Mix-up at Hong Kong Marathon caused by runners’ manager giving out wrong bibs
‘The four involved runners, who were managed by the same manager, did not engage in intentional bib swapping,’ event organiser says

Four runners who were disqualified in Hong Kong’s annual marathon on Sunday did not intentionally swap their bibs and it was their manager’s “incorrect distribution”, the event organiser has said, even though offers for buying the number tags were available online.
The Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates said on Monday evening that it had looked into the circumstances behind the disqualification of four mainland Chinese runners whose bibs did not match their identities.
“The four involved runners, who were managed by the same manager, did not engage in intentional bib swapping,” the organiser of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon said.
“The incident was caused by the relevant manager’s incorrect distribution of bibs to the runners, which led to the four individual runners wearing bibs that did not belong to them.”
The association reminded participants to thoroughly check that the names on their bibs were correct before competing in the event.
Two of the disqualified runners had finished first and second in the half-marathon race.
