Wan Jin Shi Marathon draws record number of elite runners

2017/03/21

The Wan Jin Shi Marathon, one of the top international long-distance races in Taiwan, was staged March 19 in three coastal districts of New Taipei City, attracting a total 12,000 participants including a record 32 elite runners from abroad.

Co-organized by the New Taipei City Government and Chinese Taipei Athletics Association, the 2017 edition featured 7 km, 14 km and 42 km races, all of which started and finished at Pacific Jade Bay in Wanli District. In the full marathon, Kipkogei Yego of Kenya won the men’s title and Mongolia’s Munkhzaya Bayartsogt the women’s crown in times of 2:17:02 and 2:38:08, respectively. Each received a trophy and prize money of US$10,000.

Launched in 2003 as the Jinshan Marathon, the race was originally staged exclusively in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District. Over the years, the course was gradually altered to include neighboring Wanli and Shimen districts, hence its current title the Wan Jin Shi Marathon.

The event has consistently grown in popularity among runners due in part to the stunning scenery along Taiwan’s northern coast. Some 4,000 joined the inaugural race while the number exceeded 10,000 for the first time in 2012.

The Wan Jin Shi Marathon has been awarded bronze label status by the International Association of Athletics Federations annually since 2015, making it the first and only event of its kind in Taiwan to receive such accreditation. It is currently under consideration to gain silver level certification, with IAAF official Tracy Sundlun attending this year’s race to observe and evaluate proceedings.

According to organizers, plans are underway to improve the race in a number of areas, including attracting more elite runners and bolstering foreign media services, in order to attain the higher status in the immediate future. “The Wan Jin Shi Marathon has already become a source of national pride and I expect it to achieve silver label status next year,” New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu said while attending this year’s event.

Long-distance running has experienced phenomenal growth in Taiwan in recent decades, with hundreds of marathons large and small organized across the nation in 2016. To foster the development of the sport, CTAA started to recognize and record the results of runners in select marathons last year, beginning with the Taipei International Marathon, a large-scale race organized in December by the Taipei City Government and Chinese Taipei Road Running Association.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=10&post=112799)