Hong Kong Cyclothon: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Hong Kong)

Expressways with no cars

This is a rare chance to ride Hong Kong’s highways. On Cyclothon day, roads that normally carry container lorries and airport traffic close to cars and fill with bikes.

The 2026 edition is the Sun Hung Kai Properties Hong Kong Cyclothon, held on October 11, 2026. It mixes a competitive race with rides open to the public. In past years the mass rides crossed the suspension and cable-stayed bridges of the western harbour, where the view takes in Kowloon’s towers on one side and the Rambler Channel’s container cranes on the other.

October 11, 2026: how the day runs

The Cyclothon has always been a Sunday morning event. Past editions have sent the long-distance rides off around dawn, so the expressways can reopen by the middle of the day.

The format has usually included:

• A professional race: elite riders doing fast laps of a short closed circuit, the part spectators watch most closely
• Long-distance public rides: amateurs on the expressways and bridges, timed but not raced
• Shorter and family rides: easier distances on flatter roads, popular with children and casual cyclists

October tends to be one of Hong Kong’s more comfortable months. Humidity drops after summer, but it is still warm at sea level, and typhoon season has not quite ended. The organiser’s announcements cover any weather changes to the schedule.

Entries, venue and route

Nobody buys a ticket to watch. Pavements along the course are free, while riders pay an entry fee for each category.

The organiser publishes the start and finish area, the 2026 route map, the categories and the registration link on its official Cyclothon site. The fee for each ride is also listed there. The open categories are usually popular, so people who plan to ride tend to register as soon as entries open.

Riders typically collect a race pack in the days before the event. It usually holds a bib number and a timing chip. Helmets are compulsory in every category, and marshals turn away anyone at the start pen without one.

Getting around a city with closed roads

Hong Kong runs normally on Cyclothon morning, except where the course is. The MTR is the dependable way in, because the trains run underground and the closures don’t touch them.

Things spectators and riders tend to do:

• Pay with an Octopus card. It works on the MTR, ferries and minibuses, and it saves queuing at ticket machines when stations near the start are busy.
• Take the MTR, not taxis. Taxi drivers sent round closed expressways can take a long time to reach places that look close on a map. Riders usually take their bikes on the first trains of the day.
• Watch the race at the circuit. The elite riders pass the same point lap after lap, so one spot along the barriers shows you the whole race. On the long public rides, each rider only passes you once.
• Cheer in Cantonese. People along the barriers shout “ga yau!” (加油, literally “add oil”), which means “keep going”.
• Allow for bus diversions. Many bus routes are rerouted that morning. The Transport Department lists the special traffic arrangements for each year’s event.

When the rides end, the roads reopen in stages. Most people head back by MTR, or eat dim sum somewhere near the finish.