Hong Kong Masters Athletics Championships are due to take place at the Wan Chai Sports Ground from 28th to 29th October 2023. We are waiting for the organisers to send out entry details.

The 2023 China National Masters Athletics Championships will be held in Quzhou City, Zheijang Province, on 26th September 2023. No further details at present. Bill Purves is trying to find out more information.

Newsletter

If you are travelling and competing overseas, do think about writing an article for the AVOHK Newsletter about the event and your experience. Maybe with a few pictures. Contributions to AVOHK Newsletter Chief Editor Vicent at vicentavohk@gmail.com.

Do take time to read the July AVOHK Newsletter. There are some wonderful and informative articles. Note: The Railbird has come in from the cold.

Committee

The next AVOHK Commi5ee Mee7ng will take place on Monday, 31st July 2023, at 7pm.

Yours in running

Colin Whittington
AVOHK, Chair

2023 AVOHK Annual General Meeting

The Club had a good turnout of members at the AGM on Thursday, 8 June 2023. Thank you
to those members that attended at Museum Café (formerly, Café 8). There is an article
about the AGM in the newsletter. I would like to, on behalf of all the members, thank the
outgoing AVOHK Chair, Elaine Hall, for the great job Elaine did in leading the Club through
the last 2 years and keeping us all together. Congratulations to Glory Yau on being presented
with AVOHK Female Athlete of the Year and Aldo Kriel on being presented with AVOHK Male
Athlete of the Year. Both very well deserved. The following members of the AVOHK
Committee were voted in: https://avohk.org/index.php/avohk-committee/

Committee

The new committee will gather for their first meeting on Monday, 26 June 2023. A date for
the diary, AVOHK are planning to launch the first AVOHK 5K Series in four years on Saturday,
9 September 2023, on Bowen Road. More details to follow. A big thank you to Freeman Lee
who is again the AVOHK 5K Series Race Director.

Swimming

Congratulations to Andrew Waters who was 2nd in the M45 100m freestyle at the long
course Hong Kong masters swimming meet held recently. Hopefully, more medals from the
swimming group at future masters meets.

Newsletter

Please do take time to read the newsletter, there are some very interesting articles. The next
AVOHK Social Run will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, 5 July 2023. Meeting at HSBC ATM
at the Hopewell Centre.

Malcolm Phillips 5k Age Graded Race

Thank you to all of the runners who braved the extreme temperatures on Saturday, 20 May, to race the Malcolm Phillips 5k. It was lovely to catch up with all the AVOHK regulars, as well as lots of new faces.

Congratulations to our age-graded winners, Helen Leung (age-graded time of 20:54.2) and Michael Capper (age-graded time of 15:58.6).

A huge thank you too to our team of volunteers. Without their help, we would never be able to hold these races.

Asia-Pacific Masters Games, Korea

Hong Kong had some great results at the Asia-Pacific Masters Games in Korea earlier this month. Special mention must go to our own AVOHK athletes, Glory Yau Tsui-fan and Caren Lau Hoi-lam. Glory Yau won gold in all three of the W45+ sprints, setting new Games’ records in the 100m, 200m and 400m! Caren Lau won the W40+ pentathlon and long jump. Well done to both!

Elaine Hall
Chair, AVOHK

The Malcolm Phillips Age-Graded 5k 2023

The race is now open for entry. It will once again be held on the flat, fast Bowen Road course and all finish times will be age-graded, so it’s a great way to track your performance across the years. For full details of the race to happen on Saturday, 20th May, and to enter, please visit www.avohk.org

AGM and Sports Nutrition Presentation

The AVOHK AGM 2023 will be held at Café 8 in Central at 7pm on Thursday, 8th June.

The meeting will be followed by a buffet meal, and we are also delighted to host a presentation about Sports Nutrition by Lisa Tarquini. A UK-registered nutritionist with an MSc in Exercise and Nutrition Science, Lisa has had a long career working with athletes of all levels. She was Sport Nutrition Manager at the Hong Kong Sports Institute for 6 years and, during that time, she worked closely with athletes on their journey to Asian Games and Olympic success. Lisa will be giving a presentation about sports nutrition and she will be happy to address any questions which runners may have.

Full notice of the AGM, along with proxy and nomination forms will be sent out to Club members this week.

Elaine Hall
Chair

World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships 2023

Congratulations to all of the athletes who represented Hong Kong, China, at the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, last month! There were several AVOHK runners on the team, and they did us proud. Aldo Kriel has written a full report on the meet for the newsletter.

