Go to contents

Kenyan rookie wins Gyeongju International Marathon

Posted October. 20, 2014 10:23,   

한국어

Kenyan rookie Silas Cheboit, 22, has won in the Dong-A Ilbo 2014 Gyeongju International Marathon co-hosted by the City government of Gyeongju, Korea Athletic Federation (KAF), and the Donga-A Ilbo).

Starting off before the Gyeongju Public Stadium on October 19, Cheboit clocked in at 2:07:15 in the 42.195km full course race coming around urban Gyeongju, beating last year’s champion Joel Kimurer Kemboi. Cheboit followed the leading group, then went on a spurt from 35km, then running alone from 36.5km to come in at first place.

This is Cheboit’s second full course marathon completion. His first full marathon was the Zheng Kai marathon in China in March, where he came in second in the 2-hour, 19-minute range. His record was not stellar and he did not get invited from the organizers, spending his own money to compete in Gyeongju. This has paid off at a winning prize of 50,000 dollars and another 10,000 dollar prize for finishing in the 2-hour, 7-minute range for a total of 60,000 dollars. The second son of 11 siblings, Cheboit ran in shorter marathons of 5km and 10km from 2008 and has been running full course races in full swing from this year.

In the Korean segment for men and women, Lee Du-heng, 33, and Im Gyeong-hui, 32, both affiliated with Goyang-si government, won. Lee spurted from the 25km mark and clocked in at 2:15:46 to beat Shin Hyeon-su, who recorded 2:18:23 by more than two minutes to grab the Korean men’s championship. Jeong Jin-hyeok, who came in at 2:09:28 in the Seoul International Marathon in 2011, got muscle problems after the 25km mark and completed his race in fourth place among Koreans at 2:23:12. In the Korean women’s segment, Im Gyeong-hui clocked in at 2:39:56, beating Choe Bo-ra, who attempted to win this marathon for the third consecutive time. Choe clocked in at 2:43:25.

Meanwhile, the approximately 10,000 Masters division participants took part in a marathon in full course, half course, and 10km and 5km courses in the ancient city of Gyeonggju, which was resplendent in colorful fall foliage. In the Masters full course men’s segment, an African participant won at 2:31:12 while in the women’s Masters women’s top runner Lee Jeong-suk clocked in at first place at a record of 2:51:56.