Kenyan Benson Cherono won the 2005 Beijing International Marathon men's competition here on Sunday in a dramatical way.

The 22-year-old, who finished third at the Boston Marathon in April, "skipped" about 800 meters approaching the end "unintentionally" to cross the line first in an "amazing" time of two hours six minutes and 55 seconds, which was 40 seconds faster than the best time of the event and five minutes and 20 seconds ahead of the silver winner James Moiben, who was also from Kenya.

The organizing committee then recognized Cherono as the title winner but blanked out his finish time.

Cherono, who had been in the leading pack from the start and built a sole lead about 10 kilometers from the end, should have finished a cecum route before running into the National Olympic Sports Center on the way to the end, but he followed the broadcasting vehicle to enter the sports complex directly through a special pass.

Since Cherono was very close to the vehicle, the referees near the pass did not see him as he passed and failed to correct him tothe right way.

"The referees made mistakes," said Wen Fusheng, the chief referee of the event. "As the chief referee, I should also be responsible for the incident."

"Considering the big margin of the finishing time between Cherono and the second finisher and the short course he missed, wedecided to recognize him as the champion but blanked out his finish time," Wen added.

Japanese Yukinobu Nakazaki settled for the third place with 2:12:29.

Sun Yingjie of China claimed her third consecutive Beijing International Marathon by winning the women's competition with a time of 2:21:01, beating compatriots Zhou Chunxiu and Sun Weiwei to second and third places in 2:21:11 and 2:27:33 respectively.

Sun, who maintained a narrow lead over Zhou most of the way before surging away with about 1km left in the competition, also crowned as national champion as this year's edition of the Beijing International Marathon featured as the marathon finals of the 10thChina National Games.

"I am happy to win the Beijing Intentional Marathon, but I am happier to crown as national champion," said Sun. "Finishing second at the last National Games, I was looking forward to win the gold medal this time."

Sun, who clocked 2:19:39 to win her first title at this event two years ago, said her form was affected by the injury in her right knee.

"I could have run faster, but the injury dragged my feet," Sun said. "I tried really hard in the final surge."

The men's marathon title of the 10th China National Games went to Zhang Qingle in 2:15:06. Li Zhuhong and Su Wei came in second and third at 2:16:06 and 2:16:26 respectively.

Editor: Donald