News

© UNICEF HK/2017

HONG KONG, 26 November 2017 – The 12th UNICEF Charity Run, organized by the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF HK), successfully concluded today. The event is expected to raise over HK$11 million from over 12,500 runners to support UNICEF’s global efforts against AIDS, which focuses on protecting babies from being infected with HIV at birth and providing treatment, counselling and support for mothers and children affected by HIV and AIDS.

The event took place at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and participants included: KOLs, individual runners, families, business leaders, corporate teams and UNICEF HK Ambassadors Ms Guo Jing-jing, Ms Sarah Lee and Mr Wong Kam-po.

Public relations guru and veteran marathon runner Mr Walter Cheung also competed in the Half Marathon race, and he clinched second place in the Top Individual Fundraiser Award.

Executive Council Convenor Mr Bernard Chan officiated the Leadership Challenge kick-off ceremony. He was joined by UNICEF HK Honorary Adviser Mr Henry Tang, who thanked the public’s continued support. “The UNICEF Charity Run is a worthy cause, and I am pleased to see so many runners participated in the event and raised funds to support UNICEF’s work for the most at-risk and excluded children,” said Mr Tang.

Ms Judy Chen, Chairman of UNICEF HK, expressed her gratitude to all the sponsors and supporters. “The success of the UNICEF Charity Event relies on the generosity of our sponsors and supporters. Their support has enabled UNICEF to work for children across the world. I look forward to continuing our strong partnerships so that we can deepen our work for children in need,” remarked Ms Chen.

Professionally a racing cyclist, Ms Lee rarely competes in non-racing events; but for the first time she competed in the UNICEF Charity Run and took part in the 3km Leadership Challenge race. “UNICEF has done a lot of good work for children around the world, and I wanted to lend a hand to this fundraising event, so that more resources could be mobilized for children in need,” noted Ms Lee.

Meanwhile, Ms Guo and Mr Wong, the other two UNICEF HK Ambassadors, joined the 3km Family Run with their families. Ms Guo said, “I was really excited about the 3km Family Run, as this gave me a great opportunity to do something fun and meaningful with my family.”

As a father of a two-year-old son, Mr Wong sees the event as something more than just a run. “It not only provided a recreational opportunity for my kid, but also helped strengthen our child-parent relationship,” Mr Wong said.

New this year was the Star Wars™ 5km Run, ought about by The Walt Disney Company.

Many celeities have participated in the race, including artist Ms Christine Kuo, KOLs Ms Lisa Cheng, Ms Cherry Leung, Ms Charlotte Cheung and Ms Maggie Yau. They were joined by a group of disc jockeys – Donald, Ning, Jacky, Tarzan, Tsz-lung, Tsz-wei and Ah O.

In addition, the UNICEF Charity Run also welcomed 30 companies for joining the Half Marathon Corporate Relay and almost 40 business leaders at the 3km Leadership Challenge.

In the end, Ip Nga Kit clinched the Men’s Half Marathon Overall Championship, while Richards Jane won the Women’s Half Marathon Overall Championship. Men’s and Women’s 10km Overall Champions were Chen Ping Feng and Chang Chih Hsuan respectively. Also, Wat King Long won the Men's 3km Leadership Challenge, while Sarah Lee Wai-sze won the Women's 3km Leadership Challenge.

Since the launch of the UNICEF Charity Run in 2006, we have engaged over 120,000 runners from different sectors and raised over HK$120 million to support UNICEF’s ‘For Every Child, End AIDS’ campaign.

The UNICEF Charity Run 2017 was made possible by Diamond Sponsors CCB International (Holdings) Limited, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited and S.F. Express (Hong Kong) Limited, Gold Sponsors Asia Miles Limited and New World Development Company Limited, Venue Sponsor Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and a number of supporting partners. In addition, Official Sportswear adidas Hong Kong Limited provided event souvenir T-shirts and training workshops for runners.

- END -

Event photos can be downloaded here.

Official results of all races will be posted by 4 December 2017 on the UNICEF Charity RUN website: run.unicef.org.hk.

For more information please contact:

Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF