Syster and Sun win Beijing Marathon men's and women's titles

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, October 19, 2003

Syster and Sun win Beijing Marathon men's and women's titles

South Africa's Ian Syster clocked 2 hours 7 minutes and 49 seconds to win the men's race while China's Sun Yingjie claimed the women's title in 2:19:39 at the BeijingMarathon on Sunday.

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South Africa's Ian Syster clocked 2 hours 7 minutes and 49 seconds to win the men's race while China's Sun Yingjie claimed the women's title in 2:19:39 at the Beijing Marathon on Sunday.

Syster, whose personal best is 2:07:06, almost broke the courserecord of 2:07:35. "I planned to beat the record," said Syster after winning the race for a bonus of 35,000 US dollars.

"Also I had the chance to beat it, but an accident at the entrance of the Olympic Sports Center ruined my plan."

Syster said an unexpected bus was on his way as he rushed into the course terminus Olympic Sports Center, which held back his last sprint.

"I think if I met more challenges, I could also run in a bettertime. You know, I just run against myself today.

"Personally, maybe I pushed too hard in the first half. The course is very nice," added Syster, who finished 7th at the Paris World Championships last August.

Jonathon Cherono of Kenya clocked 2:14:00 to win the silver, beating Ashebire Demisse of Ethiopia in 2:14:03.

It's the best position results for Cherono, the Kenyan who finished ninth at the 2001 Beijing Marathon.

"I'm really happy with the result. I think the course and weather condition are both very nice today," said the Kenyan.

China made a medal sweep in the women's section. Sun, defendingchampion and the bronze medalist in the women's 10,000m at the Paris World Championships, met no challenge throughout.

"The result is good enough for me," said Sun after the race. "Iwas not in good form recently because I took part in too many races this year."

"I had even no idea about the champion's bonus, because I felt very tired since I returned from Paris and I didn't think I could win medals here," she said after winning the women's event with 20,000 US dollars on stake.

"I'm aiming for a breakthrough in the marathon next year," saidSun.

Zhou Chunxiu clocked 2:23:41 to finish second and Zhang Shujingcompleted the medal sweep in 2:27:57.

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