Kiwi turned Thai a pain for marathon runners

Hot favourite: Tony Payne will be the runner to beat at the SEA Games. — Reuters

NEW Zealand-born Tony Payne is now a Thai and that’s going to hurt the chances of the other marathon runners in the SEA Games.

The 30-year-old Payne, who obtained Thai citizenship last year, has a personal best of 2’16:56 set in the Frankfurt marathon last year. It’s a Thailand national record and also best recorded time for a South-East Asian.