City's marathon breaks records
By Ni Yinbin |
December 3, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE cold and damp early yesterday didn't prevent more than 30,000 runners turning the 2012 Shanghai International Marathon into a sports carnival.
This was a record entry for the 17-year-old event with 18,000 taking part in the full and half marathons and 12,020 in the 4.5-kilometer health run, the Shanghai Administration of Sports said. The annual event attracted more than 5,000 foreign participants from 76 countries and regions.
Spectators were out in force, greatly enjoying the entertainment provided by amateur runners who dressed up in eye-catching cartoon outfits - Spider-man was there, a robot was being cheered on and there was even a dinosaur in the race.
One runner, to the crowd's delight, took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend.
The competition among the professionals was intense, with the three fastest men all breaking the previous record. Slyvester Kimeli Teimet from Kenya seized the US$45,000 prize in a time of 2 hours 9 minutes and 1 second.
The first woman home, Feyse Tadesse Boru from Ethiopia, arrived just 14 minutes later, also a new record.
The day was somewhat marred, however, by the debris left behind in the athletes' wake.
It was drizzling yesterday morning when the 30,000 participants began to gather at the starting point around 5am and most of them were wearing plastic raincoats.
But when the race began, the sky cleared and the athletes started to dump the raincoats along the course. Some were also seen taking a shortcut through greenery, damaging the plants.
"The marathon is 42.19 kilometers but the way to civilization seems to be much longer," one spectator was heard to comment.
This was a record entry for the 17-year-old event with 18,000 taking part in the full and half marathons and 12,020 in the 4.5-kilometer health run, the Shanghai Administration of Sports said. The annual event attracted more than 5,000 foreign participants from 76 countries and regions.
Spectators were out in force, greatly enjoying the entertainment provided by amateur runners who dressed up in eye-catching cartoon outfits - Spider-man was there, a robot was being cheered on and there was even a dinosaur in the race.
One runner, to the crowd's delight, took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend.
The competition among the professionals was intense, with the three fastest men all breaking the previous record. Slyvester Kimeli Teimet from Kenya seized the US$45,000 prize in a time of 2 hours 9 minutes and 1 second.
The first woman home, Feyse Tadesse Boru from Ethiopia, arrived just 14 minutes later, also a new record.
The day was somewhat marred, however, by the debris left behind in the athletes' wake.
It was drizzling yesterday morning when the 30,000 participants began to gather at the starting point around 5am and most of them were wearing plastic raincoats.
But when the race began, the sky cleared and the athletes started to dump the raincoats along the course. Some were also seen taking a shortcut through greenery, damaging the plants.
"The marathon is 42.19 kilometers but the way to civilization seems to be much longer," one spectator was heard to comment.
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