Havana marathon draws record number of runners

Havana, Nov 16 (IANS) A record number of runners have registered for this year's Havana International Marathon, organisers have said.

The 30th edition of the "Marabana" will see 4,763 runners, including 1,800 foreigners from 113 countries, participate in the November 20 event, reports Xinhua.

"It will break its own record, set in 2015," the director of the marathon, Carlos Gattorno, said on Tuesday.

The only competitions in Cuba to have drawn more participants, he said, were the 1991 Pan American Games and the 1982 Central American Games.

Some 3,852 runners, including 1,589 foreigners from 62 countries, took part in last year's Marabana, which was won by Cuban Jorge Luis Suarez with a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, and by Norway's Tonje Granne Kvala, in the women's category, with a time of 3:28:23.

Gattorno credited the increase in runners on "Cuba's tourism attractions, "among other things, but an incentive offered by the French national airline Air France may also have something to do with it.

This year's winners will be invited by the carrier to take part in the Paris Marathon.

--IANS

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