Eighteen-year-old Chinese marathoner Liu Xiaohuan, with a personal best of two hours 32 minutes, was among the foreign athletes who did not impress at the just concluded Nairobi International Marathon on Sunday.

With an eye on the 2008 Olympics, the teenager runner clocked 2: 50:11 to finish in the tenth position in the women's race.

Liu, who was the only Chinese woman runner in the competition, faced stiff challenge from a host of experienced and highly-rated Kenyan runners in her maiden African race appearance in the marathon.

Having ran in Asia, her last race was at home in Qingdao International Marathon when she posted two hours 56 minutes 28 seconds.

Last year, she dipped her personal best to 2:32:37 in the Beijing International Marathon won by compatriot Sun Yingjie in 2: 24:11.

With a promising career ahead, she is among a dozen of Chinese distance runners earmarked for the future and possibly the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Before then, she will have made a career in the international circuit including the Asian Games and the 2007 World Championships.

With three major marathon races under her belt, the Nairobi Marathon was Liu's first leg. The four-legged series dubbed the Greatest Race on Earth spread over the African and Asian continents -- Nairobi, Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong, China.

Source: Xinhua