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Njuguna of Kenya runs to victory in Taipei marathon

Jesse Maina Njuguna of Kenya and Elena Bikulova of Russia won the men's and women's events yesterday of the 2003 Taipei International Express Linyuan Marathon.

Njuguna, 30, clocked the winning time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 21 seconds, in successfully defending his title.

His personal marathon best of 2 hours and 12 minutes was set in the 1999 Frankfurt Marathon.

Kennedy Nomanyi, 37, of Kenya, finished second with a time of 2:22:48. Tsai Ching-chou, of Taiwan, was third at 2:26:12, and Victor Zhdanov, 32, of Russia, fourth with 2:30:26.

Bikulova, 38, won the women's race with 2:43:27, slower than her personal best record of 2:41:12 set in last year's Istanbul Marathon.

Kusakaya Masako of Japan, who was clocked at 2:44:15, came second.

Hu Xiuying, of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was fourth with a time of 3:05:51.

About 10,000 Taiwanese, nine foreigners and a Chinese runner took part in this year's marathon, held outside Taipei.

Polish runner Eva Fliegert, 37, quit the race halfway through because of back pain. Her personal best is 2:43:28, set in last year's Graz Marathon in Austria.
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