Spartan returns to Hong Kong, offers free admission to healthcare professionals

Spartan is set to return to Hong Kong in September after being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s event will kick-off with the first-ever Spartan Trail Race in Tai Po on 13 September. With 10K and half marathon races, Spartan Trail offers a new challenge for Hong Kong’s trail runners and adventure racers. Participants are offered two categories to join – elite and open.  

The trail race will be followed by Hong Kong’s first stand-alone Spartan Kids event on 26 September at the harbourfront event space in Central. Kids aged four to 13 can take part in both open and competitive races, and they will be given headbands, T-shirts, and medals to mark their accomplishment. After that, the hurricane heat event H3X will be held on 3 October.

The excitement will reach its peak on 28 and 29 November when the Spartan APAC Championship Trifecta Weekend will take place with a series of events, including Hurricane Heat, Spartan Kids, Spartan Sprint, Spartan Super, and Spartan Beast events. These events will run over two days at Kam Tin Country Club.

Last, but not least, the final Spartan event of 2020 will be a Spartan Trail Race in Aberdeen on 6 December.

Gary Wan, managing director of race organisers Hybrid Group, said: “We are excited to stage Spartan Hong Kong 2020. As past races have shown, we have a passionate and growing community of current and future Spartans in the city. After six months of physical distancing, they are more excited than ever to take on the Spartan challenge.”

Spartan will also offer up to 700 Hong Kong healthcare professionals free admission to participate in one of the Spartan races this year to thank them for their services in helping Hong Kong fight COVID-19.

This year’s event was originally scheduled to start on 18 April, but was postponed to 30 May due to the pandemic. However, as the pandemic showed no signs of stopping, the organiser decided to cancel this year’s competition in March. 

With the relaunch, Spartan is working closely with the Spartan Race headquarters in the US on identifying best practices around the event to ensure the safest possible conditions, including eliminating water obstacles, putting in place extensive personal hygiene stations, and enforcing temperature checks for all participants and staff.

“The health of participants and staff remains our highest priority, and we will abide by any government regulations on mass gatherings, and implement significant risk-mitigation measures as the conditions require,” Wan said.

“For us, the challenges of the past few months have only reinforced the need for people to maintain not just a healthy and active lifestyle, but a positive mindset, a spirit of resilience and determination, and a willingness to face and overcome any challenge, which is something that Spartan focuses on.”

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