About 28,000 runners yesterday morning hit the road in the annual Taipei Marathon, with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) saying that the event might be the only large-scale city marathon held in the world this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The runners, mostly wearing masks, gathered in front of Taipei City Hall in cold and rainy weather before sunrise as they waited for Ko to fire the starting shot at 6:30am.
Ko said that since its launch in 1986, the Taipei Marathon has become part of Taipei’s city branding and an important event to promote international tourism.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
A total of 3,692 foreign nationals from more than 60 countries attended the race in 2018, he said.
More than 37,000 people registered to join this year’s race, but to maintain quality, only 28,000 people were selected through a lottery, he added.
The Taipei Marathon is the first marathon in the nation to obtain the World Athletics Bronze Label Road Race certification, and its routes are certified by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, but the city government is still working to improve the event and obtain the Platinum Label, Ko said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The slogan of this year’s marathon was “Dare to breathe” to encourage the runners to challenge themselves and show gratitude to the disease prevention personnel for their efforts to protect people from COVID-19 so that runners could take big breaths and run toward the finish line, the organizers said.
“This event might be the largest marathon held in the world since the pandemic broke out,” Ko said. “We want to thank all the disease prevention personnel for their continuous efforts, so that we can have such impressive success in fighting COVID-19.”
Runners were required to wear a mask at the starting point and after crossing the finish line, while spectators were required to wear a mask at all times during the event.
Photo: CNA
Ko urged people to continue to wear masks and wash their hands frequently to maintain Taiwan’s good disease prevention performance.
The Taipei Department of Sports said that 12 top runners from other countries were invited to join the race this year.
They underwent a 14-day mandatory quarantine, during which treadmills were provided at their hotels for them to practice, and were tested for COVID-19 several times before the race.
Kenyan runner Paul Lonyangata won in the men’s division, finishing in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 18 seconds, setting a record for the Taipei Marathon, while Ethiopian runner Askale Wegi won in the women’s division, finishing in 2 hours, 28 minutes and 31 seconds.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS