C8 Tuesday, November 19, 2013
FITNESS & WELL-BEING Team leader Nick Smith (third from left), resident manager of the Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen with fellow riders.
HEALTH BITES ........................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com The next super fruit There’s a new flavour of the month in the ever-changing “super fruit” list: the tart buffaloberry. A new study in the Journal of Food Science led by Ohio State University researchers in the US has found that the bright red berry contains large amounts of important antioxidants and beneficial nutrients. The study’s findings suggest that the buffaloberry might be successfully grown as a new commercial crop on native American reservations, serving as a good source of nutrition while providing a viable new product in an area that is in need of economic development.
Elite male athletes less likely to develop type-2 diabetes Former elite athletes are 28 per cent less likely than the average person of developing type-2 diabetes later in life, especially endurance athletes, according to University of Helsinki researchers. The results were published in Diabetologia. Researchers analysed about 600 people, including 400 former elite Finnish male athletes – who had a 42 per cent lower risk of a precursor state to diabetes.
SPROCKET MONEY The Shangri-La Hotel bicycle team is undertaking a 2,000-kilometre charity ride across China, team leader Nick Smith tells Mark Graham
W
hen the going gets tough for a bunch of cyclists undertaking a marathon ride around southern and eastern China, they will not lack the inspiration to keep their wheels turning. Money raised by the ShangriLa Hotel bicycle team’s 2,000kilometre mega-pedal from Shenzhen to Shanghai – called Ride for Hope – will improve the lives of some of the mainland’s poorest people. The team of six cyclists set off at the weekend on a three-week adventure that will see them pass through four provinces and 22 cities, staying at the hotel chain’s properties along the way. The first leg, from the Futian Shangri-La Shenzhen to the Shangri-La Shenzhen, featured a ride along the coast, with an informal peloton of well-wishers joining the official riders. Team leader and Futian hotel resident manager Nick Smith
came up with the idea of this charity bike ride and chose as the main beneficiary poor villagers in Guangxi province who urgently need to build water-storage cellars. Smith, 38, put together an accomplished cycling team that includes: Carl Wu, a young cycling enthusiast from Shenzhen; Li Xiaobao, who once cycled 2,600 kilometres from Yunnan to Lhasa in Tibet; Lu Yushui, a cycling enthusiast dedicated to helping children in Guangxi; Lu Baokang, who finished 10th among 500 cyclists at a recent race in Beihai city; and Shenzhen-based freelance writer Thomas Bird. An SUV will trail the team to provide mechanical support and medical assistance. “I originally thought of a Hong Kong to Harbin ride, but thought I would try the tame version first,” says Smith, whose team has been training for three months in preparation for the 100-kilometre daily legs.
“We are all experienced and have cycled a fair bit. One of the guys, Li Xiaobao, is a man of steel. I went out riding with him last week and he was out of his saddle most of the time, which means he is a pretty strong lad. “We will be aiming to average about 22 kilometres an hour; during our training rides we have not dropped below that. The goal is to ride within sight of each other. We agreed that it is marathon, not a sprint, and there is no point in showing off. I think among the people who
You can’t do three weeks non-stop, or your legs would fall off NICK SMITH, TEAM LEADER
join us for sections, though, there will be a few fast Charlies, so we will let them go off and burn their energy.” Smith, a Welshman and father of two young boys, was a semi-professional cyclist in his younger days, but had put in precious little tarmac time in recent years until a posting in Shanghai – and a friendship with a fellow cycling enthusiast – rekindled his love affair with the mainland’s most popular form of transport. A later move to the Futian hotel property saw cycling become part of a regular exercise regimen and, over time, the idea formed for an ambitious fundraising charity ride. The team will stop in Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Suzhou before a final ceremonial ride into the port city of Shanghai. Shangri-La properties at each stop have agreed to underwrite the cost of accommodating the team, and are organising an
event around each visit, which is hoped will swell the charity coffers. The goal was to raise 250,000 yuan (HK$316,000) but it is looking increasingly likely that a figure of 500,000 yuan or more will be reached. All the money will go directly to charities. Poor folk in the southern province of Guanxi – the main beneficiaries – are former mountain dwellers who have moved down to live along a newly built road. This gives them easier access to modern-day facilities, but they desperately need water-storage cellars to replace their previous water source: mountain caves. Water collected during the rainy season is sufficient for a year’s consumption. Each water cellar costs 6,000 yuan and the target is to build 20 cellars. “Their conditions really are diabolical,” says Smith. “It will be very satisfying for us to be able to make a difference, to invest the money and make sure it goes to the right place. We
want to do something that is meaningful, we don’t just want to hand over a cheque and say we have done our job. We want something over a longer period of time.” The other two recipients of funding will be the Shenzhen Blue Ocean Conservation Association and the WILL Foundation, which supports orphan children. Each of the 11 Shangri-La properties along the way is drumming up support – and funds – by asking the public to sign up to accompany the riders for a short leg, paying 200 yuan for the privilege. Donors are given a T-shirt, and it’s expected that a sea of people in Ride for Hope garb will ride the final leg. By then, the six riders will probably have become minicelebrities, albeit weary ones. “We will have a couple of rest days” says Smith. “You can’t do three weeks non-stop or your legs would fall off.” mark.graham@scmp.com
year’s Hong Kong Marathon and continues to dream of one day cracking three hours in her favourite race.
