SINGAPORE - Ben Moreau and Maki Inami got two runs for the price of one after winning The Straits Times Run's 18.45km categories on Sunday (Sept 23).
The Briton and the Japanese, both of whom were taking part in the ST Run for the first time, each received a five-day, four-night all-expenses paid trip to race in next year's Gold Coast Marathon as part of their prize.
The packages to that International Association of Athletics Federations Gold Label marathon, worth about $2,000 each, are courtesy of a tie-up between The Straits Times and Tourism Queensland.
Moreau, who claimed the men's 18.45km title (1hr 2min 49sec) and Inami, the women's winner in 1:11:01, also left the National Stadium with a Panasonic 55-inch Ultra-HD 4K Pro HDR TV set worth $2,599 each.
Panasonic has been the ST Run's presenting sponsor since the inaugural edition in 2013.
The Gold Coast Marathon is "where I set my half-marathon personal best of 1:03:59 in 2013 and I've never run the full marathon there, so it would be great to go back", said two-time Commonwealth Games marathon entrant Moreau, 36, who finished nearly five minutes ahead of runner-up Foo Gen Lin (1:07:16).
The men's and women's 10km events were won by Nepalese Nimesh Gurung (33:00) and Belgian Vanja Cnops (38:15) respectively. All four winners are based in Singapore.
Mr Gurung and Ms Cnops each won a Panasonic 49-inch Ultra-HD 4K Pro HDR TV set worth $1,699.
Mr Gurung was the runner-up in the 18.45km category last year but elected for the shorter distance this year as he felt he was not quite in tip-top shape after a recent holiday.
"It's always very nice running in Singapore and the ST Run is one of my favourites," said the 30-year-old, who is taking part in his fifth ST Run.
"I am very happy and encouraged to have won today although I am not that satisfied with my time."
"I will definitely be back next year and in fact I hope to take part in 10 ST Runs at least!"
This year's ST Run attracted over 13,000 participants.
