Runners in Chinese marathon lose time after getting lost during race

Several African runners competing in a marathon in eastern China on Sunday got lost temporarily during the race, Xinhua reports.

The athletes became lost halfway through the 2016 Nanjing International Marathon, which was won by a Mongolian runner in two hours and 31 minutes, the report said.

Tao Shaoming, a former Chinese marathon team coach, posted on his Weibo account that he was told that five of his students, who could usually finish a full marathon in two hours and 10 minutes, withdrew from the race after running in the wrong direction. The report did not indicate the nationality of his students.

African runners claimed the top eight places in last year’s Nanjing Marathon.