(Beijing, April 20) The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Beijing Marathon Race shot off at Tian'anmen Square at 7:30 a.m. on April 20. As a result, 20-year-old Chen Rong won the women's race with a time of 2:30:42, followed by teammates Zhou Chunxiu and Zhu Xiaolin with the identical time of 2:37:49. On the men's side, Serod Batochir of Mongolia finished first with 2:14:15, followed by China's Li Zhuhong (2:15:32) and Han Gang (2:21:15).

As it began to rain 20 minutes into the race, the results of the runners today were not very good on the whole, among which Chinese veteran Zhou Chunxiu's of 2:37:49 was nearly 18 minutes slower than her personal best time of 2:19:51! After the race Zhou, who had already qualified for the Beijing Olympics, said she was not much disappointed as she took it as one of the pre-Olympic training sessions.

Leading in the women's race was three-time Beijing Marathon winner Wei Yanan. No. 9 Chen Rong, 2007 Beijing Marathon champion from Hebei Province, was second some 200 meters behind Wei, followed by Wang Jiali, Zhang Shujing and Zhou Chunxiu in that order.

The last moment came when Chen Rong led the group into the "Bird's Nest" before eventually finished the race in a time of 2:30:42, Zhou Chunxiu came in second, followed suit by Zhu Xiaolin, both with 2:37:49. As Zhou was a shoulder ahead Zhu at the finish line Zhou took the silver medal, while Zhu had to settle for the bronze.

China's 21-year-old Ren Longyun led the first group in the men's race and after 50 minutes reached Guanyuan Bridge on Second Ring Road, leaving the second group consisting of Han Gang, Su Wei and a few other Chinese runners some 700 to 800 meters behind. The athletes, by way of Zhongguanchun South Avenue and Haidian Bridge, entered Peking University and then Tsinghua University, where they were cheered on by many spectators lining on both sides of the course in the heavy rain.

Serod Batochir from Mongolia appeared in the National Stadium first and finished the race with a personal best of 2:14:15to win the title. China's Li Zhuhong timed 2: 15:32 by a margin of over 1 minutes for the silver. The bronze went to China's Han Gang with a time of 2:21:15.