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SANTIAGO, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chileans won the 160km male and female categories of Chile's Endurance Challenge at the weekend, marking the first time that locals triumphed in the race's history.
Enzo Ferrari finished the demanding race in 23 hours, 20 minutes and 11 seconds to claim the men's title while Marlene Flores snatched the women's gold in 26 hours, 49 minutes and 19 seconds. The sporting event is considered Latin America's most important ultramarathon.
Both athletes had good performances in the demanding race that included uneven surfaces, slopes and high altitudes.
Flores came into the race psyched up to improve on her 2nd place finish in last year's race while countryman Ferrari did not have an easy task as he was neck-and-neck with Argentinian Gustavo Reyes for most of the course. In the end Ferrari won by a little more than one minute.
The trail run began at 06:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Friday morning with 75 elite runners from all over the world specially selected by the organizers to ensure a high level of competition, according to local daily Mercurio.
Due to extreme weather and intense slopes, only 25 runners completed the race, according to local media.
The race took off from and ended in the town of San Carlos de Apoquindo (northeast of Santiago) and spanned five nearby communities and went to heights of 1,500 metres above sea level, according to the race's official website.
The sporting event also had categories for 10, 21, 50 and 80 kilometres.
According to local daily La Tercera, 2,300 athletes participated in the five categories.
