Japanese marathoners sweep titles in Đà Nẵng Marathon

ĐÀ NẴNG — Japanese marathoners Kentaro Masuda and Kyoko Otsuka won the men’s and women’s titles of the annual Đà Nẵng International Marathon 2016 on Saturday.

Kentaro clocked in two hours and 57min 53sec to take the men’s 42km title in the fourth edition of the race in the coastal central city with the participation of over 4,500 runners.

Vietnamese Trần Duy Quang came in second with a time of 3hr 09min 16sec, two minutes ahead of Japanese Ishida Takashi who finished third with 3hr 11min 33sec.

Starting at 4.30am this weekend, Kyoko Otsuka finished her race at sunrise after clocking in 3hr 44min 30sec.

Came second was Louise Adderley of Australia at 3hr 47min 10sec, and Swiss Anneli Sodergards, in third with a time of 4hr 03min 17sec.

Vietnamese Lê Tấn Lâm completed the men’s half marathon (21km) race first in 1hr 28min 36sec. The second winner was Simon Smith from the UK finished the division in 1hr 29min 56sec.

Third came Yoichi Sato of Japan at 1hr 30min 16sec.

In the women’s 21km, Ashley Lin from the US finished first with a time of 1hr 31min 06sec, ahead of her fellow American Rebecca Shore, who clocked in at 1hr 41min 56sec.

Vietnamese Dương Thị Khánh took 1hr 44min 46sec to finish third.

In the 10km race, Philip Seseman from the UK won the title with 30.46 minutes, while Mai Thị Loan from Việt Nam won the women’s title in 42.10 minutes.

Over 4,200 runners also joined a 5km Fun Run to raise money for Agent Orange (AO) children and underprivileged people in the city.

The race, which was organised by the city, the World Marathon Company and Pulse Active, is the first professional Marathon in Việt Nam certified by IAAF - AIMS (International Association of Athletics Federations and Association of International Marathons and Distance Races). Time results in the Đà Nẵng International Marathon would qualify for the Boston Marathon. — VNS