4th Official Guangzhou AG Fun Run in Hiroshima, Japan 14-10-2007

Over three hundred children took part in a series of 100m sprint time trials at the Hiroshima Big Arch during the “Hiroshima City Sports recreation Festival” on Sunday 14th October as part of the Official Asian Games Fun Run which celebrated sport in Asia and highlighted the 16th Asian Games Guangzhou 2010.

The event was organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Japan National Olympic Council (JNOC) and Hiroshima City Sports Association. Children from different elementary schools in Hiroshima, aged between 7 – 12 years, were invited to take part in the Fun Run. 

Special guests including OCA Vice President from Hong Kong Mr Timothy Fok and Japan National Olympic Committee Senior Executive Board member, Mr. Noriyuki Ichihara and Mr Eiji Tamura were also present at the Fun Run to assist in the medal presentation.

In addition, some of Japans top athletes from “Tops Hiroshima” (a non-profit association that consists of several professional / non-professional sports teams in Hiroshima prefecture) also took part in the event where they led the children on their warm up and also signed participants caps and shirts which was a real thrill for the children.

The Hiroshima Big Arch was the ideal place to hold this special event not only because of its impressive stadium but it was also the venue for the 12th Asian Games back in 1994 and the Hiroshima Recreation Festival marks its annual anniversary of the games.

Mr Timothy Fok addressed the participants while the crowd of 700 spectators or more enjoyed the impressive Guangzhou Asian Games 2010 video which was played on the big screen before all the runners took part in a warm up together around the 400m running track while the sounds of some upbeat music blasted throughout the stadium creating a unique atmosphere for the participants.

Each entrant that took part was rewarded with a certificate of achievement, t-shirt and cap from the OCA. 

A total of 64,700 athletes took part in the Hiroshima Recreation Festival spread out over 10 different venues of which over 1000 were present at the Hiroshima Big Arch which attracted quite a crowd of people who were enjoying the Festival.

There was plenty of activity both inside and outside the stadium with a host of market stalls selling Japanese food and drinks while the audiences were entertained by some colorful Japanese dancing.

The fun run attracted wide-spread press attention on the day of the event and a series of one-on-one interview with Mr Timothy Fok were conducted with Hiroshima TV (local TV station within the NTV network), Fureai Channel (local cable TV), RCC Broadcasting TV and TSS TV Hiroshima as well as local newspaper Chugoku-Shimbun.