Sun Weiwei headed Chinese women runners for a clean sweep of the
top three places at the 2006 Xiamen International Marathon on
Saturday.
The Liaoning native, a member of the Chinese national team,
stayed in the leading pack throughout the grueling race of 42.195
kilometers, starting from the Xiamen International Conference and
Exhibition Center, and touched the finishing line first with her
personal best of two hours 26 minutes and 32 seconds.
Sun, who finished runner-up last year in the event, claimed her
first victory at the Xiamen Marathon, which initiated in 2003. She
pocketed a winner's prize money of US$20,000.
Her compatriots Zhu Xiaolin and Jin Man, both Chinese nationals
from north China's Liaoning Province, took the silver and bronze
medals in 2:28:27 and 2:29:51 respectively.
Sun said she was happy with the result, "but it's too wet today
and I am not in my best conditions. If the weather gets favorable,
I could have better performance."
Zhou Chunxiu, favorite to defend her title as the third
consecutive winner who recorded personal best two weeks ago in the
Seoul International Marathon, withdrew from midway of Saturday's
race in Xiamen.
Her coach explained that "Zhou didn't have enough time to adjust
her form within two weeks after the Seoul race, and she was just
unable to cover the whole race."
The men's title went to Kenyan Stephen Loruo Kamar who timed two
hours, 10 minutes and 46 seconds, while his fellow Kenyan Kosgei
Jonathan Kipkorir finished second with three seconds behind.
China's Deng Haiyang took the bronze clocking 2:10:50, as he ran
out of steam in the sprint meters.
Racers from the east-central African country packed five of the
six leading positions on the board with Songoka Yusuf Chango, Henry
Kapkiai and Chebunei Titus Munji finished 4-6.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2006)