Hong Kong runner, 24, dies after collapsing close to marathon finishing line
PUBLISHED : Monday, 26 January, 2015, 1:53pm
UPDATED : Monday, 26 January, 2015, 7:13pm
Samuel Chan [email protected]
Ng Cheuk-yue collapsed just 100 metres from the finish line and was rushed to hospital but died a day later. Photo: Ng's Facebook page
A runner who collapsed just 100 metres from the finishing line at the Hong Kong marathon yesterday has died in hospital.
Twenty-four-year-old Hongkonger Ng Cheuk-yue, a runner in the 10km section, was certified dead at 11.37am this morning at Eastern Hospital after spending the night in intensive care.
The exact cause of his death was unknown, according to a Hospital Authority spokesman.
Ng collapsed and suffered a head injury in Causeway Bay at around 8.20am yesterday just 100 metres from the finishing line in Victoria Park. He was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital before he was transferred to Eastern Hospital.
An acquaintance of Ng confirmed his name to the South China Morning Post. Ng’s Facebook page shows he graduated from the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at the University of Science and Technology in 2012.
Speaking from the hospital Ng's aunt, who refused to give her name, said his parents and elder sister had been at the hospital with him overnight.
"I'm really sad," she said. "Such a tragedy.
"He was often very quiet and didn't speak much. He was a smart boy."
Another runner is in critical condition after he fell sick as he was making it across Tsing Ma Bridge. The man, 49, remains in the intensive care unit at Yan Chai Hospital.
Around 65,000 people took part in the Hong Kong Marathon on Sunday. Photo: Felix Wong
Some 65,000 runners raced yesterday in 10km, half-marathon and marathon events along with 3km and 10km wheelchair races.
A total of 40 runners were hospitalised, up from 30 last year.
Marathon organisers the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association and Standard Chartered Bank offered their condolences to Ng's family.
"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his family at this difficult time. We will remain in touch with his family," they said in a statement.
The last runner to die after joining the city’s biggest annual race was in 2012, when a 26-year-old man collapsed and later died in hospital after competing in the half-marathon.
Another fatality was recorded in 2006, when a man died a day after collapsing 13km into the marathon.
