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Kenyan, Russian post victories in Tainan marathon

Kenyan long-distance runner Bernard Mutai won the men's race and Russian Oksana Lokhlova emerged as women's winner at the Tainan International Marathon yesterday.

Mutai finished the race in two hours, 21 minutes and 11 seconds while Lokhlova crossed the finish line in 3:03:09.

Each of the winners received a certificate recognizing their achievement and NT$50,000 in prize money.

China's medal-winning female marathoner Hu Xiuying dropped out halfway through the 42.2km race.

She had arrived in Taiwan a day earlier and was after a long wait to obtain a standby seat on her flight.

Altogether, 3,000 runners took part in the annual marathon. Among them were more than 100 foreign athletes from 14 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Hungary, Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

The event was divided into four categories: the 42.2km marathon, the 21.1km half marathon, the 10km race and the 3km leisure run.

The race started at 6am at the plaza in front of the Tainan City Government building and sent the runners along a route that passed many historical and cultural sites in the city.

Winners of second place through fifth place in both the men's and women's divisions of the full marathon were awarded prizes of NT$30,000, NT$20,000, NT$15,000 and NT$10,000.

First-place through fifth-place winners in the men's and women's half marathon received from NT$10,000 to NT$4,000.
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