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Dark Horse Gong Ke Seals Debut Victory in Beijing Marathon
Competing in marathon for the first time, the Chinese runner Gong Ke outshone all his rivals with a impressive finishing sprint to win the Beijing International Marathon Sunday morning in Beijing.
Turning out to be an unexpected winner, the 23-year-old champion from Liaoning Province said: "This is my first marathon race. I had set my target to win the title but didn't expect to make my dream come true. I'm ecstatic about the result."
Running among the leading pack since the very beginning, Gong began to accelerate with two kilometers left.
"I found I still had some strength to speed up. I thought I should have a try with a sprint finish. You know, it's close to the final point and I just simply asked myself, why not try my best to win it?"
"It is not the tactics that those experienced runners usually have had in the race," Gong said.
As a debutant, he upset a strong-field for the title with a time of two hours, 10 minutes and 11 seconds. His teammate Li Aiguo held off a tough challenge from Wang Yonghua for a silver medal. Li clocked 2:10:25 to Wang's 2:10:26.
Although Gong is a green hand in marathon, he has taken several domestic victories in 5000 meters and 10,000 meters over the last two years. He was the winner of the 10,000 meters in 1999 National City Games.
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