Vancouver Sun Run was Sunny and Fun

Fantastic to run on the Burrard Street Bridge

Today we had really good conditions for the Vancouver Sun Run -- 11 degrees Celsius and blue skies, and the temperature rose as high as 15 degrees.

For the past month or so I trained on the treadmill, running 5K and then 7K and 10K three times. The treadmill wouldn't allow me to run more than 60 mins at a time, so I had to run 60K then stop and start again and run another 3K.

A relaxed, fun atmosphere on Georgia Street

In any event I felt pretty confident I would finish in about 80 minutes, considering the last time I ran 10K was at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in 2019.

Near the Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street there was a sea of purple -- over 57,000 runners most of them wearing the issued purple T-shirts and meeting up with friends or heading to the starting line.

The runners were allowed to go in waves according to their coloured bibs, but unless you were an elite runner no one was really checking. If it was Hong Kong, they would definitely make sure participants were in the correct heat.

So we ended up with the group that planned to run the 10K race in an hour and five minutes! I started off fine down Georgia Street, as it was downhill, and then we turned left onto Beach Avenue and it was already 2K and there was the first water station. There would be three more along the route.

It was also helpful to have music blaring, either live or pre-programmed pop music to keep us motivated, and residents, or employees of companies like Lululemon came out to cheer the runners with lots of signs, ringing cow bells or clapping.

A handful of people dressed up -- one ran in a T-Rex costume, while my cousin wore a hotdog outfit, and his friends were bottles of ketchup and mustard, a pickle and Heineken beer.

A sea of people in purple T-shirts at the start

I walked a few times on the uphill sections, a bit winded, but motivated to keep going. At 55 minutes I saw I already ran 8.24K and that was a big motivator to keep going to the finish. 

However, the end did not seem within sight! We ran along Quebec Street and passed Science World (I thought the finish was near or just past it), but no, we had to keep running and veer to the left towards BC Place, where I finally saw the finish line in sight.

Many people were walking at this point but I powered to the finish at 1:10:43, 10 minutes faster than I had expected!!!

Star Power at HK Marathon

The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was back this Sunday Hong Kong time, and on my social media feeds I saw many people I know who participated, either in the full marathon, half or 10K.

Known for hiking almost daily, actor Chow Yun-fat ran in the half marathon and completed it in 2 hours and 26 minutes -- not bad for a 68 year old.

"I felt very comfortable in general, but there were some sections of the route that were slightly challenging due to the inclines," Chow said. "I had to be patient and take it slow."

He is already aiming to cut his time to 2 hours and 15 minutes in next year's race.

"There were a lot of people and the vibe was very nice. I'm happy to see a lot of senior residents running with me. I encourage Hongkongers to do more exercise," he said.

It must have been a shocker to see Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po lace up and actually run -- in the 2K Leaders' Cup. Interestingly his bib number was "852".

The route was from the Wan Chai Sports Ground to Victoria Park, and Chan came in second, after business tycoon Peter Woo Kwong-ching.

Is 2K the best Chan can do? What about Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung getting out and pounding the pavement?

Hong Kong Policy Address A Buffet of Words

A record-long policy address with few highlights

Yesterday Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivered his policy address in the Legislative Council, which took him a record three hours and 22 minutes to deliver -- sitting down.

One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, compared this number to the statistics of runners in the 2023 Standard Chartered Marathon. It seems 377 runners were faster than Lee giving his speech.

CE supporters wore green ties and scarves

Another observation was that the pro-Beijing camp wore green neckties or scarves as a show of solidarity with the chief executive.

Some critics described the policy address as lacking focus, comparing it to an all-you-can-eat meal.

"It is like a buffet dinner, it needs a theme such as Tasmania Oyster or Argentinian steak to attract diners. If the investment theme is about everything, it is hard to attract investors," said Simon Lee, co-director of the International Business and Chinese Enterprise program at Chinese University.

Centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen described the policies for the welfare sector as "putting old wine into a new bottle."

"It seems like the city leader copied and pasted welfare measures proposed by different parties and NGOs to his policy address. You cannot see a well-designed strategy, with timetable and priorities, presented inside the blueprint," he said.

Tik says Lee's speech on welfare had no strategy

One policy that shows how out of touch the Lee administration is, is the attempt to boost the city's birthrate by promising parents of newborns will be given a one-off amount of HK$20,000 and would be prioritised for subsidised housing (as long as they don't make more than HK$62,000 a month).

