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50 / People
Running With the Disabled
A Hong Kong runner on his first ultramarathon and how it inspired him.
By Winnie Li (Photo courtesy of Steve Lo Chun-yin)
ltramarathon runner “I am not looking for a sense of ners. “It’s not only about the path
Steve Lo Chun-yin is success. I just want to see the blind that you are running. It’s also
Uthe first Hong Konger running in the competition with about helping them understand
to finish a marathon distance of my eyes to find out how they do the whole environment,” Lo says.
42.195-kilometres-plus on each of that and finish the competition,”
the seven continents and the North Lo says. “The biggest task is to first un-
Pole, doing so in 2015. derstand them. After that, you
Following his passion for run- will find out that it (guide run-
“The duration and the distance ning, Lo founded Wheel for One- ning) is just a way to get to know
of an ultramarathon is quite long, ness (WFO) in 2017. a new friend. It is just that the
and most of the competitions are friend cannot see well,” Lo adds.
in nature, so participants can en- “I want to help those with dis-
joy time by themselves and talk to abilities take part in marathons in Recalling his first run in Saha-
themselves. It is the me-time that I groups so that they can experience ra in 2012, there were moments
cannot experience in the city,” Lo it and get the chance to communi- that Lo wanted to give up.
says. cate with people,” he says.
During the race, Lo suf-
Lo began running ultramara- In 2018, Lo organised a team fered from blisters on his feet
thons after his boss shared that he of around 40 people to bring three that made it difficult for him to
ran alongside elderly and disabled disabled children in rickshaws to walk. He also had diarrhoea after
people in the Marathon des Sables, join a 100 km ultramarathon held drinking water with sand inside,
a seven-day 250-kilometre ultra- in the Gobi Desert. and began to feel unwell after fin-
marathon in the Sahara Desert. ishing 10km.
Lo is also a guide for blind run-
