No pain no gain

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KOPERAL Shaharudin Hashim took two toilet breaks and yet managed to finish first among local participants for a third time in a row at the Allianz Penang Bridge International Marathon.

The 36-year-old, said to be suffering from food poisoning, completed the full marathon in two hours and 54 minutes.

“I did not feel well as I had stomach upset throughout the 42km race.

“I had to rush to the toilet twice and my timing was not good.

“Luckily, it was still good enough to beat other local participants,” said the policeman from Kuala Lumpur.

Winners: (From left) Cheah and Shaharudin are tops among local participants in the full marathon.

Shaharudin, who took home RM3,000 for his effort, said he would definitely defend his title next year.

He was among 27,500 participants who took part in the marathon and a fun run held in conjunction with the event.

Cheah Meei Meei from Kuala Lumpur capped a memorable feat in her maiden appearance when she beat local women participants in the full marathon category.

The 35-year-old posted three hours and 46 minutes.

“The victory comes as a surprise as I have never harboured hope of winning.

“I am really happy with my achievement,” she said.

As expected, Kenyans were ahead of the rest as they dominated the top 13 places in the men’s open full marathon.

Charles Kimutai Kigen, 27, dethroned defending champion Alex Melly, 24, to come out top in the competition.

Kigen clocked 2’21:56s to finish ahead of Melly who posted 2’22:45s. Coming in third was another Kenyan Isaac Kiplagat Kimaiyo who recorded 2’24:26s.

In the women’s full marathon, Margaret Wangui Njuguna, 42, also of Kenya emerged winner with a time of 3’06:38s.

She said she could have posted a better time if there were strong competitors.

“I was running alone and there was nobody to push me.

“Nevertheless, I like to run here as the route is challenging,” she said.

Coming in second and third respectively were Canadian Kari Elliot and Kenyan Phylis Jelagat Chepkonga, who clocked 3’18:44s and 3’33:14s respectively.

A total of 27,500 people took part in the run compared to the previous record of 21,399 people in 2007, thus earning the mara-thon a place in the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) for having the most number of participants in a bridge run in Malaysia.