The full marathon run that started from PPR all the way to the highlands of the state of Aimeliik and back was the toughest as only 5 men and 3 women dared to sign up for the event. Toshikazu Misawa for men’s while Noemi Neipert of the women’s full marathon clocked in at identical 4 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds that earned them first place winners of their respective class. Misawa beat his own time last year coming in 10 minutes earlier this year. To complete the victors of the full marathon; Chris Bulson came in second with 4:50:02 for the Men’s class. On the other hand, Leah A. Gillham timed in at 4:57:02 to place as second while Donna May Guillermo crossed the finish line with 5:21:23 that gave her third spot.
As for the top 3 finishers of the half marathon team relay that goes from PPR to KB Shell in Airai and back; Youth class was dominated by team Ngardmau Waterfall team 1 and team 3 who finished as first and third place while PIDC Marine 2 placed at second. Tthe open relay was owned by team Bisacol who got first place with a time of 1:47:27 while team Faster then Graham at second with 2:02:42 followed by team PPR who came in with 2:07:12. With regards to the half marathon men’s class, Joynal came almost an hour earlier to win first place compared to Habib who arrived at the finish line with a time of 2:08:40 to be placed second, whereas, Daniel Wilson crossed the tape with 2:35:36. Laura MacDonald ruled the women’s half marathon category as she came in at 2:06:32 while Jenny Roberts cross the line at 2:07:26 trailing her was Brenda Zylaa who appeared 2:17:45 later.The 2009 Palau Marathon is sponsored by the Palau Pacific Resort.
