Havana, Nov 18 (IANS) Cuba swept the international Havana Marathon winning both the men’s and women’s races in which more than 2,800 runners took part.
The 27th edition of the ‘Marabana’ on Sunday saw Cuba’s Henry Jaen win the 42 km race timing two hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. Jaen won the race previously in 2006 and came in third in 2012. Last year’s winner Jorge Luis Suarez came in second (2:36:44) and Yumier Fouma was third (2:38:47), reports Xinhua.
Suarez, who also won in 2009, added much drama when he suffered a muscle contraction just before arriving at the finish line, fell to the ground and crawled the remaining six metres.
“I fell down and I could not stand. But I thought I had to finish no matter how and I did it,” he said.
In the women’s division, Cuba’s Yailen Garcia, 32, won in 3:00:28 to mark her second consecutive victory in the marathon (2012) and her third victory overall (2010). Garcia was trailed by fellow Cubans Leticia Cedeno, who came second for the second year in a row (3:9:45) and Aracelis Lamoth, who finished third (3:27.24).
In the wheelchair race, Germany’s Christian Reeb won by a wide margin (1:38:26), followed by Cuban Carlos Perez (2:01:07) and Lazaro Font (2:17:16).
