Man dies during National Freeway Half-Marathon

A 32-year-old runner died during the Carrefour National Freeway Marathon events yesterday after running 10km.

The runner, later identified as Huang Ching-ming (黃金明) of Nantou County, had registered for the half-marathon.

Abel Chimukoko of Zimbabwe won the men's marathon while Kenyan Irene Mogaka won the women's full-distance event.

Medical personnel at the scene tried in vain to resuscitate Huang with CPR and attempted to restart his heart with a defibrillator.

He was then sent to the emergency room at Mackay Memorial Hospital and was pronounced dead an hour after arrival.

Sunny Chen (陳華恆), secretary- general of the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association, attempted to get in touch with Huang's family.

Chen later said that the association had managed to reach Huang's girlfriend, adding that both of Huang's parents are deceased.

The death yesterday was the second to result from the National Freeway Marathon.

The first death occurred 11 years ago when 10km runner Liao Hsin-yi (廖信義) fainted about 100m before the finish line and later died in a hospital.

This year's marathon began at 6am yesterday on the section of the the Sun Yat-sen Freeway between Wugu (五股) and Sijhih (汐止).

The inclement weather conditions yesterday -- with intermittent rain and strong wind -- made for a challenging race for many competitors.

About 8,000 runners entered the race yesterday, with half running in the full marathon and the remainder competing in the half-marathon.

Chimukoko won the men's event with a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 8 seconds.

For his winning effort, Chimukoko was awarded a prize of NT$100,000 (US$3,000) by finishing ahead of fellow Zimbabwean Michael Ngaseke (2:21:21).

Mogaka secured the women's championship and the first prize of NT$60,000 with a time of 2:48:47, beating Russian Semiletova Nadezi (2:58:48) by an impressive 10 minutes.