Hosts round up track and field

Musthofid ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Samarinda, East Kalimantan   |  Mon, 07/14/2008 10:08 AM  |  Sports

The track and field events at the National Games wrapped up at Palaran Stadium in Samarinda on Sunday, with home favorites Yahuza and Feri Marince Subnafeu winning the men's and women's marathon.

The results gave East Kalimantan a total of six gold medals from a possible 46 in track and field events. East Java and West Java shared top spot in track and field with seven golds each, while Jakarta and Central Java took five each.

Central Java could only manage two silver medals in the marathon, with Yahuza and Feri repeating their triumphs from the 2004 Games, albeit with a different team.

Yahuza finished in a time of two hours, 35 minutes and 37 seconds, in a race in which runners had to run the 42.195-kilometer distance in laps around the stadium's concrete outer ring.

"This was the first time the marathon was held on a track. It's different from running on a road. Running on the concrete is much more painful," Yahuza said.

He ran well outside the national record of 2:19:18, set in 1993 by Eduard Nabunome.

"I wasn't trying to run too fast, I just wanted to win," he said.

Yahuza, who won gold for Bangka Belitung in 2004, will take home a cash bonus of Rp 150 million for his win. He ran the marathon almost unchallenged, with his closest rival, Central Java's Faizin, finishing in a time of 2:37:41.

"We were still together until the 30-kilometer mark, then four of us broke free. Yahuza began to accelerate and I could not catch up with him," Faizin said.

Despite finishing second, Faizin said his performance was a huge improvement from 2004, when he failed to make the team after finishing third in the trials. Marly Yusuf Gulo took the bronze in 2:40:59.

Feri Subnafeu, who won gold with East Nusa Tenggara in 2004, clinched victory in the women's marathon with a time of 2:59:35, still over the Games record set by Ruwiyati.

Ruwiyati, who also holds the national and Southeast Asian Games records, finished third behind Central Java teammate Erni Ulatningsih. Ruwiyati clocked in at 3:20.17 and Erni registered 3:00:52.

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