Kenyan goes wrong way but still wins; a runner dies
By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-17 05:53

Up until yesterday, no other runner had protested against the result.

Sun Yingjie of China reacts after crossing the finishing line to claim her third consecutive Beijing International Marathon win in the women's competition with a time of 2:21:01, Sunday, October 16, 2005. [newsphoto]

The defending champion Moiben came in second in two hours, 12 minutes 15 seconds, with Japan's Nakazaki Yukimobu coming in third 14 seconds behind.

Zhang Qingle was the best Chinese runner, finishing seventh in two hours, 15 minutes and six seconds, a finishing time that won him the gold medal at the Tenth National Games marathon in Nanjing.

In the women's race, defending champion Sun Yingjie, of China, secured a win in two hours, 21 minutes and one second. Two other Chinese runners, Zhou Chunxiu, from Jiangsu, and Sun Weiwei, from Liaoning, finished second and third.

Zhou, the fifth place finisher at the Helsinki World Championships in August, clocked two hours, 21 minutes and 11 seconds, while Sun finished six minute 26 seconds later.

The top three also did well at the National Games.

"I was not feeling very well today," said Sun, who recorded the best women's time in 2003 with a two hours, 19 minutes and 39 seconds run. "I haven't competed in any tournament since the world championships so I was really struggling to find my step today."

A local runner surnamed Wang died during the race according to the Xinhua news agency.

At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, a volunteer witnessed a man falling in faint about 27 kilometers from the starting line. He then called up ambulance, which came up within a minute.

The man was then rushed to a hospital nearby and was decleared dead later.