Call for ban on mobile phones at Hong Kong marathon after 'selfies' blamed for accidents

Mobile phones could be banned from next February's Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon after runners were accused of causing pandemonium at this year's event by stopping to take pictures of themselves.

The bank's chief executive, Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng, has called on organisers to try to stop the practice and blamed it for causing accidents during the race, which saw many competitors cross the finish line bloodied and bruised. The injured included Hong Kong triathlete Joyce Cheung Ting-yan, who survived a nasty fall to go on to win the women's 10-kilometre race.



Hung said: "The problem was that a number of runners were trying to take self-portrait pictures using their smartphones. What we are trying to do is to encourage people not to do that. It not only endangers themselves but endangers a lot of people running behind them.

"We want people to apply a little bit of common sense and discipline. At the end of the day we want this to be run safely." Hung said he did not discount the possibility of banning competitors from carrying mobile phones. "That is something organisers will have to deal with," he said.