Despite nearly being called off when the Greater Kaohsiung City Council cut its entire NT$9 million (US$297,000) budget on Wednesday, the Kaohsiung Mizuno International Marathon was held yesterday, with tens of thousands of runners taking part.
This year’s event was able to take place as scheduled after the council finally approved the Greater Kaohsiung City Government’s use of a preparatory fund, following cross-party negotiations.
More than 35,000 runners took part in yesterday’s marathon, with many participants representing private businesses, hospitals, government institutions and schools, while others were parents running with their children.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Many runners donned creative outfits that saw Spiderman, ninjas and poker cards racing alongside other contestants as local residents and a dragon dance troupe from Yu-chang Junior-High School cheered them on along the route, turning the marathon into a festival.
Before firing the starting shot to launch the race, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) thanked the public, as well as sponsors such as Mizuno and several local temples, for supporting the event.
She also thanked all city employees for their hard work and stressed the importance of getting regular exercise, adding that she would continue to negotiate with the council “so that the marathon could be held every year.”
Chen said that although the council slashes the marathon’s budget, the city government did not give up and officials worked to convince council members to approve the use of a preparatory fund to stage the races.
The event features a full marathon, a half-marathon and an amateur course, which are 42.19km, 25km and 3.5km long respectively. A total of 177 professional runners from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, the UK, the US, Canada and Kenya participated.
Kenyan runner Chobei Josphat Kiptanui Too won the men’s full marathon after completing the race in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 55 seconds to win the NT$300,000 cash prize, while Taiwanese runner Ho Chin-wen (何盡文) won fourth place and an NT$70,000 cash prize after posting a time of 2:38:12.
Hsu Yu-fang (許玉芳) of Taiwan won the women’s full marathon and a cash prize of NT$200,000 with a time of 2:42:10, while fellow Taiwanese Yu Ya-chun (游雅軍) came second with a time of 2:55:8 to take home a NT$100,000 cash prize.
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