Taipei, April 8 (CNA) Braving gusty winds of 45 kilometers per hour and temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, Taiwanese runner Chen Yen-po finished third in the 2010 North Pole Marathon Thursday after the competition was briefly suspended for severe weather conditions.
Chen completed the 42.195-kilometer route in five hours, 29 minutes and 47 seconds to place third among 26 runners from 10 countries in the competition dubbed "the world's coolest marathon." Chen's mother told CNA by telephone that what she cared about most was Chen's safety, but she was happy to know her son had finished in the top three.
Joep Rozendal from the Netherlands won the men's event in five hours and 58 seconds while Emer Dooley from Ireland took first place in the women's race.
Chen, a 23-year-old graduate student from National Taiwan Sports University, surpassed the top-10 goal he made before the competition.
The competitors arrived at the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen island off the coast of Norway April 5. They were flown to an international North Pole Camp called Barneo for the race.
Chen is no stranger of running in extreme conditions, having finishing third in the 600-kilometer Polar Challenge race in 2008 and fourth in the 2009 Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race.
The circuit of 42.195 kilometers meanders among hillocks of ice and incorporates part of an aircraft runway. Participants have to have the nerve and drive to run on Arctic ice floes only six to 12 feet above 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean.
According to Chen's mother, Chen told her by satellite telephone at 5 p.m. Wednesday local time that the race had been postponed due to a severe storm.
The 2010 North Pole Marathon was the seventh edition of competitive marathons in the Arctic, with races previously held in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc