A local gym coach won the women’s Freeway No. 5 Marathon held in Ilan County yesterday.
Lee Hsiao-yu captured the women’s title with a time of 3 hours, 18 minutes, 56.8 seconds. Describing the race as “full of variables,” she said she was glad to have won the title, even though her time was not a personal best.
Wu Yung-fa won the men’s title held on the freeway connecting Taipei and Ilan in 2:43:09 and attributed his failure to break his own record to the strong headwind that was blowing throughout the race.
Chiang Chieh-wen took home the men’s championship in the 21km half marathon with a time of 1:10:58, while Chen Chih-hui bagged the women’s title in 1:29:39.
Former deputy Taipei mayor King Pu-tsung (金浦聰) and Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) also took part in the half marathon.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), an enthusiastic runner, kicked off the event, which also featured a 10km race and a 5km fun run, finishing the 5km run in 27 minutes.
Among some 5,000 runners who gathered at the start of the races at the Ilan Sports Park was a couple of newlyweds who ran the 5km fun run in tux, wedding gown and sneakers.
One man, a 54-year-old bank employee from Taipei identified as Chen Hsi-chin, collapsed just 50m short of the finish in the 10km race and died later in hospital.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was