Kenya and China split 2006 Beijing Marathon titles

Sun Weiwei defended China's dominance in women's race at the 2006 Beijing Marathon, as she claimed the title with two hours 34 minutes and 41 seconds on Sunday.

Kenya's James Kwambi Kipsang defeated his countrymen, defending champion James Moiben to win the men's event.

Sun stayed in the leading pack throughout the grueling race of 42.195 kilometers starting from the city center's Tian'anmen Square and pulled away after 29 kilometers to help China win the title for 15 times in a row.

"It is a hard race for me because I took part in a marathon race early this month. I took Beijing Marathon as a training session and it is a surprise that I won the title." said Sun, who won the silver medal in Cologne Marathon at October 10.

Chepchumba Pamela from Kenya took the silver medal with 2:34:51 while Chen Rong, also from China, third at 2:34:57.

In men's race, Kipsang clocked 2:10;36 for the title, leaving his compatriot David Kipkorir Mandago second in 2:10:46. Japanese Takehisa Okino was third in 2:12;24.

Defending champion James Moiben ranked sixth in 2:14:07. "I didn't have a good performance today, but I will be back next year." said Moiben, "I want to take part in Beijing Olympics, so I have to be here to adapt myself to Beijing."

Source: Xinhua