Seoul City hosted its first international cycling event despite heavy rains on 8th Nov, with a city cyclist winning the inaugural title.
Cho, Ho-Seong( 35) prevailed in the Tour de Seoul , one of the Asia Tours in Korea, jointly hosted by Seoul Cycling Association and The Dong-A Newspaper in a tough battle against 109 cyclists from 10 nations.
The course spanning 100.5 km began at Gwang Hwa Mun Plaza in downtown Seoul and ended at the main building of The Dong-A Newspaper in the same area via major intersections and roads in the City.
Cho won with a time of 2 hours and 17 minutes beating by just 2 seconds runner-up Dirk Mueller of Germany (36). The 3rd place also went to a German, Janorschke Grisha (22) with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 9 seconds.
The event was the first international road race of its kind listed on the UCI Asia Tours in the history of Korean Cycling hosted by the Capital, and the first cycling event held in the City center in 40 years.
The Dong-A Newspaper had hosted a cycling race between 1968 and 1997 with the starting points of its first and second events in 1969 at Gwang Hwa Mun.
Returning as an amateur cyclist, Cho showed a magnificent performance at the end of the race. Though behind Mueller and Grisha at the Gongdeok intersection by 15 m, he put on a spurt a kilometer shy of the finish line and caught up with his competitors just half a kilometer from the end meeting with great applause at the finish line.
To make the race more exciting, runner René Obst (32) of Germany outran Kim Yeong-wook(20) of Korea as the 밾ot sprinter,� or the fastest runner to complete the first 43 kilometers of the course.
In the meantime, more than one hundred competitors took part in the 20 Km master뭩 race beginning from Gwang Hwa Mun Plaza and finishing at Ttukseom district at the Han River Park, and cycled their way through the rain.
