2-day Hong Kong Marathon could boost mega-event economy: lawmakers

Hong Kong should expand its annual marathon into a two-day race and add more diverse routes to attract more participants and boost the city’s mega-event economy, two lawmakers have said.They also said on Monday that organisers of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon could design routes through less urbanised areas, such as Kai Tak and the Northern Metropolis, to reduce traffic disruptions.Their calls were made a day after organisers pledged to set up a special task force to study the “future development” of the annual event and address an oversubscription problem.About 74,000 people, a record 25 per cent of them from outside Hong Kong, took part in Sunday’s races, while nearly 50,000 other runners were denied a spot.Lawmaker Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, vice-chairman of the government advisory body Major Sports Events Committee, said the proportion of overseas participants was ideal but had in turn reduced the number of spots available for local runners, given the event’s relatively fixed capacity.“This is a pity, as promoting sports [in the community] is among our focuses. I believe it would be helpful to look into how to increase the overall quotas, such as splitting the event into two days to allow more people to participate,” he told a radio programme.