Wu, who hails from Hualien, completed the marathon in 05:11:45 with his five bothers and sisters. Although that is almost three hours behind one of Taiwan’s fastest marathon runners, Wu Wen-chian, who finished in 02:26:00 to place eighth overall.
The fastest female Taiwanese runner was Hsu Yu-fang at 02:54:32, which also put her in the eighth spot.
However, the only one in the spotlight was young Wu. According to local media reports, the six siblings initially entered the race for fun; they soon grew bored at the constant running and in the final 10-km stretch, little Wu complained of aching knees and broke into tears which were still running down his face when he crossed the finish line.
When asked whether it was fun, Wu shook his head. However, asked if he would do it again, the boy bravely replied in the affirmative.
Breaking records appear to run in the family. Last year’s youngest runner was Wu’s older brother Wu Cheng-en; his sisters, 8-year-old Wu Hui-hsin also became the event’s youngest female marathon runner Sunday.
The official marathon winner for men was Yusuf Chango Chebii Songoka from Kenya, finishing in 02:14:04; the female winner was Yeshi Esayias Tesemma from Ethiopia, at 02:30:37. The Ethiopian runner was short of her record last year by just 32 seconds, meaning she missed out on an extra about $15,000 on top of her $30,000.
Ethiopian Yeshimebet Tadesse Bifa clocked in 2hrs 31mins 9secs. Kenya’s Winfridah Kwamboka Nyansikera came third with 2hr 32min 37sec.
Yusuf Chango Chebii Songoka from Kenya won a cheque for the same amount after he clocked 2hr 14min 4sec in the men’s race, six seconds faster than Ethiopia’s Gebreslassie Tsegay Reda.
Samuel Woldeamanuel Gebremichael of Ethiopia came third in 2hr 14min 23sec.
