Umbrella Ultra Marathon

The Umbrella Ultra Marathon, or Umbrellaultra, was a 102 km distance running event held on 29 October 2014. It was not a competitive race, but a running event to support the Umbrella Movement of Hong Kong. The course covered New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, which shows an umbrella shape on the map. Thus the trail is also known as the Umbrella Trail.

Umbrella Ultra Marathon
Date29 October 2014
Location
New Territories: Sham Tseng, Tai Lam, Shek Kong, Tai Po, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Sha Tin.
Kowloon: Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui.
Hong Kong: Admiralty, Pok Fu Lam.
Caused byTo support the Umbrella Movement of Hong Kong after a full-month duration.

Names

The name of the "Umbrella Ultra Marathon" came from its aim at supporting the occupation protests by the umbrella movement,[1] which also called the "Umbrella Revolution" in reference to the umbrellas used by protesters to defence against police's pepper spray and tear gas.[2] Some runners implemented this idea through a distance running passed through the main areas occupied by the pro-democracy protesters.[3] Another reason of the name was: The course covered New Territories, Kowloon, and Hong Kong Island, which shown an umbrella shape on the map of Hong Kong.[1][4]

Background
Main article: 2014 Hong Kong protests

The Umbrella Movement started on 28 September 2014, when initiators of the Occupy Central movement announced the commencement at a rally taking place the Central Government Complex on Tim Mei Avenue.[5][6] Police blocked all entrance to Tim Mei Avenue to obstruct Occupy Central supporters, and arrested demonstrators inside the Central Government Complex by 1:30 pm.[7] A crowd gathered and anti-surrounded the police outside Tim Mei Avenue to stop police's transference of the arrested demonstrators. Police used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse the crowd,[8] while the crowd use umbrellas to fight against pepper spray and tear gas.[9][10][11] The umbrella becomes symbol of this movement,[12][13] and thus called the Umbrella Revolution[14][15] or the Umbrella Movement.[16]

On 29 October, the full-month of the Umbrella Movement, some distance runners conceived the idea to support the Movement and to show solidarity with protesters by running a course which shown an umbrella shape on the map of Hong Kong.[1][4][17][18] [19] Another reason to choose running to show their support was: "running is synonymous with freedom", added Olya Korzh, an ultramarathon champion.[3]

Organising history

The event was organised by John Ellis, Andrew Dawson, Richard Scotford, and Andre Blumberg. Ellis and Dawson conceived the idea on Sunday, 26 October with the aim of showing support for the students and the Umbrella Movement. They expected only a few friends would run the event.[20] The event was publicised on Facebook, and the media picked up the announcement on the Tuesday evening.

Event

The Umbrella Ultra Marathon started at Shing Mun Reservoir at 4:00 on 29 October 2014. Three participants took part at the start, while some spontaneous supporters joined later at different check points: Tai Lam, Shek Kong, Tai Po, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Sha Tin, Mong Kok, and Admiralty. Many supporters joined at Mong Kok and Admiralty during the evening. It was estimated that 150 runners were involved in the event. The total distance was 114.9 km, with elapsed time 16:49:09.[20][21] The running team took a little rest in three "occupy areas" in Mong Kok, Admiralty, and finally Causeway Bay to show support to the protesters.

References
  1. Rachel Jacqueline (30 October 2014). "Ultra-runners race 102km umbrella-shaped route across Hong Kong to support Occupy". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  2. Antonia Molloy (29 September 2014). "Hong Kong protests in pictures: The 'Umbrella Revolution'". The Independent. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  3. Gregor Stuart Hunter. "Hong Kong Protesters Stage Another 'Umbrella Marathon' Run". The Wall Street Journal, China. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  4. Jerome Taylor (28 October 2014). "AFP Umbrella-shaped ultramarathon to support Hong Kong protests". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  5. "Hong Kong 'Occupy' leader Benny Tai admits protest out of control amid traffic paralysis". The Straits Times. 28 September 2014.
  6. "Occupy Central Launches Hong Kong Protest Campaign". The Wall Street Journal. 27 September 2014.
  7. "Police arrest 61 people for unlawful assembly". 7th space. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  8. "HK police surprise protesters with tear gas". The New Paper. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  9. Umbrella Revolution— Pro-democractic Protesters Used Umbrellas to Fight Against Pepper Spray. YouTube. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  10. "Mayhem in Hong Kong as Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters". Mashable. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  11. "'Umbrella Revolution' Protests Spread in Hong Kong". Mashable. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  12. James T. Areddy (1 October 2014). "Hong Kong Protests Mark Twist in History of Umbrella Symbolism". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. Keith Bradsher (5 October 2014). "New Image of the Hong Kong Protests: 'Umbrella Man'". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  14. Reuters/Tyrone Siu (29 September 2014). "Parry and Thrust: What is the meaning of the umbrellas in Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution"?". Quartz. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  15. Didi Kirsten Tatlow (29 September 2014). "Images of Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' Tell a Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  16. Ishaan Tharoor (4 October 2014). "Hong Kong's students want you to stop calling their protest a 'revolution'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  17. 馬拉松跑出「雨傘路線」撐運動 (in Chinese). 蘋果日報 (香港). 28 October 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  18. 寓意傘運滿月 超級馬拉松：全港跑出傘圖 寓意傘運滿月 Check |url= value (help) (in Chinese). memehk.com. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  19. 葉靖斯 (29 October 2014). 香港澳洲僑民跑超級馬拉松聲援雨傘運動 (in Chinese). 英國廣播公司. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  20. John Ellis (20 October 2014). "Yesterday wasn't meant to turn out like that".
  21. "#UmbrellaUltra". strava.com. 29 October 2014.
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