Hong Kong Marathon changed my life and now I want to run every year, says Japan’s Masashi Shirotake
- Shirotake was beaten into second by Wong Kai-lok in fight to the finish at Victoria Park in 2021
- With overseas competitors returning this year, the 43-year-old wants to finish first among local runners in next week’s showpiece
Japanese runner Masashi Shirotake said his dramatic display in the 2021 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon changed his life, and has vowed to come back every year.
Relocated to Hong Kong for business reasons a couple of months before the race, Shirotake was the first runner to enter the finishing straight in Victoria Park but was overtaken by Wong Kai-lok with about a 100 metres to go.
With Covid-19 keeping most overseas competitors away, Wong became the first local champion. The 2022 race was postponed and will take place next week.
“It was my first marathon in Hong Kong and the atmosphere was extraordinary especially after we reached the last five kilometres in the urban areas,” Shirotake said.
“Many people were cheering for us though I knew most of them were for Wong. But still I enjoyed the race very much and now I want to come back every year for the Hong Kong Marathon.”
In Singapore on business last year, the 43-year-old took part in the Standard Chartered race there in December, finishing a creditable eighth behind seven runners from Kenya.
“To be honest, the Hong Kong Marathon changed my life here,” he said. “After the 2021 event, a lot of people recognise me and speak to me whenever I train here in Happy Valley or Aberdeen.
“They are so kind and friendly that many of them try to use broken Japanese to speak to me. I have also made lot of friends with local runners and join them for a few rounds of drinks after training.
“Unfortunately there was no marathon last year because of the pandemic and I now look forward to next week’s showpiece as I want to make amends of my debut in such a great event.”
There will be invited runners from overseas for this month’s event, and with plenty of professionals among them Shirotake’s target is to be the first local runner to finish.
And his dream of that mark has been helped by Wong’s absence, with the champion running the half marathon to focus on the Tokyo Marathon in early March.
“My major rival will be Ngai Kang but there is no pressure for me if I can reach my target,” Shirotake said. “I also want to enjoy the race more and meet my friends in Hong Kong after the race.”
Shirotake holds a personal best of two hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds, which he set when winning the Matsuyama Ehime Marathon in Japan in 2013. That time is one second faster than the Hong Kong record 2:19.53 set by Gi Ka-man in 2021.
Two years ago Wong won in 2:31.10, with Shirotake four seconds behind. Ngai clocked 2:33.58 in finishing third.
“I am now 43 and it will be difficult for me to get another personal best,” Shirotake said. “The Hong Kong course is not too friendly to the runners with a lot of up and downhills, and it will be fantastic if I can run a sub 2:30 next week. But I have no pressure at all as mostly what I want is to enjoy the race and make friends.
“In Japan, it is easy to find plenty of runners in the community who can run with you in the same pace or someone who can run much faster or slower than you. But in Hong Kong we don’t have such running communities and I really hope we can create something like this in future.”
Other than the marathon, Shirotake also does well in trailing running. He won the HK50 West in Hong Kong last year and was third in the Trans Lantau in November before heading to Singapore.
“I want to do more in both marathon and trailing running this year especially in Southeast Asia such as Thailand and Indonesia as Covid-19 is easing,” he said.
