Highlights of 2008 Taipei County Jin Shi Marathon

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The start of the 42K and 21K classes.
Image: Rico Shen.

The 2008 Taipei County Jin Shi International Marathon which was established in 1979 and suspended from 1986 to 2001 before being transformed from "Jin Shan" to "Jin Shi" with its racing scale expanded, crossed through three townships including Wanli, Jinshan, and Shihmen was held last Sunday (March 2 in Taipei Time). Not only professional runners from Asian and European countries participated in this race, but several enterprises, governmental and academic teams also supported this race by participating in 6K Fun Run classes.

Even though the Central Weather Bureau warned of an impending dust storm, good weather graced this race with rain-free conditions. Another challenge for the runners in the 21K and 42K classes was cold winds due to the race route partially including coast line.

Rik Ceulemans, a Belgian marathon runner, finally won Men's 42K Champion of this race.
Image: Rico Shen.

Finally, Belgian marathon runner Rik Ceulemans, men's record holder of this race, extended his record with 2H18m13s to win the men's championship, and Yu-fang Hsu, women's champion of 2007 ING Taipei Marathon, won her title at women's class with 2H53m39s. Coincidently, Wen-chien Wu and Wan-ling Wu, former champions of this race, all won the second place in their own gender class.

As a recap for the race, not only runners gave their best performances in this race, but several foreign teams — especially from Okinawa, Japan — played a great role adding a cultural exchange aspect to the event. Bros Sports, the race organizer, supervised by Taipei County Government in this race, some senior managers from Bros Sports hoped organizations from the sports industry could arrange the best integration of several marathon races in Taiwan in the future even though Bros Sports promoted a special attempt this year with three marathon races including Jin Shi, Dajia Mazu, and UMC Hsinchu stages.

Final Results

Classes Men's Women's
Fun Run (6K) Yi-long Lu Yi-tsu Ho
Half-Marathon (21K) Chin-wen Ho
1H11m28s
Chien-her Hsieh
1H21m18s
Full-Marathon (42K) Rik Ceulemans
2H18m13s
Yu-fang Hsu
2H53m39s

Other highlights in pictures


Sources

 
Wikinews
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
 
Wikinews
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.