so many variables – training, injury, temperature and weather, how you sleep the night before, getting the pace right, to name but a few. If one thing goes wrong, it can ruin the whole race. The expressions on people’s faces as they cross the finishing line are unforgettable. With the right training, almost everyone [can] do it and the sense of achievement is inestimable. At big international races, it’s you and the fastest runners in the world competing. In how many sports does that happen?
Women with asthma may face delay in becoming pregnant Women with asthma could take longer to conceive, but ultimately produce the same number of children as non-asthmatic women, according to a new Danish study in the European Respiratory Journal. Twentyseven per cent of asthmatics experienced a prolonged time to get pregnant, compared with 22 per cent of those without asthma. Among asthmatics, women older than 30 had an even stronger tendency towards delayed pregnancy – 32 per cent – compared with 25 per cent of under-30s.
WE RUN HK ................................................. Rachel Jacqueline life@scmp.com The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, which started in 1997 with a humble collection of 1,000 runners, has grown into a running festival for the city, with 73,000 racers expected to take part next year. To celebrate the city’s passion for the sport, we’ll be featuring one inspirational local runner each week until the race on February 16. Once a runner at school, it would be years before Rosamund Barker would slip on her trainers again – this time to escape the stresses of her new home, Hong Kong. She never dreamed that anything would come of running. But before long, she was pounding the streets of London, on her way to a personal best, then representing Hong Kong at the 2008 Singapore Marathon and finally placing third in her age group at the 2013 Tokyo Marathon. For Barker, 47, running is about efficiency. On most days, the professional support lawyer and mother of three can be spotted dashing through Alexandra House, en route to Bowen Road for a lunchtime run or doing a morning session along South Lantau’s trails. She is proudly running next
I started running seriously when I was lucky enough to get a place through the ballot for the 2005 London Marathon. That gave me a goal to start some proper training. I followed a schedule and managed to finish the race in three hours, 35 minutes. I was far from satisfied. I knew I could have done better. My best time is now three hours, 31 seconds. I’ve just never managed to fit enough training into my life to go faster. The sub-three-hour mark has eluded me. I don’t mind, though. I know if I didn’t have a job, a husband, three children and a dog, and could train as much as I liked, I am probably capable of it. But I do have all those things, so it’s not likely to happen any time soon. My most memorable running experience was representing Hong Kong in the Singapore Marathon in 2008. I felt incredibly proud wearing the red vest with the Bauhinia on it. Spending the weekend meeting athletes from other countries, in particular Ethiopia and Kenya, was fascinating and humbling. I love running the marathon because it’s tantalising. There are
When I race I am thinking about pace. Can I maintain this pace? Can I go a little faster? Can I overtake the person in front of me? Of course, I have had terrible races where I have been
Rosamund Barker on a training run. Photo: David Wong
disappointed by the result, but you need to have the bad races to make the good ones meaningful and special. I am running next year’s Hong Kong Marathon as a warm-up race for the 2014 London Marathon. I like road races and the Hong Kong race, being in my hometown, is a personal one. I drive through the Western Harbour Tunnel on a regular basis and think it is fun to run through it. My first thought as I cross the finish line will depend on how I do. But I’m always delighted when it’s over. If I didn’t run, I would be less of a running bore. No, seriously, if I didn’t run I would find some other sport, but it wouldn’t be as much fun.