BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Local runner Liu Hongliang and Chernet Misganaw Takele of Ethiopia took the top honors at the 2019 Beijing Half Marathon, breaking the men's and women's course record respectively here on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Liu edged Silas Kimeli Too of Kenya by just two seconds to clinch the title in 1:05:24, cutting exact three minutes off his personal best of 1:08:24 set last year in Yangzhou.

Kenya's Daniel Kiprop finished third in 1:05:47 and the top three finishers all beat the course record of 1:06:01 set by China's Li Chunhui in 2018.

Takele disappointed defending champion Ma Yugui of China and beat Ma's course record of 1:14:53 to win the women's race in 1:12:21. Ma trailed 10 seconds behind to finish second and fellow Chinese Jiao Anjing took the third place in 1:18:47.

First launched in 1956, the Beijing Half Marathon was formerly known as the Beijing International Running Festival and is the oldest annual road running event in China. A total of 20,000 runners from 40 countries and regions took part in this year's race, which started at the landmark Tian'anmen Square and finished outside the National Stadium.