BEIJING, Oct 22: Nephat Kinyanjui of Kenya won the Beijing Marathon on Sunday, while Chinese runners dominated the podium in the women’s section of the race.

Kinyanjui ran a time of 2hr, 8min, 8sec to win the men’s event ahead of Ren Longyun of China and countryman Han Gang. Ren finished in 2:08.16 with Hen clocking 2:08.57.

China’s Chen Rong was the top woman, running the 42.2-kilometre course in 2:27.05. Zhang Yingying of China was second and another Chinese runner, Bia Xue, was third.

The race used some of the course that will be set up for next year’s Olympics, although it started in another part of the city rather than Tiananmen Square, where the Olympic marathon will begin.—AP