Peking University Scores Big At Half Marathon Relay in Tainan

TAINAN, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On a bright and sunny morning in Tainan, southern Taiwan, 56 athletes from some of the best universities in Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore have competed with one another in the first Asian universities’ half marathon relay on Oct. 30.

“Our hero is the champion of 5,000 meter and 10,000-meter tracks and half marathon relay, so it’s not a surprise that we took first place in the race.”

Starting at 6:30am of that day, four students – two males and two females – from each university ran in the 21.2km race, part of the activities in celebration of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)’s 80^th anniversary.

In the beginning, Tsinghua University from mainland China was in the lead, followed by Chiba University from Japan. When the second leg and the third leg runners exchanged the baton, Tsinghua University was still in the lead, with Peking University and Chiba University in the second and third places.

The competition between the two universities from mainland China was tense, as their distance narrowed from 150 meter to 100 meter prior to the last leg. Zhao Ran, the last leg runner from Peking University, then surpassed Hai-Ning Teng from Tsinghua University before reaching the finishing line and was 48 seconds ahead of Teng.

His teammates from Peking University said, “Our hero is the champion of 5,000 meter and 10,000-meter tracks and half marathon relay, so it’s not a surprise that we took first place in the race.”

“I’m pleased that I have won the trophy and medals for my school. Also, it’s a unique experience for me to compete and interact with many marathon lovers from neighboring countries,” said Zhao Ran.

The six best teams from mainland China, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have all completed the race within 1 hour and 22 minutes.

Peking University finished 1^st in 1 hour 10 minutes and 31 seconds, Tsinghua University finished 2^nd in 1 hour 11 minutes and 19 seconds and Chiba University finished 3^rd in 1 hour 15 minutes and 17 minutes, while National University of Singapore, Osaka University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong came in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th places.

National Cheng Kung University, the organizer of the event, ranked the 8^th in the marathon relay and the 2^nd among national universities, second to National Chung Cheng University.

Chang-Yao Chiang from National Cheng Kung University was disappointed with the score. He said, “Even though the runners from other universities are at the national-level, we could’ve performed better if the team didn’t participate in an athletic game yesterday. I hope there’ll be another opportunity for us to compete again.”

In addition, National Taiwan University withdrew near half way through the race because the second leg runner, an international student from Germany, injured her left leg and was immediately sent to the NCKU Hospital emergency room.

According to Cheng-Hung Huang, Vice President for International Affairs at National Cheng Kung University, the university is planning to organize the marathon relay again next year and invite universities from not only Asia, but the world to participate.

The 14 participating universities are National Cheng Kung University, National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University, National Central University, National Sun Yat-Sen University, National Chung Cheng University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Peking University, Tsinghua University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Osaka University, Chiba University and National University of Singapore.