TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Eight amateur athletes, comprising a team from Hungchi Women and Children’s Hospital in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan County, were each awarded an Abbott World Marathon Six Star medal after completing the Boston Marathon in the United States.

The competition was the sixth and final Abbott World Marathon Majors race to be completed by the hospital staff team, meaning they were each entitled to claim a special certificate and medal that represent their achievements.

The hospital director David Chang (張紅淇) was among those who finished the race on April 15.

Around 30,350 people participated in the 2019 Boston Marathon, according to the United Daily News, 153 of whom were Taiwanese nationals.

Prior to the race, only 4989 people had registered as “Six Star Finishers” with Abbott World Marathon Majors. 27 of those were Taiwanese nationals, ranking Taiwan 27th on the global Six Star Finishers leaderboard, UDN reports.

The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and began in 1897, a year after the first ever marathon competition in the 1896 Greek Summer Olympics.

The Abbott World Marathon Majors was established in 2006 to increase the level of interest in elite racing and raise awareness of some of the sport’s top athletes. It comprises six major global competitions: the Boston Marathon, the Tokyo Marathon, the Virgin Money London Marathon, the BMW Berlin Marathon, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the TCS New York City Marathon.

Information about running events across Taiwan can be found here.