Taipei, Dec 15 (IANS): More than 28,000 runners, including about 3,000 from outside of Taiwan, competed in the Taipei Marathon on Sunday.

Kenneth Mburu Mungara from Kenya was the men's champion of the full marathon with a time of 2:14:54 while the women's champion was Antonina Kwambai, also a Kenyan, who finished the run in 2:31:27.

The Taipei Marathon consisted of a full marathon of 42.2 km and a half marathon of 21.2 km, reports Xinhua news agency.

Among the competitors, a group of more than 40 runners were from Shanghai. Since 2016, the cities of Shanghai and Taipei have both organised runners to take part in each other's annual marathon.

"We learn from each other in improving the management and services of the events," said Yang Peigang, deputy chief of Shanghai's sports department and chief of the running team.

Last month, a team led by Taipei's sports department chief Li Tzai-Li took part in the Shanghai International Marathon.

Over the past four years, about 800 runners from Taiwan have participated in the Shanghai International Marathon while Shanghai has sent about 600 to run the Taipei Marathon, according to Yang.

Zhang Zhanhui, a running coach from Shanghai, brought a dozen friends to the Taipei Marathon. "Taipei has a very nice running environment. It is a good place for marathons," he said.

"It was my second run in the Taipei Marathon. This is a valuable chance to meet local marathon lovers," said Qian Daming, a 61-year-old amateur runner who has run more than 30 marathons this year across the world.