News16 Oct 2005


Sun Yingjie scores fourth consecutive Beijing win, Benson Cherono men's winner

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Sun Yingjie wins 2005 Beijing Marathon (© Getty Images)

Sun Yingjie, who recently lost her Asian marathon record to Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, won her *fourth successive title at the 24th Beijing International Marathon. Opting to contest the marathon instead of the National Games 10,000m on Monday in Nanjing, Sun clocked a season's best 2:21:01, the third fastest performance of the year, finishing ten seconds ahead of Zhou Chunxiu's personal best 2:21:11, the year's fourth fastest.

Strong women's battle

Choosing to avoid a run-in with Olympic 10,000m champion Xing Huina on the track, Sun nonetheless had a fierce battle on her hands in the marathon, where she faced stiff competition from the marathon specialist Zhou, the fifth place finisher in the Helsinki World Championships. Zhou had run two fast marathons earlier in the season, while Sun's best and only marathon this year was a disaster when she finished in 2:42:05 at April's Flora London Marathon. But Sun had already proved that her condition was much better with her seventh place finish in the fast Helsinki 10,000m race, and the two started the race with a fast pace where other runners dropping behind very quickly.

Sun, who tried to break from Zhou throughout most of the race, finally succeeded in the final kilometer en route to the second fastest performance of her career, with Zhou close behind. Zhou knocked more than two minutes from her personal best to conclude a solid season of four marathons. She began with a win in Seoul (2:23:24 PB) and won the national marathon title in Xiamen (2:29:58) before her 2:24:12 performance in the Finnish capital. Between the marathons she also took the national title in the 10,000m over Sun in June. Sun Weiwei finished third in the race with a season's best time of 2:27:35.

Big win for Cherono

The men's race featured yet another course direction mishap. 32 kilometres into the race, Kenyan Benson Cherono, third in the 2005 Boston Marathon, surged away to quickly build a comfortable lead. Cherono lead by more than two minutes when he took a wrong turn on the course with the National Olympic Sports Center stadium in sight. Following the TV camera vehicle into the stadium, Cherono missed the final part of the route to finish in 2:06:55, but having run 800m less than he should have. Officials later said he was running so close to the broadcasting car that they could not see him make the wrong turn, but nevertheless accepted blame for the incident.

Well back, another Kenyan, James Moiben, finished second in 2:12:15 with Japan's Yukinobu Nakazaki taking third in 2:12:29. Although Cherono did not run the full course, he was still declared the winner since he was leading by such a wide margin. Cherono would have run in the 2:10 range, well below his personal best of 2:11:23 from the 2004 New York City Marathon.

18-year-old takes National Games title

In the National Games Marathon, 18-year-old Zhang Qingle, from Jiangsu province where the track part of the games is being held next week, created the first big upset of the Games with his victory. Competing in his third marathon, he finished seventh overall in a personal best 2:15:06. Li Zhuhong, who was third in the 2001 National Games with a World junior record  2:10:46, was second in 2:16.06.

Before the race, Sun said that she is still bothered by an injury to her right knee, an ache that has been nagging her throughout the entire season. She also felt she could have been running at a faster pace during the race's second half, but her sore knee prevented her from doing so. Sun said she would race next race in the 5000m heats in the National Games on 20 October. Zhou has been entered to the 10000m, but it's highly unlikely that she would contest the race scheduled to begin about 34 hours after finishing the marathon in Beijing.

The 10th National Games kick off in Nanjing on Monday evening (17 October), with the first of six days of competition featuring seven finals: the men's 3000m Steeplechase, both men's and women's 10,000m, along with the women's Hammer Throw, High Jump, Shot Put and Javelin.


24th ANA Beijing International Marathon (10th National Games Marathon)
Tiananmen Square to National Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Beijing

MEN -
1. Benson Cherono, KEN     2:06:55 (800m short)
2. James Moiben, KEN       2:12:15 SB
3. Yukinobu Nakazaki, JPN  2:12:29 SB
4. Kodai Fukunaga, JPN     2:13:52
5. Kurao Umeki, JPN        2:14:05 SB
6. Yuzo Onishi, JPN        2:15:03 SB
7. Zhang Qingli, CHN       2:15:06 (1st NG) PB (11-Jan-1987)
8. Tomonori Onitsuka JPN   2:15:38

  Li Zhuhong, CHN, 2:16:06 (2nd NG) SB
  Su Wei, CHN 2:16:26 (3rd NG) SB

WOMEN -
1. Sun Yingjie, CHN    2:21:01 SB
2. Zhou Chunxiu, CHN   2:21:11 PB
3. Sun Weiwei, CHN     2:27:35 SB
4. Zhang Shujing, CHN  2:27:41 SB
5. Dai Yanyan, CHN     2:31:51 SB
6. Zhu Xiaolin, CHN    2:32:27 SB
7. Jin Man, CHN        2:32:35
8. Asami Obi, JPN      2:32:36 PB

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

(*Wei Yanan crossed the line first in 2002, but was subsequently disqualified for a doping offence and banned for 2 years, making Sun the rightful winner)

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