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Richard Castka

Christy Yiu Kit-ching's dream of a trip to the Rio Olympics is on hold for another few months but her marathon debut was the start of "a great career", said coach Anthony Giorgi.
Yiu ran a gutsy 2:45.44 for her first serious attempt at the 42.2-kilometre distance, narrowly missing her target of two hours and 44 minutes.

	I was going quite well until we got off the Tsing Ma Bridge and I then started to feel a bit fatigued

	Christy Yiu Kit-ching
"I was going quite well until we got off the Tsing Ma Bridge and I then started to feel a bit fatigued," said Yiu, who one month ago married long-time boyfriend Chan Ka-ho, a fellow runner.
"I knew I needed to hit the half-way mark in 1:22 or faster, but I slowed down for about two kilometres and dropped slightly off the target pace."
Hong Kong Sports Institute head coach Giorgi said it was a case of "not quite but not bad" as Yiu finished nearly 14 minutes behind North Korean winner Kim Hye-gyong.
"This is the start of a great career. It took a lot of courage for Christy to run this particular marathon to gain experience," Giorgi said.
"It's a tough course so it's not easy to run a fast time here."
Having trained hard for the past few months, Yiu and her new husband last night flew to Oslo for a belated 10-day honeymoon.
"I'm ready for a break," said Yiu, 26. "We're going to spend a few days in Oslo and then fly on to Iceland to see the Northern Lights."
Japanese consultant coach Shinetsu Murao was slightly disappointed but philosophical about the result, having personally coached Yiu for the past few months.
"Our minimum target time was 2:44, so obviously we failed to meet that," Murao said. "However, it was also a good race for Christy as she has gained some valuable experience about marathon running.
"She now understands the importance of having enough stamina to run for 42.2 kilometres. I want her to improve her speed and I want her to run some good half-marathon times before we target another full marathon later this year.
"A time of 2:44 would have seen Christy qualify for the world championships [in Beijing] and that would have been very good experience indeed.
"However, I have no doubt at all that she is capable of running sub-2:44 on a fast and flat course and in good conditions."
Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association chairman Kwan Kee had nothing but praise for Yiu's efforts.
"We've invested a lot of time and effort over the past four or five years to establish the distance running squad, so all in all I'm very impressed with Yiu's performance," said Kwan.
"This is just the start for her and I have every confidence she will run much faster times with more experience and with the continued support of coach Murao and the staff at the HKSI.
"We have been investing some of the money we generate from this event into the distance running squad and the results are now beginning to show that this is money well spent."


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Hong Kong Marathon 2015

Christy Yiu Kit-ching misses Rio Olympics qualifying time but coaches still happy

Christy Yiu at the 16km mark on Tsing Ma Bridge, where the marathon debutant started to feel fatigued. Photo: Richard Castka

Sport

Hong Kong