Hong Kong’s famous Cheung Chau Bun Festival, which will be held for the first time in three years, will culminate in the famous bun scrambling competition on May 26. The event will see 12 contestants – men and women – climb up a tower to collect buns, which are given different scores at different points, within a time limit.
In addition, whoever picks the most buns off the tower will be declared the recipient of the Full Pockets of Lucky Buns prize.
Applications for the bun scrambling competition opened in February this year to anyone residing in the city aged over 18 years old in good physical health. Two hundred contestants were selected, and had to undergo safety training sessions on bun tower climbing and fall prevention conducted by the China Hong Kong Mountaineering and Climbing Union Limited in mid-April.
Participants who successfully completed the training then moved forward to a preliminary round in late April, from which 24 contestants were selected for the semi-final that took place the same day. Twelve finalists were then chosen to compete on the last day of the festival.
The final will begin at 11.30pm on May 26 and end at 12.45am on May 27. Both men and women will compete in the event together, and will scramble up the tower in designated lanes. The contestant with the highest score will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, participants’ rankings will be determined by their finishing order in the selection round.
Prizes will be awarded to the champion and the first and second runners-up in the Men’s Division, and the champion in the Women’s Division. There are two special awards – the King of Kings Award and the Queen of Queens Award – that will be presented to any winner who has won the competition a total of three times in the Men’s Division or the Women’s Division.
Header image credits: Scott Edmunds via Flickr
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