HKBSF Athletes Took on Taipei Marathon Challenge
2011-12-18
Text Content is only available in Chinese version.HKBSF Athletes Took on Taipei Marathon Challenge
Sports can build up constitution, foster will power and empower people. It was no easy job for the visually impaired athletes to overcome disadvantages and difficulties to participate in the marathon race.
On December 18 (Sunday), 2011, the visually impaired marathon team of the Hong Kong Blind Sports Federation joined Fubon Taipei Marathon 2011 held by Taipei City Government and Chinese Taipei Road Running Association. Over 40,000 competitors participated in this marathon race. To boost participation of people with visual impairment, the organizer specially set up categories for visually impaired men’s and women’s teams, both including full marathon, half marathon, and 9-km road run.
In an interview with a news reporter, visually impaired athlete Leung Siu Wai said, “This marathon was like a carnival. All along the way I heard encouragements from strangers. It was their simple encouraging words that motivated me and kept me running.”
Leung Siu Wai further remarked that it was inspiring to participate in overseas games and he expressed thanks to his coach and guide, “I’d like to thank my coach and my guide runner, Patrick. Patrick was very busy, but he helped me practice running twice every week. Without the joint efforts of the 3 of us, I couldn’t have achieved the satisfactory result in this marathon race.”
Patrick, the guide runner, commented, “Running with a visually impaired friend is totally different from running alone. Many consider it an easy job leading the blind in a race. They think all you need to do is run forward with the person hand in hand. But in fact, a guide has to pay close attention to the surroundings and provide direction to the visually impaired athlete accordingly, as he may get bumped easily.”
