Why, for Hong Kong investment banker and triathlete, running a race is like making a deal
For Sophia Lai, who entered her first aquathlon as a bet after losing drinking games, event prep is about allocating and managing resources
Sophia Lai Chi-lok is among Hong Kong’s most accomplished amateur triathletes.
The 41-year-old investment banker has trained with the Hong Kong Triathlon National Squad and made the podium at 10km (6.2-mile) running races, triathlons and aquathlons – which comprise a swim and a run.
She was the second woman across the finish line in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 10km race in 2022, and the 2023 Hong Kong Aquathlon Championship women’s champion. That year, she also took part in the Asia Triathlon Cup Hong Kong, and was the top woman overall in the sprint event.
Many of the people she competes against are half her age. Petite at just 1.51 metres (4ft 11in), Lai’s sports career only took off in 2014, when she was in her early thirties and working in Hong Kong; an evening of drinking games with friends in nightlife district Lan Kwai Fong was the unlikely catalyst for it.
They made a friendly wager: at the end of the evening, whoever had lost the most games would have to take part in an athletic competition. Lai was the loser, and signed up for her first aquathlon, at Kowloon Tsai Park.
To her surprise, even though she did not specifically train for it, she finished as the top female overall.
