"Taiwan's Forrest Gump" was scheduled to join 5,000 other runners in the 7th Taipei International Marathon this morning.
The partially blind running hero was to join friend and Busan Asian Games runner Li Wei-luen for the Nike 5K Challenge race held at the same time as the international-class full marathon.
There had been concerns the Taipei International Marathon would have to be cancelled due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which has infected more than 1,400 people worldwide and caused over 50 deaths.
There have been 10 verified reports of the infection in the country, and guidelines to US government officials have effectively suspended travel to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and China because of SARS.
Organizers decided to go ahead with the race after the race's foreign athletes turned up.
SARS has led to the cancellation of the Beijing Sevens tournament early next month and nearly forced organizers of this weekend's Hong Kong Sevens -- at which Taiwan is playing -- to nix the event.
For the full-range marathon, which was to begin at 6am, Kenya's Jesse Maina was to make another effort to wrest the title he failed to take last year, when South Africa's Mluleki Nobanda won the event in two hours, 14 minutes, 37 seconds, followed by Matthew Birir.
Russia's Anfissa Kossatcheva won the women's gold in the 42.195km race, making it home in 2:36:24.
A favorite this year in the women's race will be Japan's Masako Kusakaya, who has run under 2:34 and has done well in national events. Elena Bikulova of Russia and Ewa Fliegert from Poland may also challenge. In the men's section Kenyan Kennedy Momanyi and Viktor Zhdanov were competing, along with nationals from many other nations.
A popular addition at recent Taipei International Marathons has been the fun fun, which people this year could register for free of charge, between 7:30am and 8:30am.
The full-range and half-range marathons were scheduled to begin at 6am, with the 3,000-person Single Run and 2,000-person Pair Run scheduled to get off at 9am.
Fun pairings were to include Chang Wen-yen (張文彥), who is called "Taiwan's Forrest Gump" because of the way he triumphs over his adversity. Lin "One Man" Yi-chieh (林義傑) and his dog BiBi were expected to make the run, and one-legged runner Yuan chin-yuan.
Nike was to set up an information tent for runners to the right of No. 6 Watergate, at the intersection of Huanho North Road and Duenhuang.
For the price of looking over the latest in the line of Nike products, runners were to have free leg massages. A National College of Physical Education and Sports instructor was to give some advice on jogging at 9:20am and again at 10:30am.
The marathon will run on the highway section of the Chungshan Expressway, from Wugu to Hsichih.
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