Reservoir Cup - Tai Lam Chung Reservoir

I completed the captioned race in 1 hr 25 mins after having absent from training for 6 days since Nike 10 Km.

My condition is poor and the race course seems difficult for me.

I guess I have to train more on running uphill in the future.

The organizing of the race by AVOHK is good, and the result was released several hours after the race. Good job!

http://www.avohk.org

Reservoir Cup

I took a 6 days off from running to recover from slight knee injury. (since Nike 10 Km Run)

I've to attend the 1st race of Reservoir Cup tomorrow at Tai Lam Chung Reservoir, Not a easy race course I guess.

Time to take a rest soon (alreay 2300 hrs+)

http://www.avohk.org

Nike 10 Km

I attended the captioned race today at Tin Shui Wai.
Although I have knee injury on my left foot, I managed to complete the race in 46 mins.
It is the fastest time of my 10 Km race already.
I'm aiming at < 40 mins now.
The organizer HKAAA does not fail the runners overall, and I could obtain my luggage very quickly too.
However, the slow joggers blocked the faster runners as usual.
I wish there will be more improvement next year.

http://www.hkaaa.com

http://www.nike.com.hk

Atherton conducts Sibelius 2

I attended a concert performed by Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by David Atherton) last evening at Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The choices of concertos were brilliant but the attendants were less than expected :
1. Mother Goose Suite - Maurice Ravel

2. Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Deaths of Children) - Gustav Mahler (solo - David Wilson Johnson) The performance is closed to perfect. Although the lyric is in German, I could feel the sad emotion running between the words.
- David Wilson Johnson teaches at the Summer School, which he founded 20 years ago in Dorogne (www.ferrandou.org)


3. Symphony No.2 in D, Op. 43 - Jean Sibelius - The performance by HKPO was brilliant but it is sad that not much audiences attending the concert (some attendants left earlier and some felt asleep for a long time)

Finally I wish that more Hong Kong people will show their support to HKPO which is really an outstanding world class philharmonic orchestra.

http://www.hkpo.com

Nils Landgren and Friends

I attended a concert performed by Swedish Jazz Group Nils Landgren and Friends last evening. The performance was excellent and charming. The Jazz groups are consisted of : Nils Landgren - vocal and trombonist
Rigmor Gustafsson - vocal
Viktoria Tolstoy - vocal
Karl Martin - Saxophonist
Thobias Gabrielson - accoustic bass
Jonas Ostholm - pianoist

I especially enjoy listened to the performance of Rigmor and Nils (performing Fragile by Sting)

A wonder evening accompanied by Swedish Jazz and food/drinks.

Thanks to RTHK and www.itswedenhk.com

http://rthk.org.hk

http://www.itswedenhk.com

Jacqueline du Pre

I've bought and listened to the CD+DVD of an English cellist Jacqueline du Pre lately. (Legend : Jacqueline Du Pre . Brahms)

The performance is really fantastic especially the 2 sonatas of Johannes Brahms. I can feel the sadness flowing out from the strings indeed.

According to the introduction in the CD :

"Jacqueline du Pre was born in Oxford in 1945 into a musical family where everyone played an instrument. She could sing in tune before she could talk and when she was three she heard the cello on the radio and she wanted to "one of those". Her fourth birthday present was a full size cello, which she managed to play without difficulty"

Although Jacqueline was forced to resign due to her poor health in 1973, she was already a legend in the music history.

I highly recommend this CD "Brahms Cello Sonatas" by Jacqueline du Pre, piano by Daniel Barenboim and Israel Phiharmonic Orchestra.

More details of Jacqueline could be located at :

http://www.jose-sanchez-penzo.net/jdupre.html

Gold Coast 15 Km Run

I've participated in the race today. The weather is perfect for long distance run but the temperature is still hot (Autumn already?)

The gathering place was just beside a construction site, and is not ideal for runners to warm up themselves.

My time is 1 hr 17 mins which is only OK to me.

The race was hosted by Hong Kong Marathon Pro.

http://run.to/hkmp

The result of the race has been released on the race day at :

http://www.hkrunners.com

Dimensional Pursuits

I attended the concert of Dimensional Pursuits performed by WANG Yong and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in the evening on 12/11/2004 (Friday)
The cross over performance of the two group was brilliant. However, the concert was over shadowed by the low attendance of the audiences (only 1/4 seats being fulled).

I've no clue why the concerts of Sam HUI, Twins could attracts such a great number of attendants instead of such a great performance. That's is Hong Kong's art scene? I also doubt the standard of HK's audiences too. May be they just look down at Chinese orchestra?

"For the first half of the Orchestral Season, I would really look forward to the November concert Dimensional Pursuits, which is part of the New Vision Arts Festival. The creative combination of the HKCO and Wang Yong’s ensemble would be a refreshing and novel experience for our musical thinking and our ears."

Chow Fan Fu, an established arts critic

http://www.hkco.org

Fila Half Marathon

I attended the Fila Half Marathon today at Tai Mei Tuk.

The arrangement of the race was terrible. I took the second coach departed from Tin Hau. However, the vehicle was late, and there were not enough seats for runners. More worst was the vehicle arrived at the starting point at 0715 hrs, and the race begun at 0730 hrs.

Since I did not have enough warm up, I hit the wall at about 12 km. I had to overcome it for 3 mins. Fortunately I completed the race in 1 hr 50 hrs, and passes 1 Black and 1 White runner in the last km.

http://www.hkdrc.org

Concert of UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra

I attended the concert of UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra in the evening on 3/11/2004 (Wed). Russian violinists Maxim Vengerov performed as soloist. The performance is extraordinary excellent with the 44 performers from 43 different countries.

However, someone's portable phone rang in this evening become an error in this amazing evening.

Please consider !!!

There will be a replay on Radio 4 of RTHK on 26/11/2004

http://www.rthk.org.hk

The beginning of a new running season

The running season of Hong Kong has just begun
I will attend 5 races on every Sunday beginning from 7/11/2004 :
1. Fila Half Marathon
2. Golden Coast 15 Km
3. Nike 10 Km
4. Reservoir Cup Race
5. Fei Ngao Shan Race

To my surprise my application to the entry of Nike 10 Km was accepted. The race entry was full within 7 days, and my application was submitted by mail instead of online

http://www.hkaaa.com