Organised by RunOurCity for the 4th year, AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON @kowloon 2017 will be held on the morning of Sunday, 8 January 2017. The race includes a 10km, half marathon and a brand new 32.195km course. The runners’ quota has been increased to 15,000 runners. Registration for the 32.195km race will start on 21 October; half marathon on 24 October; 10km race on 27 October; and the charity quota on 31 October. (Registration website: http://kowloon.streetathon.hk/)

Brand new races running across Kowloon
The previous three AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON races have expanded from Kowloon East and to Kowloon West! The 4th “AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON@kowloon 2017” includes a brand new 32.195 km race which starts from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal through Kwun Tong, Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong Bypass, leaving Kowloon East for the old airport tunnel – which will open for running for the first time! – to Ma Tau Wai, To Kwa Wan and Kowloon West. The half marathon and 10 km races will also include new, never-ran-before routes and never-seen-before scenery, with a new Start area for the 10km race at Hoi Bun Road in Kwun Tong promenade. This will be Hong Kong’s biggest streetathon with 15,000 runners – an increase from 5,000 three years ago!

Theme: “King of Kowloon Street Run”
Legend has it that the name Kowloon (meaning nine dragons) comes from the eight dragons or hills located at the north of Kowloon, plus Emperor Zhao Bing, the last emperor of the Song Dynasty who lived briefly in Kowloon (emperors are considered to be dragons). In line with our fun-filled races, RunOurCity takes up the theme of “King of Kowloon Street Run”, calling upon all runners to dress up as “King of Street Run”. Runners can also immerse themselves into Kowloon by passing by Sung Wong Toi, a historical relic in memory of this king.

Performances for cheering the runners will be scattered along the race course. Runners are encouraged to unleash their creativity to dress up and win the “Funniest Outfit Award” as they enjoy the run.

Andes Leung, RunOurCity’s CEO and Co-founder, said: “RunOurCity has been creating unforgettable running experiences around the city. By promoting the street-run culture, we encourage runners to run the streets and understand the community. Through this new race course, we hope to bring a more exciting experience to our runners.”

Streetathon – a new path in fund raising
Stuart Harrison, CEO of AXA Hong Kong, said: “This is AXA’s fourth year as the title sponsor of Hong Kong Streetathon. We are very pleased to promote the health message to the community through this meaningful event. Through “AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON @kowloon 2017”, we hope to encourage people to set their personal goals, and develop a habit of doing exercise regularly to live a better life.”

An innovative social enterprise, RunOurCity has been promoting a new mode of running which runs the streets and connects the community to raise funds for charity and create great social impacts. Since its establishment in 2013, RunOurCity has been raising funds for over 18 charitable organizations through Streetathons and other races over the past three years.

AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON@kowloon 2017 will be raising funds for two charities: Playtao Dreamland and RunOurCity Foundation’s “Youth.ROC” programme. Playtao Dreamland is an ongoing extra-curricular programme that offers all-rounded after school activities, from homework tutoring to an array of activities ranging from those that get students in touch with society to life education, so that children can develop holistically. “Youth.ROC” is an 8-week professional and systematic running programme for young people. With the aim of training them to run a 10km race, the programme nurtures not only an interest in long distance running among young people, but also the never-give-up marathon spirit, confidence, persistence and health, thereby changing their lives.

Streetathon Star Supporters
“AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON@kowloon 2017” is pleased to have a team of Star Supporters including Hong Kong’s long distance female runner Christy Yiu Kit Ching, model Margiela Kwok, Hong Kong beach volleyball team Cat Ng and Mei Wong, and triathlon sportswoman Tina Chan. They will also be present to run the races.

Apart from registering for the race, the general public can join this fun-filled event by donating to RunOurCity, or by purchasing tickets to the Hong Kong Streetathon Carnival. All are welcome to dress up in their funniest outfit, cheer for the runners along the race course and give’em fives! Details of the Carnival ticket sales will be announced later. For details of AXA HONG KONG STREETATHON @kowloon 2017, please visit http://kowloon.streetathon.hk/.