Chan Man Wai: A Growing Passion for Running

Track and field athlete, Chan Man Wai, holds Macao U18 women's 100m record of 12.50s. Chan started running when she was 12 and was admitted into the Macao athletics team for professional training at 15. She has taken part in quite a few contests over the years. In recent years, on behalf of Macao, she has shown up at the Schools Interport Athletics Competitions (Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong & Fujian), the Olympic Youth Athletics Tournament, National Secondary School Students Sports Games, Asian Youth Athletics Championships, National Youth Games, National Junior Athletics Championships and the Arafura Games. In most of these competitions, she made it to the top three.

Chan liked to run around when she was a child and her running talent was explored with the help of her teachers at the primary school. When she was at the junior high, Chan was admitted into the school athletics team on the recommendation of her school's P.E. section director. On the school team, Chan and her teammates trained hard and supported each other. Moreover, Chan got to know new comers every year. During this time, Chan really enjoyed her training on the school team. Although the training was tiring and was likely to draw out negative emotions, Chan completed all training sessions as if all by instinct. She felt that her persistence was worth it when she did well at competitions.

In 2017, Chan went to the China Relay Open with senior team members. That was one of the competitions that Chan would never forget. Back then, Chan had zero experience in relay running and was still struggling with her injuries. She got severely nervous before the competition and kept worrying that she might run slow or drop the baton, thereby undermining the team's performance. However, the race ended up with Chan's team breaking the record of 4x100m open category and Chan setting a record for the first time in her athletic career. This unforgettable experience motivates Chan to keep training and improving her technique.