Japan's Satoshi Osaki and mainlander Zhang Shujing (left) yesterday became the first runners at the Standard Chartered Marathon to have their national flags raised and national anthems played at the awards ceremony. The race doubled for the first time as the Asian Marathon Championships, and Osaki and Zhang were crowned the men's and women's champions. Zhang also won the overall women's title.
National anthems and flags did not form part of the ceremony for the overall winners, including yesterday's overall men's champion Benjamin Matolo of Kenya, because participants compete as individuals runners in international open marathons.
The music was particularly sweet for Osaki, who landed his first marathon triumph in his fifth attempt at the distance. 'It's the first time I raced outside Japan and I captured my first marathon win. I was touched when I saw the national flag raised at the ceremony,' said Osaki, who came fifth overall in two hours, 16 minutes and 46 seconds, beating second-placed compatriot Umeki Kurao (2:18:03).
Zhang, a 24-year-old from Jilin, was delighted with her win, but said her time of 2:36:27 fell short of her personal best (2:24:42). She outclassed Japan's Mio Kiuchi (2:36:27) and Belarus' Natalya Galushko (2:39:48).
'I'm happy with my win as it made up for my second place here two years ago,' said Zhang, who bagged a combined purse of US$12,000, of which US$10,000 was her overall winner's money, compared with Osaki's US$4,100. 'I'm obviously not in my normal form. I took a break after November's All-China Games in Guangzhou [where she came fifth]. The hot and humid conditions here also made it hard for me run well. It's also difficult to breath inside the [Western Harbour] tunnel.'
Osaki, from Japan's second biggest city Osaka, who also found the conditions tough, said he was more surprised with the lack of suitable places to train in Hong Kong. 'It's been difficult for me to find a place to train since I arrived on Monday. I have only been able to run around Kowloon Park and on the jogging trails at Happy Valley,' Osaki, 25, said.