Local runner Chiang Chieh-wen won the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon yesterday, finishing first in the men’s overall and domestic categories.
Chiang completed the 42.195km race in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 29 seconds, finishing first in a field of about 8,000 competitors.
International participants are typically elite professional runners who tend to win the top prizes, so the title of domestic champion is conferred on the local runner who finishes first out of the local participants.
As no international runners participated this year, due to complications with the COVID-19 protocols, Chiang was crowned the champion of the men’s overall and domestic categories.
The New Taipei City Government had invited 12 international athletes — including from Ethiopia, Belarus and Kenya — with special permission from the Central Epidemic Command Center. However, 11 of the runners were quarantined on Saturday because they had trained with the 12th member of the group, who hospitalized for treatment after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier that day.
After their arrival late last month, the 12 athletes quarantined and received two COVID-19 tests, all of which returned negative, but on a third test before race day, one of the Kenyan athletes tested positive.
Chiang was awarded US$30,000 as the overall male marathon champion and NT$150,000 as the domestic men’s champion, the organizers said.
Female runner Tsai Yun-hsuan also won a double prize, taking home the same amount of winnings as Chiang, after becoming the overall female marathon champion and the domestic women’s champion.
Tsai completed the full marathon in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 57 seconds.
This was the first Wan Jin Shi Marathon to be held since 2019, after last year’s race was canceled due to the COVID- 19 pandemic.
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