Press Release

HKBU runners participate in Hong Kong Marathon with sports technology monitoring for health safeguarding

Sunday, 9 February 2025

The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) marathon team, comprising over 600 staff members, students, alumni and friends, participated in various races of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon today (9 February). The University also leveraged this event to conduct a sports science project by monitoring the runners’ physical conditions to help safeguard their health.

HKBU runners demonstrated unwavering dedication to this annual mega event in town, giving their all in the spirit of pushing boundaries, self-transcendence and striving for excellence, while also showcasing the unity of the HKBU community. Dr the Hon Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, Chairman, and Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, were present at the event to cheer on the runners in a joyful atmosphere.

To strive for better performance, HKBU runners have been gearing up to prepare for the marathon since December last year. The University organised a series of training sessions and invited a professional running coach to provide guidance and advice to the runners, with the aim to help them master running techniques and enhance their physical fitness for better performances.

In addition, HKBU set up a booth at the Causeway Bay Sports Ground, where a number of Chinese medicine practitioners and students from the School of Chinese Medicine were stationed to provide HKBU runners with advice on recovery after strenuous exercise, and closely monitored the runners’ physical conditions.

The Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health at HKBU also leveraged this event to undertake a project titled “Real-time human data metrics improving performance and safety of athletes”, which employs cutting-edge technology to explore an innovative approach for providing scientific training guidance to HKBU athletes. This pioneering project monitored the physiological indicators of participating runners in real time during the race. These indicators included core body temperature, heart rate, sweating rate and stride length. By integrating these data with meteorological information and the athletes’ locations, assessment on the runners’ physical conditions can be made, and timely assistance can be provided when necessary. 

Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, was also one of the runners of this year’s Marathon who participated in the project to receive real-time monitoring. This project not only opens new avenues for preventing and mitigating exertional heat illness, but also ensures that athletes can compete under optimal conditions to achieve the best results. Apart from this Marathon event, the Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health also applied related technologies to some athletes who participated in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Empowering sports development with technology has become an important engine for the promotion of high-performance sports. With the spirit of pursuing excellence, HKBU promotes research in sports technology, and leverages its expertise and innovations to contribute to the community, in an effort to inject new impetus into the development of sports in Hong Kong. This mode of bringing innovation to the industry and society exemplifies the University’s mission to serve the community and spearhead social development.

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