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Cleaner Taipei hosts inner-city marathon

Traffic, not exhaustion, looks to be the principal challenge as thousands of runners hit the capital's streets tomorrow in the Taipei International Marathon.

The course that passes some of the city's best-known landmarks is a monumental change from recent years. Construction of the Taipei mass rapid transit system and fears that traffic could not be controlled forced the race out of the city in 1989, relegating it to closed sections on the second northern freeway in Shilin district and an elevated portion of the Chungshan freeway in Taipei.

"Most marathons in the world, such as in Paris, Boston and New York, are held in cities. [Taipei] Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wanted to put the marathon in the city," said Sunny Chen, secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association, the race organizer.

Ma, an avid runner, is planning to complete in a separate half-marathon event. Tomorrow's events also include 10km and 3km races.

Up to 10,000 runners are expected to turn up, with 1,056 registered for the full 42,195m marathon.

Runners will start at 6am from Taipei City Hall, covering a loop that includes Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek memorials, before heading up Chungshan North Road, through Tashih and Neihu districts, before heading back towards the finish at Taipei City Hall. The first runners are expected to finish the marathon in two hours, 20 minutes.

The city will attempt to hold off restless and impatient motorists with 625 police officers and 400 volunteers deployed along the course.

"We originally wanted to block the streets for up to six hours," said Chen, "But the police told us that residents would complain, and that even elected officials would protest so that we would never have a chance to put on another marathon in Taipei."

He said that a compromise was reached to allow rolling closures, with none of the streets blocked for more than three hours.

Chen admitted that while a marathon on the city streets is intended to be a permanent annual fixture for the city, no one is quite sure of the local reaction.

"This year is just a trial run. It depends on whether the city residents can tolerate it," he said.

Race organizers were hit with one unexpected complication.

Flooding caused by Typhoon Nari forced the finish to be moved from Keelung Riverside Park to Taipei City Hall. While organizers managed to preserve the full distance of the marathon, the half-marathon race was shortened to 19.6km and the 10km course was lengthened to 11km.

Belarus' Vladimir Kotov, winner of the 1997 and 1998 races, said he is looking forward to competing on the new city course.

"I like running on the streets. There are more people watching, and there is less wind and sun because of the buildings. On the highway, there were no people and the wind was very strong. It wasn't very interesting," said Kotov.

The 46-year-old Kotov, predicted that the biggest threats to his third title in Taipei likely would come from a pair of Russians, Konstantin Permitin and Valery Zolotkov.

Russians are favorites in the women's race, with Larissa Zousko (2:15.06) and Irina Permitin (2:33.11) posting the best times coming into the race.

Both the first-place male and female runners will win NT$100,000.

Registrations for the marathon, half-marathon and 10km races are closed. Runners can still sign up for the 3km race, which starts at 9am.
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