China made a clean sweep of the women's titles while Kenya took a 1-2 finish of the men's section at the Sixth Xiamen International Marathon Saturday.

 

 

Racers get ready to start the 2008 Xiamen Marathon on Saturday morning, January 5, 2008. Among the athletes is former top Chinese female marathon runner Sun Yingjie wearing No. 0033.

 

China's Zhang Yingying finished first to win the women's title with a time of two hours, 22 minutes and 38 seconds, breaking the meet record and improving her personal best.

 

Zhang took the lead after 30 kilometers and met no challenge in the late stage. China's top marathon runner Zhou Chunxiu, last year's London marathon winner, didn't participate in the meet due to a foot injury.

 

Zhang's teammate Bai Xue took the silver in 2:23:27 while Wei Yanan finished third in 2:25:10.

 

In the men's race, Kenya's Kenei Kiprotich and Chelimo Elias Kemboi swept the gold and silver in 2:09:49 and 2:09:50. China's Deng Haiyang snatched the third place in 2:10:43.

 

Kiprotich, with a personal best time of 2:07:42, ran shoulder by shoulder with Kemboi from 35 to 41kilometers. The winner opened a big kick in the final 500 meters to win the US$30,000.

 

About 30,000 runners from 38 countries and regions took part in the race.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)