Shenzhen Bay Port will be closed from 2am to 11am on February 23rd for a cross-border marathon event.

At most 100 runners, six from Hong Kong, will take part in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Marathon, which doubles as a test event for the 15th National Games.

The event later this month features a men's race and a women's race.

The women’s race begins at 7am while the men’s race starts half an hour later.

The athletes will run for two kilometres in Shenzhen before entering Hong Kong through the Shenzhen Bay Port.

They will run along the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor towards the south until they get to the turning point.

The Hong Kong section is about 21 kilometres in total.

Ken Wong, the Transport Department's principal transport officer, urged passengers to use the MTR East Rail Line to travel to Shenzhen via Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau on the day.

He also urged motorists to steer clear of border points while the race is on.

“According to operating records on a typical Sunday, there will be about 26,000 passengers, two-bound, using Shenzhen Bay Port... and according to our records, there will be about 2,000 cross-boundary private cars using Shenzhen Bay Port on a typical Sunday,” he said.

There will be no spectators for this event.

“Because the Hong Kong session for this race will be mostly either on the highway or in the restricted area near the cross boundary control points, so for this time there will not be any public viewing area for the general spectators,” Yeung Tak-keung, the head of the National Games Coordination Office said.

The race will be broadcast live on RTHK’s website.

Yeung added that customs clearance arrangements for the athletes will be similar to the cross-border cycling test event in November last year.

“The athletes have to submit their information to the organising party. Once verified, there will be a facial recognition and the ID and passports will have to be vetted beforehand,” he said

He added that runners have to go through another round of inspection on the race day.