Hong Kong Marathon

Hong Kong Marathon
Hong Kong Marathon in West Kowloon, 2007
Date	January / February
Location	Hong Kong
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon, Half marathon and 10 km
Primary sponsor	Standard Chartered Bank
Established	1997
Official site	Hong Kong Marathon

The Hong Kong Marathon (香港馬拉松), sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, is an annual marathon race held in January or February in Hong Kong. In addition to the full marathon, a 10 km run and a half marathon are also held. Around 70,000 runners take part each year across all events.

High levels of humidity and a difficult course make finishing times for the Hong Kong Marathon comparatively slower than other large marathons. The course records were both set in 2012 by Ethiopians: Dejere Abera has the men's record of 2:11:27 hours while Misiker Demissie holds the women's record of 2:30:12 hours.

Hong Kong Marathon was first granted as IAAF Bronze Label road race by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in Year 2012 race, and it was upgraded as IAAF Silver Label road race in Year 2013 race, and continued to keep this rating in Year 2014 and Year 2015 race.

The Hong Kong Marathon has hosted the Asian Marathon Championship race on four occasions (2002, 2008, 2013 and 2015).

The (20th) Hong Kong Marathon (2016) had the first Official Theme Song of the race - Life And Marathon (人生馬拉松) sung by Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, being recorded on his newest album Getting Ready (準備中) released on July 10, 2015, and Eason was formally invited to participate on this race with being granted "Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon VIP Pass" by Standard Chartered Bank and Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association.

The race traces its history back to 1997, when it was launched as the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Marathon by the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association. The route was between Sheung Shui and Shenzhen. The race endured organisational difficulties due to a lack of funding and was not held from 1989 to 1991. After two further editions, the race was again suspended from 1994 to 1996. Standard Chartered Bank stepped in as a title sponsor for the 1997 race and it garnered a field of 1,000 runners. The relaunch of the race saw increased participation from top-level East African runners – the men's race has been won by either a Kenyan or Ethiopian runner for all but two years from 1997 to 2012.