Police Constable (PC) Jonny Lai of Wong Tai Sin District Patrol Sub-unit (PSU), claimed the title of the Overall Champion of local runners for the fifth time with two hours, 37 minutes and 43 seconds.

This is the fourth straight time Jonny has captured the title since 2007, after emerging as winner of the event for the first time in 2004. Speaking of his recipe for this winning streak, he said: "There is nothing more important than proper and sufficient preparation."

Having an all-round preparation, which included running up a slope for half an hour rain or shine practically every day, Jonny entered the marathon on February 28 in top form and took the heat and humidity in his stride.

"Of course, without perseverance, you can't train every day. Despite my workload, I kept on working out myself for the marathon. If a runner wants to succeed, he or she must set a clear goal, which will spur him or her to make the best preparation possible," he said.

Jonny's perseverance in distance running has even motivated some of his colleagues to join him in training. He encourages fellow officers to take up the sport because, he says, it is a good way to train the mind and body, as well as a good way to ease work pressure.

Besides Jonny, other Force athletes have come up with good performances in the annual marathon: Crime Wing Headquarters Chief Inspector Andy Naylor taking gold in Men's Master 1 in the 10 - km Challenge; Sha Tin District Intelligence Section WPC Wong Siu-ping taking second place in Women's Master 1 Marathon, and Human Resource and Finance Division Clerical Assistant Lee Yin-ping clinching bronze in Women's Master 2 Marathon. In the Disciplined Services 10-km Invitation Race, the Force team comprising 10 Police Athletics Club (PAC) members, took the third place.

In fact, more and more Force members are taking part in the annual marathon. With over 620 PAC members and their families running in various events this year, the Force has been awarded the sixth place of the Most Supportive Award.

Force volunteers behind the scene

OffBeat has talked to two of the volunteers - Kowloon East Region Road Safety Team Senior Inspector (SIP) Johnny Chan and Ngau Tau Kok Division PSU WPC Leung So-yee.

Being a long-time athlete, SIP Chan is also a long-time member of both the PAC and the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association, and has been active in organising athletic events both within and outside the Force including the Dowman Road Race.

In fact, this is the fifth time SIP Chan has helped out in the Standard Chartered Marathon. With his expertise and experience of policing major public events, he was mainly responsible for crisis management and headed the coordination centre and a contingency team mainly manned by police volunteers, including WPC Leung.

SIP Chan pointed out that this year's marathon saw a record number of competitors and participation by most police land regions, government departments and other organisations.

"This year, the challenge for the organisers was a lot more marathon runners had sustained injuries during the later stage than previous years, especially serious injuries, " he noted.

As one of the police volunteers in the contingency team, WPC Leung needed to collect the belongings of injured runners and return them to the runners in hospitals, provided other necessary assistance and comforted the injured and their families.

She emphasised that it was by no means easy to arrange transport as soon as possible to return their belongings to the hospitals.

Even though on the day of the marathon, she had to get up at about 3 am and to be in position before 5 am, WPC Leung enjoys every bit of her volunteer service for the marathon. "I will team up with SIP Chan in the next marathon even though he hasn't come for me," she vows.

Other than official duties, Force members are participating in a lot of public sport events not only as competitors, but also as volunteer helpers in various capacities. No matter at what capacity, they all exemplify the Force's caring culture and the healthy lifestyle it has been promoting.

Force members are out in force to cheer on their colleagues

The marathon attracts a large number of Force runners