The HK government has announced it will conduct a review of safety guidelines for next year's race. Let's hope the pollution issue is not dodged in favor of only looking into issues of overcrowding.

In last Sunday's race, about double the number of participants compared to 2005 required medical attention. Five thousand runners, or about 12% of all runners required medical attention. Add to this the number of people that suffered mild asthma attacks and did not report them (me) and it seems fair to guess the number of participants experiencing medical concerns would be a few percentage points higher.

One runner on Sunday's race has passed away, and other - a 33 year old with no medical history, remains in critical condition with likely brain damage.

Today's 'Letters' page in the SCMP includes a letter from M. Douglas, please see my excerpts:

If you are not aware of the Greenpeace air pollution index, it can be found here. It compares the air quality the government claims that HK has with the standards of the EU...
...It is great that HK finally has some sports that have captivated much of the population - now it is time for everyone to realise that the government has done very little to maintain a living environment in which these events can take place.
Renewal of the Citybus license for another 10 years, without even requiring new, state-of-the-art diesel traps on every vehicle, is a perfect case in point...
Can someone with leadership qualities stand up and end the apathy towards air pollution in this city?

The SCMP is asking readers to voice their opinion on whether marathon entrants over the age of 45 should be required to have a medical check-up. Post your thoughts to talkback@scmp.com You may want to emphasize that it would be more valuable that the city implement environmental criteria for the race as pollution does not discriminate by race!

Reference: The Hong Kong Standard, SCMP (un-linkable)