Excitement on track as Standard Chartered Marathon expo kicks off at Kai Tak

The 2025 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (SCHKM) is scheduled for Sunday, with runner's pack collection relocating from Victoria Park to Kai Tak Sports Park, coinciding with a four-day marathon expo.

The expo, which opened today, features over 40 games and activity booths. Around 120,000 participants are expected.

Crowds were observed around 3 pm, with runners in sportswear collecting their packs and long queues forming at popular photo spots.

Cheering stations have been set up for visitors to record messages of encouragement for runners, which will be played at designated points along the race route.

A runner with over ten years of marathon experience commented that the expo felt similar despite the location change, but he was interested in the newly added running and sports seminars.

Gu, a runner from Wong Tai Sin, stated this was her first visit to Kai Tak Sports Park and praised the convenient transportation. Having run the 10km race last year, Gu will challenge herself with a half-marathon (21.1km) this year, expressing no concern about the cool temperatures.

Another runner, surnamed Ng, visited the sports park with his wife for the first time. He praised the smooth runner's pack collection and expo experience, noting the availability of collection information at the MTR exit.

A child surnamed Cheung wrote encouraging words for his father's performance at the cheering station, confident in his father's abilities.

Despite engaging booths and photo spots, some runners found the indoor expo a bit stuffy, hoping for ventilation improvements in the future.

The expo will be open from Wednesday (Feb 5) to Friday (Feb 7) from 3 pm to 8 pm, and on Saturday (Feb 8) from 9 am to 5 pm.