Posted: February 12, 2006

Athletics: Runners hit the Greatest Race on Earth jackpot in Hong Kong finale

HONG KONG, 12 FEBRUARY 2006 - The Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth, a challenging marathon relay across four cities, came to an exciting conclusion today in Hong Kong. Top teams and individuals battled it out in the Hong Kong Marathon to determine the final finishing order for the 2005/6 Series, and settle how the US$1.575 million prize pool, the largest in the history of world athletics, was distributed.

The Greatest Race On Earth 2005/6 Series commenced in October 2005 in Nairobi and carried on to Singapore in December 2005 and Mumbai in January 2006. In Hong Kong, more than 120 runners from 30 different countries ran in The Greatest Race on Earth, which has been billed the "World Cup of Marathons". The high profile line-up attracted by The Greatest Race on Earth this series has been made evident by faster times over the four marathons.

Winning the Main Team Challenge and the accompanying US$400,000 first prize was the 'Run For Peace Fun' team, who had led since the second leg in Singapore. Their runner in Hong Kong, Kenyan Moses Masai, ran a safe race to finish 13th in the overall Marathon in a time of 2:21:08. The Marathon was won by Masai's compatriot, Simon Bor, whose sensational run of 2:14:18 took the Kenya National Team from fourth into second place, earning them US$195,000. Bor's run pushed the 'Akaki - Gianni' team down to third, despite a brave run by Ethiopian Taye Moges who came third in the Marathon with a time of 2:17:48, winning US$125,000.

"This was one of the toughest races I've ever experienced, because there were runners fighting really hard so they wouldn't let their teams down," said Bor. "It was a very big fight between us! I decided to break away from the group, which wasn't easy, but it paid off as I gained a lot of time for my team."

Similar to Bor's feat was Dire Tune's effort in the Women's Team Challenge, winning the Hong Kong Marathon in 2:35:15 to lift her team 'Haji Adilo' from fourth place into second. She could not though make up enough time on fellow Ethiopian Tadelech Birra, who ran 2:46:31 to make sure of first place and a resulting bounty of US$100,000 for 'Global Mbio - Women'. Finishing in third place in the overall Women's Challenge was 'Cyclone - Gianni', whose runner Measo Arsede finished second in the Hong Kong Marathon in 2:41:04.

Reigning Hong Kong Marathon champion, Dai Yanyan from China, could only manage fourth place in this year's Marathon, but it was enough to promote 'Team China' from fifth place into fourth in the Series. "Last year, I was running for myself but this year I was running for three other team members, which was quite meaningful," commented Yanyan.

Meanwhile in the endurance test that is the Individual Challenge, where athletes run in all four marathons, Kenyan Meshack Kirwa clinched first place and the US$100,000 first prize with a cumulative time of 9:13:06. Incredibly after 168km of racing, just 30 seconds separated him and his friend and training partner Emmanuel Kosgei in second place.

"It is an amazing feeling," said Kirwa. "Emmanuel tried to push ahead of me but then I managed to out-sprint him. It was tough but it was my day. My life has now changed with this prize money."Stephen Ndungu made a valiant effort to make up the gap to the front two, finishing second in the Marathon, but Kirwa's advantage going into the race proved too much to overhaul.

By finishing second in the Main Team Challenge, the Kenya National Team were the top team in the Nations Challenge, repeating their feat from last Series to win the US$70,000 first prize. Defending their second and third places successfully in the Nations Challenge were Zimbabwe and Uganda respectively. After solid runs by their athletes Kasirayi Sita and Francis Yiga, these nations won US$50,000 and US$25,000.

The top three Nations Challenge teams were also the top three in the African Regional Challenge. In the North East Asia category, Taiwan finished first with a cumulative time of 11:11:16, over sixteen minutes ahead of the second-placed Hong Kong National Team. "I had to keep first place for my country and I want to thank the runners in the first three legs because they did so well," said Taiwan's athlete Chieh-Wen Chiang. Meanwhile in the South East Asia Challenge Indonesia topped the leaderboard, beating local rivals Thailand and Vietnam into second and third.

With an excellent cumulative time of 10:09:53, India clinched victory in the South Asia Challenge, winning convincingly from Pakistan and Bangladesh. "I was so proud to be running for my country," said India's Barala Shivdan Singh. "I look forward now to representing India again in GROE next year, and in future Olympics and Asian Games."

And in the Europe and Oceania Region, UK won first place with a cumulative time of 10:10:58, after a great run by AC Muir in Hong Kong. "My team-mates had all done really well in the first three races, and I couldn't let them down!" said Muir. Australia moved up a place to second and Ukraine finished in third position.

The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was flagged off by The Honourable Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, on the famed Nathan Road in Kowloon, early on Sunday morning. The steep inclines in the marathon's course make it a world class challenge for running enthusiasts from all over the world. In total, 40,000 people took part in the 2006 Hong Kong Marathon, the biggest sporting event in the city, up from 30,000 last year.

The Greatest Race also promotes the "Seeing is Believing" charity, through which Standard Chartered has committed to raise US$6 million before the end of 2006. This money will help restore the sight of one million people in developing nations with visual impairment. In this spirit, two visually-impaired teams, from Taiwan and South Korea, took part in and finished The Greatest Race.

Complete results are available at: www.thegreatestrace.com.

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