In recent years, many runners in Hong Kong have made trips abroad where the main purpose is to participate in long-distance races (marathons, triathlons, etc). Often they rave (online and in print) about how well the races are organized and how enjoyable their race experiences are — the enthusiasm of supporters along the route, the race route themselves, the helpful officials and volunteers. Some of those who have raced abroad have made comparisons between their race experiences in Hong Kong and abroad, claiming that their race experience abroad is superior. This led to criticism from other runners, saying that runners should support local races rather than making complaints. The problem with this line of thinking is that a lot of the runners' gripes are long-standing issues and the organizers were quite persistent (in not making changes).
Most races have quotas limiting the number of participants. In races I have taken part in, the places are often filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Places may also be awarded based on a lottery system (if the number of applicants exceed the quota). It is difficult to understand why races, especially popular events such as the Hong Kong Marathon, still award places on a first-come, first-serve basis — it forces those wishing to participate to wake up early on the day registration opens, and wait to see if they reach the registration web page fast enough. If one has trouble getting online that day, one can only say "wish I am luckier next year" to oneself.
Most races separate the starting area into different sections where the fastest runners are expected to line up near the start line and the slower runners line up further back. At each section an expected completion time is listed so that runners can choose the section to join based on their time. The Hong Kong Marathon is the only race I have entered which doesn't have this set up. This leads to slower runners blocking the faster ones at the beginning of the race, slowing the fast runners and affecting their time. While most runners would like to set their own personal best in each race, one should be content on setting the best net time (the time elapsed between one crossing the start and finish lines) rather than the gun time (the time between the starting gun going off and one crossing the finish line).
A number of runners, each wearing outfit with a time printed on it, join the race as pace setters so that other runners have a rough idea of their expected finish time. For some reason, no such runners can be found in the Hong Kong Marathon. With such high turnout, one expects there to be a lot of runners volunteering for the role — the role gives the pacers a goal to strive for and allows other runners to know how they are performing. (My split is too inconsistent for me to be a pace setter.)
The runners should be the focus of any long-distance races. However, statements from (race and government) officials often take up around a third of the pages in the race handbooks for the Hong Kong Marathon. (Until this year, the runners' names were nowhere to be found in the handbooks.) In comparison, the list of runners' names occupied most of the pages on the race handbook for the Nagoya City Marathon, which I recently competed in, while the officials' statements can be fitted into one single page. While this gesture seems trivial, it shows runners who the organizers care more about.
I (along with many runners in Hong Kong) have criticized the Hong Kong Marathon's organizers for its course set up. There are a lot of issues — lack of atmosphere, monotony of the course, sense of detachment, dearth of spiritual support — with having a majority of the course on highways, one of which I had not considered until I read a recent column — if a runner is injured or feels unwell during the race, it may take a long time before one receives help from the medical staff, due to the lack of spectators/volunteers/officials along the route. If the organizers of a race insist on maintaining the existing routing, they should at least consider setting bicycle patrols along the route for a more rapid response to emergencies.
In races, water and refreshment stations are set up along the route to keep the runners replenish fluids and energy. In the foreign races I have run in, spectators along the route offer runners snacks and drinks along the route to keep runners going. For some reason, the organizers of the Hong Kong Marathon appear to worry about runners catching food poisoning by eating snacks provided by spectators a lot. So much so that, in the past, they would disqualify anyone who accepts refreshments outside the official water stations. This is a case of going overboard — the runners are able to decide when they require replenishments on their own and know the risks of accepting refreshments from strangers.
Runner accepts refreshments from spectators for many reasons, one of which is the lack of supplements from official water stations. This can be a problem, especially for slower runners. An ample supply of refreshments can keep runners from running out of energy and withdrawing from the race. Marathons are supposed to be challenging, but not gargantuan. (I doubt race organizers like having a high percentage of runners failing to complete the course.) Perhaps that is why the Hong Kong Marathon decided to supply bananas to runners along the route this year.
One may notice that Hong Kong Marathon's organizers have started doing things on par with outside races (eg putting runners' names on race handbooks). So the complaints made by runners and comparisons with foreign races may have finally forced to Hong Kong Marathon's organizers, which have previously refused to respond to common complaints, to make the race experience more enjoyable to runners, similar to that enjoyed by runners while racing abroad.