Sub-three hours has, for a lot of marathoners, lengthy been the game’s Holy Grail, and it’s an unbelievable achievement that lower than one per cent of the world’s inhabitants has completed. However this yr, even a sub-three marathon wouldn’t safe entry for some runners into the 2024 Boston Marathon (with males 18-34 requiring a time of 2:54:31 or sooner for 2024.) Don’t be too disheartened in the event you didn’t make it into Boston–maybe a transfer to Hong Kong is what you want.
The 2024 Commonplace Chartered Hong Kong Marathon awarded practically CDN $2,000 to every Hong Kong resident who broke three hours (males) or 3:30 (girls).
The race launched the inducement final yr to advertise well being and health and encourage native residents to get into the game and pursue massive targets. Final yr, 218 runners took residence the HK$10,000 incentive (roughly CAD $1,800). This yr the quantity doubled, with 332 males operating sub-three and 124 girls operating sub-3:30, in accordance with the Hong Kong Athletics Federation.
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There are two restrictions: 1) You should be a everlasting Hong Kong resident, and a couple of) Runners should be registered with an area run group. The cash just isn’t the one accolade these runners obtain; in addition they obtain the title of “Mr. and Ms. Tremendous Thousand.”
The query arises: wouldn’t or not it’s thrilling if marathons in North America adopted comparable incentives? Think about the motivation if the Boston Marathon, as an example, rewarded every sub-three qualifier with a $1,000 payday. Such a proposition might make these gruelling 4:30 a.m. winter wake-up requires coaching periods considerably extra interesting.