Compare this proposal with Singapore, which is handing out the equivalent of HK$62,000.

Does Lee not know how much it costs to raise a family, or how much rent is these days? HK$20,000 is a drop in the bucket and will hardly push the birthrate up...

Only China Terrified of Covid-19

The Queen made her final journey to Windsor Castle

Queen Elizabeth II was finally laid to rest today, but not before a funeral full of tradition, ceremony and meaning.

Numerous heads of state were invited, and the only person wearing a mask at Westminster Abbey was Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan -- complete with a Chinese flag on it for branding purposes.

It was also a metaphor for how much China is an outlier compared to the rest of the world when it comes to Covid-19.

Wang (centre) wearing a mask at the funeral

And people within the country are angry after a bus in Guiyang, Guizhou province, carrying people who tested positive, was involved in a motor vehicle accident, killing 27 of those passengers and injuring 20. on Sunday. 

They were being bussed at 2am to a remote quarantine centre 260km from Guiyang, the capital.

It wasn't Covid that killed them, but an accident.

CNN even pointed out a picture of someone in a hazmat suit spraying the crumpled heap that was the bus with disinfectant afterwards.

Guiyang vice-mayor Lin Gang apologised on Sunday night, but did not elaborate on the government's role in the crash, or what the apology was for.

Instead he said the government would "inspect safety risks in transporting people to quarantine" as well as investigate the cause of the incident.

The crushed bus that left 27 passengers dead

But the apology and the suspension of three officials was not enough to quell the anger fomenting online. There were more than 69,000 comments on social media after 24 hours of the crash, and related topics on Weibo were viewed more than 400 million times.

The level of social media engagement is similar to when Dr Li Wenliang, the doctor who warned about Covid-19, died in February 2020.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, things are starting to look up. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu suggested the city should have an "orderly" approach to opening up, and there were indications hotel quarantine will end soon, but people arriving will have to self-monitor at home for seven days.

"I'm conscious of the fact that while we need to control the spread of Covid, we also need to ensure that there will be maximum activities... and economic activities for society to carry on," Lee said.

Lee strongly hints hotel quarantine over soon

"I am also conscious of the need to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness by ensuring that we have good connectivity."

Finally Lee's pleas are being heard by Beijing, after several major sporting events were cancelled. 

The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was cancelled for November 20 but now organisers have announced it will be held in February, though no word on how many can participate.

Covid-19 has taken a terrible toll on Hong Kong's economy, with financial secretary Paul Chan Mo Po projecting a potential budget deficit of more than HK$100 billion (US$12.7 billion). All that taxpayer money going down the drain all for "dynamic zero-Covid"...

Covid Suspends Sporting Events

Last year's Cross Harbour Race started in Wan Chai

The ongoing Covid restrictions in Hong Kong are making it so difficult for the city to go back go normal, now into the third year.

When I say "normal", I mean holding sporting events for people in Hong Kong and overseas to participate in.

This year will be three batches of 500 people

Some are allowed to be held, and others not for no particular rhyme or reason.

Why is it that the Cross Harbour Race is allowed to be held with 1,500 participants swimming in three batches of 500, while the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon had to cancel its November 20 date because the government still hadn't made up its mind to give the green light.

What's there to think about? Runners are released in batches too. It's not like the race is held inside -- it's outside and starts before most of the 7 million people wake up. 

Perhaps even worse, the Oxfam Trailwalker which is a race that also raises much needed funds for the charity -- didn't even get any kind of consideration.

The marathon canceled its November race

The latest cancellation? The World Dragon Boat Racing Championship that will be held in Thailand instead.

Isn't it embarrassing that the home of dragon boat racing -- the Hong Kong International Races for dragon boat were first held there in 1976 -- aren't going to have races again this year?

Government officials don't seem to want any kind of revitalisation of the city at all and only care about Covid numbers.

What is this going to achieve? By cancelling these world-class sporting events, the authorities have effectively told everyone Hong Kong is not open. Why would anyone want to go there?

Meanwhile it also gives local residents fewer and fewer reasons to stay in the city.

Dragon Boat races have moved to Thailand

The latest now is that marathon organisers are now looking at possibly holding the race in February, but who knows what the pandemic situation will be like then? 

The government is doing a really good job of making it harder for people to exercise and have some respite from the severe and irrational Covid restrictions...