Despite the cancellation of the annual North Pole Marathon due to geopolitical issues, FWD Team Asia has successfully completed the FWD ‘78° North’ Marathon.
The Hong Kong-based insurer was supposed to be the title sponsor for the North Pole Marathon, described as the world’s coolest race, for the third year in a row. However, geopolitical tensions between the Russian and Ukrainian governments regarding flight plans to the North Pole resulted in the cancellation of this year’s marathon.
According to FWD, it hosted the 78° North Marathon to make up for the cancelled event and allow runners to fulfil their ambitions to run a marathon in sub-zero temperatures. It was held at Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway, just 1,050 kilometres away from the Pole. The insurer was able to arrange the marathon, against the odds, in three hectic days, inviting all registered North Pole Marathon runners to take part.
Among the highlights of the race were FWD Team Asia member and Hong Kong professional marathon runner Hard Tsui winning the overall men’s race in an impressive time of 3 hours and 1 minute, while the women’s race was won by another FWD Team Asia member, Joyette Jopson from the Philippines, finishing in 4 hours and 10 minutes.
FWD managing director & group chief operating officer Rob Schimek finished the men’s race in third place with a time of 4 hours and 14 minutes behind second placer Xiaobin Qiu from China, who completed the race in 3 hours and 44 minutes.
“All of us at FWD are extremely proud of all the participants despite the unexpected turn of events, who displayed admirable determination and courage to persevere and complete a very challenging marathon,” said Tim Oliver, FWD Group chief customer & marketing officer. “Congratulations to all the runners for successfully finishing the FWD 78° North Marathon.”
