Hong Kong Marathon winner Melaku Belachew reignites city love affair, vows to be back
Women’s crown goes to Shitaye Eshete, local pride for Virginia Lo and Wong Wan-chun as they cross first among home runners
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Hong Kong marathon sets record high for number of non-local runners
Melaku Belachew claimed his second Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon title on Sunday, reigniting a love affair with the city that began when he won for the first time way back in 2017.
And just as he did nine years ago, the charismatic Ethiopian performed a gleeful dance moments after completing a windy, undulating 26.2-mile course that was the enemy of speed in two hours, nine minutes and 39 seconds.
Belachew had almost completed his crowd-pleasing routine by the time Kenyans Silas Too and Francis Kipkorir Langat followed him home for second and third, in 2:09:56 and 2:09:59, respectively.
In the women’s event, Shitaye Eshete of Bahrain made good on her pre-race pledge to “smash it”, capturing first place in 2:27:03. Ethiopia’s Nigsti Haftu was runner-up in 2:29:13, with Linet Masai of Kenya running 2:29:23 for third.
In a replica of last year’s races, Wong Wan-chun and Virginia Lo Ying-chiu were the first Hongkongers home. Afterwards, the single-minded Lo, who was 13th overall, was already talking about “altitude training, speed work on the track and competing in half-marathons,” as she mapped out her path to September’s Asian Games.
In contrast, Wong, who is embroiled in a long-standing dispute with Hong Kong athletics chiefs, claimed he did not really mind “if I can’t compete at the Games”.