LEADING Chinese athletes from Beijing scored comfortable victories in both the men's and women's categories of the final adidas King of the Road race held over 10 kilometres at Tin Shui Wai in the New Territories yesterday. Cao Ganghai, who is ranked number two in China over 10 kilometres, strolled home in 30 minutes 52 seconds after taking it easy in the first four kilometres when he slotted in with the leading Hong Kong runners Roberto De Vido and Lee Kar-lun and newcomer Kjeld Dissing from Denmark.
The real race was between De Vido and Dissing with the Dane pulling out all the stops at the six kilometres mark in an effort to take the sting out of De Vido's sprint. And it nearly worked as De Vido only managed to pass Dissing inside the final 200 metres to win the series title. De Vido's effort gave him the overall men's King of the Road title and the trip to run in the 20 Kilometres of Paris Race in October.
The women's race saw Sun Shaochun score an equally easy win in a time of 36:02 when she outpaced WAC veteran Winnie Ng who scored a convincing win over rival Yuko Gordon in the Queen of the Road. Ng clocked 36:22 and will receive a trip to compete in the Boston Marathon on April 15.
In winning the women's junior race Alli Li finished fourth in the women's event in 37:51, seven seconds faster than Gillian Castka who took the seniors title.
