Gi simply four-midable on the road
Gi Ka-man won his fourth road race title of the season and claimed his second Hong Kong distance record in the Xtep 15Km Challenge over a new course at Sheung Shui yesterday.
Yuen Long-based Gi has been the man to beat this season when Thomas Kiprotich has not been on the start line, and with the Kenyan absent yesterday Gi stamped his authority on the race right from the gun.
'The new course is much better than the one we used to run at Pak Tam Chung because it is very flat and very fast,' said the 27-year-old Gi. 'I think my time would have been even faster had it not been so windy at the top end of the course in the closed border area.'
Gi crossed the line in a Hong Kong record time of 48 minutes and 15 seconds.
He took almost two minutes off the 2008 record set by Chan Ka-ho, who finished second yesterday in 50 minutes, and well over a minute clear of third-placed finisher Wun Yiu-cheong.
Yiu Kit-ching also bagged a Hong Kong women's record in a time of 56:14. Yiu shattered the 2009 mark of 58:56 set by Li Seut-fei in a race in the United States.
'I found a nice pace by sticking with a group of male runners and was able to maintain that pace right to the finish,' said Yiu, who next weekend will race in Taipei where a prize of HK$10,000 is on offer to the men's and women's winners of a 10km event.
Police officer Wong Siu-ping placed second in the women's race in 58:56, while veteran runner Angelina Kong placed a creditable third in 1:00:11.
