China’s Bai Xue, Kenyan Mugo win in Beijing

China’s reigning world marathon champion Bai Xue took the women’s title at the Beijing International Marathon on Sunday, while a pack of Kenyans led by Samuel Mugo dominated the men’s field.

The 20-year-old Bai picked up the pace in the last kilometre to pull away from three of her compatriots to win the race in two hours, thirty-four minutes and 44 seconds.

“The last few kilometres were really competitive, in the end it was a matter of will,” said an elated Bai, the defending champion.

“The first 30 kilometres were also tough, in the last three kilometres the four of us started to run faster and picked up the rhythm. The other Chinese competitors are top-class runners, I am very happy with the win.”

The race took place under cloudy and windy conditions in cool temperatures, starting at Tiananmen Square in the city centre and finishing at the Olympic Stadium in northern Beijing.

Bai outsprinted compatriot Zhang Xin, who finished second in 2:34:49, and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Zhu Xiaolin, who came third in 2:34:55.

Earlier this year, Bai won the world marathon championship in Berlin.

Up to 30,000 ran in this year’s marathon, which raised a record 30 million yuan (4.4 million dollars) in sponsorship fees.

In the men’s race, Kenyan Mugo won in a time of 2:08:20, followed by compatriots Nicholas Manza in 2:08:42 and Benson Barus in 2:08:51.

“I really enjoyed running in Beijing, there were so many fans on the course and they gave me a lot of encouragement,” Mugo said.

“We were all running together, then I saw Nicholas make a push, so I followed him out and overtook him. That was it, I won the race.” Han Gang, running for Inner Mongolia, was the top Chinese finisher in the men’s, coming in with a time of 2:12:36 and so becoming, like Bai in the women’s event, the National Games champion.

BEIJING, Monday, AFP