Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Kenyan runners dominated the 2015 New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon held on Sunday in Wanli District, with Eluid Kiplagat Barngetany and Gladys Kipsoi winning the men’s and women’s races and the other two podium spots in the men’s race also going to Kenyans.
New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) fired the starting gun to get the race underway. This was the first marathon in Taiwan to be certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and attracted about 12,000 participants from home and abroad, including 24 elite marathon runners from 12 countries.
In the men’s race, Barngetany crossed the finish line in a time of 2:13:14, smashing the record of 2:17:17 set last year, while Josphat Kiptanui Too Chobei and Samuel Kalya finished second and third in 2:15:51 and 2:18:30, respectively.
In the women’s race Kipsoi finished in 2:39:32, while Ethiopian runner Tigist Teshome Ayanu came second in 2:41:31 and Kenya’s Ruth Wanjiru Kuria finished third in 2:42:18.
Ho Chin-ping (何盡平) was the first local man to finish, in a time of 2:30:16, the best performance of his career. That qualified him for the World Championships this year. The second and third placed local runners were Huang Wen-liang (黃文良) and Chang Wei-shao (張偉紹).
Chen Ya-fang (陳雅芳) was the first local woman to finish in 3:08:32, followed by Lin Yu-hsin (林于馨) and Chen Wei-lin (陳瑋琳), who were placed second and third.
-focustaiwan.tw
