KOTA KINABALU: Safree Sabdin and Linda Then Yee Yen won the full marathon men and women open titles in the Unicef Borneo Marathon which ended at the Likas Stadium on Sunday.

Safree, who only managed ninth place last year, crossed the line first in the 42km race with a time of two  hours 49 minutes and 44 seconds, ahead of Tim Gruber from the United States in two hour  52 minutes  46 seconds while in third place was Mohd Syahidan in two hours 56 minutes 27 seconds

Linda on the other hand, took the women title in three hours 46 minutes and 17 seconds followed by Goh Bee Yin in three hours 47 minutes and 10 seconds, and Mailin Ripau in four hours six minutes and .04 seconds.

The veteran men open winner was Sefli Ahar from Brunei (2:53:25) and second place went to Rashid Rahim (3:08.19) with Mark Miller of USA (3:14:11) in third, while the top three places in the women category went to Amy Mumford (3:12:42), Kona Liau (3:56:01) and Airince Liam (4:11:54).

In the half marathon, Kenyan Leonard Kiplangat (1:11.29) took the men’s title ahead of Hyurga Peh Yong Heng (1:24.19) and Wincenbert Latius (1:28.09).

The half marathon women open title went to Xue Pan Chine (1:49:32) with Julie Mashego of South Africa (1:55:01) in second while third place went to  Jassic Lintanga (1:56:46).

In the veteran categories, Yusuf Tungkob (1:26:54) finished ahead of Mohd Zulkarnain (1:28:30) and Guianus Salagan (1:29:12) while the top three in the women went to Ling Mee Eng (1:45:10), See (1:46:43) and Hamisah Antahar (1:52:04).

The 10km race saw Younes Ammouta (00:33:09) clinch the men open title followed by Royland Dinisin (00:36:57) and Romieo (00:37:21) with Marlin Hing William (00:43:43), Hyenie Rosin Danius (00:47:35) and Meryl Zucco (00:47:56) finished in the top three for the women category.

There was also junior 10km race which was won by Jasron Jogan (00:37:20) in the boys category, second and third place went to Azmin  Ahmad Dia (00:37:26) and Muhammad Dzulfikri (00:37:54) while top three places in the girls category went to Jessyca Sayu AK (00:44:03), Britanny Isabelle (00:46:21) and Hizillawanty Jamain (00:46:26).

Some 11,000 runners took part in the event this year with Sekolah Sukan Malaysia having the most number of girl participants and SM Sains Labuan for most number of boys.

Lisa Surihani, Unicef National Ambassador in Malaysia also took part to run alongside children with and without disabilities for a 3km route together with their friends and families.

Assistant Youth and Sports Minister Arunarsin Taib was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony together with Mayor Datuk Nordin Siman, State Health Director Datuk Christina Rundi and Marianne Clark-Hattingh, Unicef Representative Malaysia as well as race director Datuk Dr Heng Aik Cheng.