HONG KONG CHRONICLES — Sunday, 22 October 2023
MY WEEK THAT WAS
Normally, ‘My Week That Was’ appears on a Friday evening, but I delayed it so I could feature the return of today’s Walk Up Jardine House, after a three-year hiatus due to Covid.
There was plenty of carnival spirit as this year’s races kicked off with more than 300 enthusiasts racing up 49 floors — 947 steps — from the ground floor to the Penthouse of the iconic Jardine House in Hong Kong, raising a record HK$5 million for mental health. Altogether, 65 teams and 28 individual racers took part in today’s physical event. The teams came from Jardine Matheson Group companies (“Jardines”), Business Associates, as well as teams from schools and youth groups, and NGOs.
The physical race was preceded by a qualifying virtual event with over 2,200 people from sponsoring companies using ‘Boost-Up Station’ step machines placed in their own premises.
The winner of the Women’s individual race was 𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗱 from Aberdeen Asset Management, with a time of 6 minutes and 58 seconds. The winner of the Men’s individual race was Alex Fung from ANZ, with a time of 6 minutes and 53 seconds. The overall fastest team relay was completed in an astonishing 3 minutes 59 seconds by Rhenish Church Pang Hok Ko Memorial C𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲. Congratulations to them and all the racers.
Yesterday’s races were all in aid of 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗦𝗘𝗧. Jardine Matheson set up MINDSET in 2002, long before mental health became the “woke” issue that it is today. Since MINDSET’s founding, the charity has raised more than HK$82.5 million through its major fundraising events, with total donations of over HK$107 million going to 33 different mental health NGOs and charities to support 63 different projects and more than 198,000 beneficiaries.
Happy to add that there were no casualties or injuries, unlike the chaos at the Cyclothon. So, the St John’s Ambulance team was able to relax and enjoy their day like everyone else.
𝗜𝗡 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦
𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆
Sadly, a wild boar that attacked a flower market shopkeeper in Mong Kok on Saturday morning had to be put to sleep after a stand-off with police officers who attempted to keep it cornered in a store. Police cordoned off part of the flower market after the shopkeeper, in his forties, suffered hand and leg injuries.
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗺𝘀
Like many other countries and territories, Hong Kong has been victimised by a growing number of scams. However, the police on Sunday arrested 51 people over scam cases involving HK$99 million during a week-long crackdown on con artists.
𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘀
Local swimming star, Siobhan Haughey, won another three medals at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Budapest. Her victory means Hong Kong is now ranked ninth out of 20 teams in the global medals table.
Until next week …
