KUCHING: Joseph Mwangi Ngare of Kenya emerged as the 42 Km Men Open champion of the Kuching Marathon 2017 held here yesterday.
He beat about 2,000 runners in the same category by clocking a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 32.5 seconds.
The victory enabled him to take home a cash prize of RM8,000.
The second and third placings went to Julius Kiprotich of Kenya and Hiroki Nakajika of Japan who clocked a time of 2:26:34.3 and 2:35:03.5 respectively.
Julius and Hiroki brought home cash prizes of RM3,000 and RM2,000 respectively.
The prizes were presented by Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who also flagged off the 42 Km Category on behalf of Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, at Padang Merdeka here on early Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the 42 Km Women Open champion was Margaret Wangui Njuguna, also of Kenya, who clocked a time of 2.48:28.5 and took home a cash prize of RM8,000.
Edinah Jeruti Koech and Valentine Jepkemoi Serem, also of Kenya, took the second and third placings after clocking a time of 2:48:30.1 and 2:48:30.6h respectively. Edinah went home with RM3,000 while Valentine received RM2,000.
The 42 Km Men Veteran Category was won by Prasoet Phaisan of Thailand with a time of 3:13:36.1; he went home with RM4,000.
Liew Joon Kien and Tan Song Hua, both of Malaysia, came second and third respectively.
Liew, who clocked a time of 3:24:33.9, brought home RM2,000 while Tan, who clocked a time of 3:25:53.4, received RM1,000.
Other Kuching Marathon 2017 winners
The champion of the 42 Km Women Veteran Category was Kona Liau of Malaysia who clocked a time of 3:50:59.7 and brought home RM4,000.
Ewe Bee Hong and Hamisah Antahar, both from Malaysia, took the second and third placings by clocking 3:55:02.9 and 4:05:55.8 respectively; Ewe brought home RM3,000 while Hamisah received RM2,000.
Meanwhile, the 21 Km Men Open champion was John Waithaka Njihia of Kenya, who clocked a time of 1:19:28 and brought home RM1,500.
Second and third were Mohd Feldarus Abdul Rahman of Malaysia and Tse Chun Hung of China, who clocked a time of 1:20:27 and 1:24:23 respectively.
Feldarus took home RM750 while Tse received RM400.
Tho Siaw Khim of Malaysia emerged as the champion in the 21 Km Women Open Category with a time of 1:42:03; she brought home RM1,500.
Giulia Bossi of Italy and Joanne Grange of Malaysia came second and third by clocking a time of 1:42:04 and 1:45:45 respectively.
Giulia brought home RM750 while Joanne received RM400.
The 21 Km Men Veteran champion, Yusop Tungkob of Malaysia clocked a time of 1:26:41; he went home with RM650.
Second and third were Alex Tiong King Hee and Sabri Sedi, both of Malaysia; Ting, who clocked a time of 1:32:12, received RM400 while Sabri, who clocked a time of 1:31:35, took home RM300.
Meanwhile, the 21 Km Women Veteran champion was Ling Mee Eng of Malaysia with a time of 1:44:37; she took home RM650.
Second and third were Chong Vun Lung and Hii Yieng Nyuk, both of Malaysia, respectively; Chong clocked a time of 1:49:42 while Hii clocked a time of 1:55:56.
Chong went home with RM400 while, Hii received RM300.
David Patton of Great Britain emerged as the 10 Km Men Open Category champion after clocking a time of 39:54; he went home with RM500.
Second and third were Faiz Ariffin and Sunny Jongshixian, both of Malaysia respectively.
Faiz, who clocked a time of 38:59, brought home RM250 while Sunny, who clocked a time of 40:31, received RM150.
Meanwhile, the 10 Km Women Open, champion was Su Lian Tiing of Malaysia with a time of 50:09; she went home with RM500.
Lee Leh Ha and Chau Shiaw Fung, both of Malaysia, captured the second and third places by clocking a time of 50:14 and 53:30 respectively.
Lee went home with RM250 while Chau received RM150.
About 11,000 runners took part in this year’s edition of the Kuching Marathon.
The runners, who came from not only Kuching but also outside it, took part in four categories, namely, 42 Km, 21 Km, 10 Km, and 5 Km.
Karim, in his welcoming address, stated that his ministry was working hard to get many direct flights to Kuching from various places all over the world in order to boost the state’s tourism industry and economy.
He said few connecting flights to Kuching was one of the reasons why some runners did not join the Marathon.
Karim, who is also celebrating his 100 days as Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports today, commended the effort and hard work of the organising committee.
He also hoped many more sports events would be held next year.