appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Ada Li

Hong Kong distance runner Virginia Lo Ying-chiu has targeted another personal best at Sunday’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (SCHKM), carrying on from breaking her best times on several occasions last year.
“Both my training progress and physical condition feel good, and I hope to run faster than last year’s Hong Kong Marathon and also break the PB set at the National Games – if the weather and other conditions are favourable,” Lo said.
Lo won the local women’s full marathon title last year in a personal best of two hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds, finishing eighth overall among the women and becoming one of only two active Hong Kong female runners to break two hours and 40 minutes.
At the National Games in November, she improved that mark to 2:39:23 and had over the year lowered several other bests, including over 1,500m and 5,000m on the track, and in the half-marathon at the Gold Coast Marathon, where she ran 1:14:58.
Having run only her third full marathon last year and still feeling “fairly new” to the distance at that time, Lo said the recent results had boosted her confidence.

“Performing well at the National Games has boosted my confidence not just for the Hong Kong Marathon but for my marathon future as well,” Lo said. “To be honest, I still do not have much experience handling the full-marathon distance and a lot of the knowledge is still quite new to me. How to train and how to recover both need further exploration and study.”
With two full marathons in Hong Kong now behind her, Lo said the city’s notoriously steep course with many ups and downs no longer felt like a “devil”.
Lo said she had experienced both good and bad races on the Hong Kong Marathon route. “Besides personal form on the day, weather is a crucial factor,” she said. “Last year’s cool conditions made it feel less punishing, even though the long climb after the Western Harbour Crossing remained a stern test.
“Experience from the National Games and the Hong Kong half-marathon championships has taught me how to handle the hills and distribute my pace,” Lo added. “I am now more familiar with every section and less nervous going into this year’s race.”
Lo said her race strategy included staying calm when fatigue sets in. “Do not panic when the pace starts to bite. Use self-talk to convince yourself you can keep going,” Lo said.

The 28-year-old, who quit a stable teaching job more than three years ago to become a full-time athlete, said working with Japanese coach Shinetsu Murao over the past year had changed her outlook on training and competition.
She had learned to commit wholeheartedly to each race and not to dwell too much on how hard the process feels, she added.
Lo’s boyfriend, 2021 Hong Kong Marathon champion Eric Wong Kai-lok, will also return to the full distance this year.
Wong, who won the half-marathon title alongside Lo in 2023, hopes to better his personal best of 2:25:31 and will toe the line with a mindset of “wanting to win”.


Hong Kong Marathon expects to welcome record number of runners after increasing quota

Priority-entry registration for Hong Kong bridge half-marathon opens on Thursday

How this Hong Kong executive lost 32kg in 8 months through exercise and a diet overhaul

Law urges caution over proposals for Hong Kong Marathon route change, switch to 2-day event

Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon

Top city runner Virginia Lo to resume quest for another personal best at Hong Kong Marathon

Hong Kong’s Virginia Lo improved her best marathon time to 2:39:23 at the National Games in November. Photo: China News Service

Virginia Lo about to cross the finish line at last year’s Hong Kong Marathon. Photo: Edmond So

Virginia Lo said she has learned how to handle the Hong Kong course. Photo: China News Service

Standard Chartered Taipei Charity Marathon hands out finishers’ medals with glaring typo

Finishers at the Standard Chartered Taipei Charity Marathon spotted a glaring typo on their medals. Photo: handout

This year’s Taipei Charity Marathon finishers’ medal compared with last year’s. Photo: handout

Marathon marks another mile in lifelong friendship for Hong Kong’s ‘Running Babes’

Members of the ‘Running Babes’ get ready for the start of the Roads Scholar China Coast Marathon. Photo: Dickson Lee

The Running Babes (front row, from left) Ming Chen, Claire Cormier Thielke, Anisha Abraham, Déborah Kan and (back row, from left) Patricia Jovane, Charles-Everard de T’Serclaes, Jon Mandel, Mark Stimson and Anna Shuvalova. Photo: Dickson Lee

The China Coast Marathon is the city’s oldest long-distance road race. Photo: Dickson Lee

Sport

Hong Kong

Other Sport

City’s best female finisher in last year’s race did so with her best time and went on to keep lowering her marks over the year


City’s best female finisher in last year’s race did so with her best time and went on to keep lowering her marks over the year.


2025 National Games

Marathons

Top city runner Virginia Lo to resume quest for another personal best at Hong Kong Marathon

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}City’s best female finisher in last year’s race did so with her best time and went on to keep lowering her marks over the year

City’s best female finisher in last year’s race did so with her best time and went on to keep lowering her marks over the year