Over 3,500 Attempt to Qualify for Hong Kong’s New World Harbour Swimming Race 2016

The three-day time trial for the New World Harbour Race 2016, organised by the Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association (HKASA), was held on 3 September (Saturday), 4 September (Sunday) and 10 September (Saturday) at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Tung Chung Swimming Pool and Shing Mun Valley Swimming Pool respectively.

The quota of 3,000 participants was quickly filled with the number enrolling reaching a record high of over 3,500 this year, including 730 entries for the Racing group and 2,850 for the Leisure group.

Over the past 5 years, the annual emblematic New World Harbour Race has been receiving enormous support by various parties in Hong Kong society, swimmers from all fields and backgrounds participated in the race and enjoyed the joy of swimming across Victoria Harbour.

To ensure the safety of all participants, those who do not have HKASA-accredited race records or did not complete in last year’s New World Harbour Race were required to complete 1,500m in 45 minutes at the time trial in order to be qualified for the race.

Top 100 swimmers of each age group in the Racing group will be qualified to compete in the race, while the New World Harbour Race Invitation Cup and the School category will admit their top 50 swimmers. For the Leisure Group, applicants will only be eligible for the draw upon passing the time trial.

“This year’s enrollment quota of New World Harbour Race had been raised from 2,500 to 3,000. We would like to express our gratitude towards the society for their overwhelming support. The charity category which was opened for the first time last year, has been generated positive feedbacks,” said Dr. Ng Kin-sun, Vice President of Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association. “This year, we are honored to invite several members from the Hong Kong Rio Olympic Swimming Team – Stephanie Au, Yvette Kong, Camille Cheng, Hang-Yu Sze and Claudia Lau to participate in the charity category.”

Time trial results will be announced on 14 September 2016 through New World Harbour Race and HKASA websites. While the public drawing for Leisure Group will be held on 19 September 2016.

In order to utilize all participant quotas, the organizer will keep the records of all reserved applicants. If qualified applicants fail to retrieve their race kit before the assigned date, their candidacy for the harbour race will be forfeited, and the quota will be reassigned to other applicants in the reserved list.

Both the final entrant list and reserve list will be uploaded to New World Harbour Race and HKASA websites on 21 September.

The New World Harbour Race will be held on 16 October 2016 (Sunday).

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