Chinese Women Runners Dominate Beijing Marathon

　　2004年北京国际马拉松赛于10月17日结束，中国长跑运动员孙英杰以2小时24分11秒卫冕女子冠军，来自肯尼亚的莫依本以2小时10分42秒的成绩获得男子冠军。

The defending champion, China's Sun Yingjie, secured her title at the 2004 ANA Beijing International Marathon on Sunday in two hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds. Two other Chinese runners, Zhou Chunxiu from Jiangsu and Dai Yanyan from Beijing, finished second and third.

Zhou, the winner of this year's Xiamen Marathon, clocked two hours 28 minutes and 42 seconds, while Dai finished the course one minute 16 seconds later. James Moiben from Kenya won the men's title in two hours 10 minutes and 42 seconds. Sun's victory still left her dissatisfied with her result. "I'm not feeling very well today," said Sun, who made the best women's time last year in two hours 19 minutes and 39 seconds. "There were too many runners during the first 15 kilometres, which delayed me a lot. I think the starting time of men and women, that the men's running started at 8:31, while the women's race set off 15 minutes later, should be reconsidered next time. Professionals and amateurs should also be divided." Beating South African Ian Syster, the men's defending champion, and Japan's Kushibe Seiji in the 33 kilometres, Kenyan Moiben, also the winner of the 2004 Xiamen Marathon, led the way far ahead during the rest of the course and raised his personal best by 12 seconds. "I'm very happy to win in China again," he said. "The cloudy weather affected me a little but I tried my best. I hope to run in China again. China is my lucky place." Christopher Isegwe from Tanzania came in second in two hours 10 minutes 56 seconds and Ri Kyong-chol from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea came up third in two hours 15 minutes 24 seconds. China's Gong Ke from Liaoning Province finished fifth in 2:15.48. Besides a high-level competition for these professional runners, the Beijing marathon, which started at Tian'anmen Square and ended at the National Olympic Sports Centre, is also a running festival for long-distance fans from home and abroad. The Beijing marathon this year attracted 25,016 participants altogether, the largest count in 24 years' history of the event. "The marathon is very hard and very long," said Andrew Wanliss-Orlebar from England. "This is my first marathon and I came to Beijing specially for it. I didn't expect to do so long - 42.195 kilometres. I'm very pleased."