Sergeant Kevin, a Force member since 1995 and currently a training instructor of Pat Heung Youth Development Section of Public Relations Wing, has been an outstanding sportsman. Before joining the Force, his performance in sports was mediocre. It wasn’t until he entered Police College that his potential in sports was unleashed by the instructors. It took him only some eight minutes to finish the 2.4km run upon his graduation.

In 2007, Kevin came into contact with orienteering for the first time. Finding it very challenging to read maps, plan routes and identify check-points, he focused on this sport since then. In addition to outdoor trails, there are urban and parent-child competitions in orienteering. When his son was only four years old, Kevin started to carry him in his own hands during competitions. His son is almost eleven now, and orienteering is still the bridge connecting them.

Having participated in orienteering competitions for over ten years, Kevin got his best result in 2023 when he represented Hong Kong in the national orienteering championship and won the gold medal in team relay. When describing the secret to success in the sport, he said that besides speed and physical strength, it involved resilience, tactics and decision. “For example, there are two accesses to the control point, one flatter but longer while the other steeper but shorter. How should we choose? There is no standard answer. It all depends on the participants’ understanding of their own abilities and those of their opponents to make a prompt decision.”

He said that the analysis and deployment skills developed in orienteering competitions could often be applied to policing work too. “When I was stationed at Emergency Unit, we once received a report of robbery in a village but the suspect had escaped. I checked the map and analysed the several routes that could leave the village. Eventually we captured him.”

Being a training instructor, Kevin is also a licensed coach in orienteering. In addition to teaching sport skills to young people, Kevin never forgets to instil in them positive attitudes. “I require that every youngster under training must greet their mentors, showing respect to others. They should also acquire self-discipline so that they will complete every received task without being urged. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, so we should have mutual support and accommodate one another.”

Kevin also encourages his colleagues to do more exercise to build a strong body and soul to cope with the challenges from policing work. On March 23, the Pat Heung (PH) Race 2024 comprising 18 stages will be held at the Junior Police Call (JPC) Permanent Activity Centre and Integrated Youth Training Camp (JPC@Pat Heung). Various formations, JPC, secondary schools, tertiary institutions and youth groups are invited to take part to enhance youngsters’ understanding of the Force. Kevin, who is involved in designing the stages, points out that other than the obstacles that test the participants’ strength in the upper limbs, there are sessions on jumping from height. He reminds the participants to get well-prepared for good performance. Please scan the QR code to learn more about the race.