The Malcolm Phillips Age-Graded 5k 2023

The race is now open for entry. It will once again be held on the flat, fast Bowen Road course, and all finish times will be age-graded. It’s a great way to track your performance across the years. For full details of the race happening on Saturday, 20th May, and to enter, please visit www.avohk.org.

AGM and Sports Nutrition Presentation

The AVOHK AGM 2023 will be held at Café 8 in Central at 7pm on Thursday, 8th June. The meeting will be followed by a buffet meal, and we are also delighted to host a presentation about Sports Nutrition by Lisa Tarquini.

Lisa Tarquini is a UK-registered nutritionist with an MSc in Exercise and Nutrition Science. She has had a long career working with athletes of all levels. She was Sport Nutrition Manager at the Hong Kong Sports Institute for 6 years and worked closely with athletes on their journey to Asian Games and Olympic success. Lisa will be giving a presentation about sports nutrition and will be happy to address any questions runners may have.

Full notice of the AGM, along with proxy and nomination forms, will be sent out to Club members this week.

AVOHK RACES – yes, finally we can start planning for Races in 2023. So please read on …

Meantime you can quickly pencil in your diaries from our Events area on this website!

Malcom Phillips 5k

The Malcolm Phillips 5k has been run as a virtual race for the last 2 years and we are excited to announce that it will be back as a physical race on Saturday, 20th May this year, on Bowen Road. It is an age-graded race, which means that runners’ actual finish times will be subject to an age-graded factor (see the Age Grade Factor tables on www.world-masters-athletics.com ). Age-graded times will then be used in the results and to award prizes. This format means that older runners can be competitive against younger runners and it is a great way too for our members to track and compare their own performance over the 5k distance across the years, or even decades. Entries for the Malcolm Phillips will open in April and all information will be available on our website and emailed to members.

Series of 5ks

AVOHK’s very popular 5k Series has a new format this year. As in past years, we will kick off with the Bowen Road 5k, which will be held on Saturday, 9th September. This will be followed 2 weeks later by a 5k race on the traditional Tai Tam course on 23rd September. The Black’s Link race will be held over a 5-mile course on 14th October, and we will finish the series with a relay race at South Bay on 21st October. Full details of the series will be announced on our website soon.

China Coast Marathon and Half Marathon

We will be applying for permits for the China Coast soon and will announce full details of the race next month.

HKAAA MEMBERSHIP

With HKAAA organising more track, road and trail races this year, it is a good idea to make sure that you have renewed your HKAAA membership. As an affiliated club, AVOHK gets priority entry into a number of HKAAA races, most notably the Standard Chartered Marathon. We do everything that we can to help secure spots for our members but, every year, we have a number of runners who apply through AVOHK but are ineligible due to their HKAAA membership having expired. Please visit www.hkaaa.com to check your membership status, and renew if necessary.

Elaine Hall
Chair, AVOHK

FINALLY – RACE RESULTS!

Congratulations to all our AVOHK runners who participated in various events at The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon earlier this month. It was great to see the AVOHK vests back out in the crowd again. Special mention must go to Rachel Sproston who was champion in the Women’s Master 2 category of the half marathon. Rachel was the 10k champion in the same age category at the last Standard Chartered race in 2021. It will be interesting to see which distance she chooses for the next event!

Gi Ka-man has continued to show excellent form and finished in 2nd place in the Men’s Masters 1 Full Marathon. He was also the first Hong Kong runner across the line in a field that included stiff competition from international invited runners. Ka-man is currently Hong Kong’s top-ranked marathon runner and we wish him every success in his overseas races this year.

Committee member Aldo Kriel had a great day out at the Island District Athletics Championships at the end of January, taking golds in the 35+ AG in both the 100m and 200m and breaking the championship records in both events!

Finally, AVOHK life member Chris Wardlaw represented Australia at the World Masters Short Course Cross Country Championships in Australia at the weekend and finished 4th in the M70 AG. You can read a full report of the race in an article by Colin Whittington who travelled down to cheer the runners on.

AVOHK RACES

Our main priority as a club is to provide opportunities to get our runners running. This has been very challenging over the last few years, but we finally have some good news.

Our outline plan for the year is for the ever-popular 5k series to return, with a fresh new format. Details will be announced on our website in due course, but we anticipate that it will run through September and October. We will also be working towards hosting our flagship event The China Coast Marathon and Half Marathon in early-2024.

The Malcolm Phillips 5k was our only race to continue throughout the pandemic in a virtual form and we are planning for it to return as a physical race this year.

Dave Smith has continued to organise a series of fun runs to celebrate our 40th anniversary year and the next one will feature some relay action on the central waterfront this Saturday, February 25. We hope to have some great photos to share from this.

Elaine Hall
Chair AVOHK