Yuen Long Marathon Runner | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Yuen Long Marathon Runner

Yuen Long Marathon Runner

Possibly on the road to the south of the Sek Kong camp. Roy is surprised at the speed of a local runner!

Please see the following comments, and my long one just written on 2019-06-09.  I believe, that  this photograph was taken much closer to Yuen Long, where I have always had a memory of it being taken and, according to a letter written to my parents the following day, that date is accurate.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Monday, June 23, 1958
Connections: 

Comments

Hard to see if the hills in this photo from Fred Evans are an exact match, but they do look similar. He was based at Sek Kong, in tanks.

1950s Fred Evans' photos
1950s Fred Evans' photos, by Admin

 

David, I think you could well be right.  The shape of the hills is very similar and my photograph might have been taken further along the road making the hills appear taller. Andrew

Yes,that is Kam Sheung Road which runs behind the Camp. I lived there in the 1980's when it looked much the same. It is now a main route to the MTR Station and is much busier!

I have been having another close look at several photographs that I took while on a car trip clockwise round the New Territories on 23 June 1958, and seeing whether a letter written to my parents the nerxt day sheds any further light on where they were taken.  The letter states that we followed the Castle Peak Road to Yuen Long and then passed through Kam Tin on our way towards Sheung Shui where we were not allowed into the closed area.  From there we drove to Taipo and back to Kowloon via the road running along the West side of Tolo Harbour.

Using the 1952 map, one or two locations have already been reasonably identified as being near Yuen Long, Kam Tin and to the North East of the Sek Kong camp.  I have also made use of my 1981 photographs and  holiday diary to check things out on a very similar journey that my wife and I made by public bus - but only walking perhaps a mile to the East of the Sek Kong camp main gate, when the heat caused us to catch a bus that I am fairly certain returned to Kowloon over the Twisk route.

There is no sign of the Kam Sheung Road on the 1952 map and, while I accept that it could have been made between 1952 and 1958, when we made that car trip, I am more inclined to think that we travelled along the road that ran along the Northern side of the Sek Kong camp.

This concentrated my search on the 1952 map, especially the old main road running from Yuen Long, through Kam Tin and on beyond the main gate of the Sek Kong camp.  There is one spot about a mile to the East of Yuen Long and just to the West of the Au Tau Police Station (pinned on the 1952 map) that fits the photograph (looking to the East) and the Google Earth Street View - a hill of about the right height (148m) on the right with five or six wireless masts below it (the police station?), a gentle bend in the road and a track running off to the right (South) that fits with the one on the map leading to the School  and /or the Electricity Sub Station.  That track has a red metal gate at its end which suggests, to me, a school gate. On the North side of the road on my photograph there are several buildings on a wooded hill (41m) and there is a similar hill on the 1952 map.

So, while not conclusive evidence I think that this is a much more likely location for my photograph - I cannot speak for Fred Evans' photograph but I think that he is more likely to have left the camp via its main gate (still there) on the North side and walked towards Kam Tin - always a popular village/small town for anyone based at Sek Kong.  My memory (hopefully not a false one over the past 60 years) has always tended to recall that stretch of the road rather than the Kam Sheung Road, which was probably yet to be built in 1958.  Certainly, in 1981, I was still able to recognize quite a lot of the scenery from 1958.

I'll add a pin to the map where I believe that I stood taking the photograph of Roy and the little runner. If the pin proves to be completely wrong it can be (re)moved - but where to?  Incidentally, I deliberately waited until the little girl was level with Roy before I took the photograph.  She was a quick runner - and barefoot too!  If you zoom in on the photograph you will see that, of more concern but not noticed by me unitl now, her left arm has a large bandage on it.  Was she runnng home after an accident?  We'll never know. (Andrew)

Greetings.  From Yuen Long to Sek Kong Camp, the 1952 map shows a main road (1st Class) running in the east-west direction with some deviations due to bends.  The ridgelines in both the Evans and runner photos are the same hence both were looking along the same main road to the east assuming there were no other parallel roads in the area.

Referring to the 1952 map, the hill on the left is now Lam Tsuen Country Park (1957 map).  The small bump a bit to the right and farther out looks like the 206-metre peak.  And to the right is the 450-metre peak visible in the Evans photo - upper right corner.

If we add the high spot on the right side of the runner photo, that would make it the fourth ridgeline.  Was it possible to have/find another parallel road to capture all these ridgelines?  The runner photo captured only the lower part of the 148-metre Ho Hop Shan, and this is a strong clue.

There was then a 3rd class road south of Kam Tin running in the southeast direction.  A very short section of it south of Kam Tin was parallel to the main road, so apparently the answer is yes.  However, the nearby buildings would have blocked the view to the north.  And I doubt the buildings and trees here would be as mature / established as those on the runner photo; and the quality of the road surface finish too.  A short section of this road south of Kam Tin would later become part of the Kam Sheung Road, and due to road re-alignment the short parallel stretch no longer exists according to the 1957 map.  Regards, Peter

Fred's picture shows Kam Tin Road with Ho Hok Shan in the background. I can't see enough of the ridgeline in Andrew's picture to be able to say definitively that it is the same one. If it is the same ridge then I would think Andrew's picture was taken further to the south. 

Thank you everyone for responding so quickly.  I am fairly cerrtain that we would have stuck to the main roads - not having a map to guide us.  I have also always believed that the road was the one that eventually ran along to the North of the Sek Kong camp, where my Buffalo Hide photograph was fairly certainly taken at a significant bend in the river - there being no river bend like that on the South side of the camp.  So, on balance, if Fred is certain that he was on a road to the South of trhe camp, I think that our photographs were not taken on the same stretch of road. The great similarity between the nearby features on my photograph and those on the 1952 map are, I believe, quite compelling evidence for where I have added the pin onto the 1952 map.  Andrew

Greetings.  Andrew's marathon runner photo appears to have captured a small-northern part of Ho Hop Shan and the same line of trees behind the former police station.  Photo credit 80sKid, for more photos and map location - https://gwulo.com/node/16191#16/22.4425/114.0473/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100  

Former Au Tau Police Station
Former Au Tau Police Station, by The National Archives UK

 

ha ha. That is why, Yuen Long is really the first place to hold the Marathon Run in Hong Kong.