Road running event ignites fitness craze

　　Good news came from the recently held Wuxi Marathon - Hangzhou Asian Games champion He Jie won fourth place in the men's full marathon with a time of 2 hours, 06 minutes and 57 seconds, rewriting the national record for Chinese men's marathons and leading China's marathon into the "206" era. . At the same time, 3,423 participants finished the race within 3 hours, and the number of people who "broken 3" also created a new high for domestic marathon events in China.

　　In the past year, the craze of road running events including marathons has returned across China, with elite runners setting new records and the level of mass runners improving. Road running events such as marathons not only ignite the fitness craze and activate the consumer market, but also contribute to urban economic growth.

　　Breaking national record three times in one year

　　This year's Wuxi Marathon is the first stop of the 2024 National Marathon Championships and the only designated event in the country for the Paris Olympic Marathon National Trials. The combination of many elements makes this year's "Tin Horse" full of star flavor, with top domestic marathon masters such as He Jie, Yang Shaohui, and Zhang Deshun all appearing.

　　This is the second time that 26-year-old He Jie has set a national record. In March last year, also at the Wuxi Marathon, He Jie broke the 15-year-old national record with a time of 2 hours, 07 minutes and 30 seconds. Until December last year, Yang Shaohui once again set the fastest time in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, raising the national record to 2 hours, 07 minutes and 9 seconds.

　　The national record was rewritten three times in one year, and the overall level of China's elite marathon runners continued to improve. Data shows that from the 2023 season to the present, 6 domestic players have run results that exceed the national record 15 years ago, and many players have reached the Paris Olympics participation standards.

　　The continuous optimization of training methods has allowed high-level players to form a team advantage and inspire breakthrough results through mutual promotion and competition. He Jie said that he previously conducted two months of winter training in Kenya and ran more than 1,000 kilometers each month, which improved his competitive level. He said that this good result was the result of the concerted efforts of active domestic marathon athletes, and he believed that more Chinese runners would reach "206" in the future.

　　At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Yang Shaohui finished 19th, creating the best result for a Chinese male athlete to participate in the Olympic marathon. He Jie said that his next goal is to go all out at the Paris Olympics. "Try our best to improve the best ranking achieved by Chinese athletes in the Olympic marathon."

　　The scale of competitions has basically resumed

　　While high-level professional athletes are setting new marathon records one after another, the competitive level of mass runners is also constantly improving. In the 2023 Beijing Marathon, 2,402 runners completed the marathon within 3 hours, setting a new record for the number of people who "broken three" in a domestic marathon event. This year’s Wuxi Marathon saw more than 1,000 more runners than in the Northern Marathon. Chinese marathon enthusiasts are running faster and more professionally.

　　The latest release of the "2023 China Road Running Events Blue Book" shows that since the Chinese Athletics Association released complete statistics in 2016, by the end of 2023, at least 2.5 million people across the country will have completed half marathons or full marathons, of which the cumulative number of "full marathons" The number of finishers is 641,700, an increase of 142,700 from 2022. The cumulative number of "half marathon" finishers is 1.859 million, an increase of 507,500 from 2022. Among them, in 2023, the number of people who finished the "Full Marathon" with a score of "breaking three" will reach 11,897.

　　Judging from the number of competitions, in 2023, a total of 699 large-scale road running events with more than 800 people will be held across the country, with a total number of participants of 6.0519 million. The number of events held nationwide in April and November both exceeded 100, and the overall event scale has basically returned to pre-pandemic levels. A total of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have held certification events, with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong ranking among the top three. The total number of participants in association certification events was 4.1842 million, which was basically the same as in 2019 (4.24 million).

　　This past weekend, multiple marathons started simultaneously in various places. In Wuhan, the Wuhan Marathon, founded in 2016, was held in advance of the "Sakura Season" for the first time. In addition to racing on the urban track, road runners can also enjoy the unique scenery of "one city with a sea of ​​flowers, two rivers with pink flowers, three colorful towns, four bridges with flying rainbows, and five lakes with sparkling lights". In Chongqing, the Chongqing Marathon, the first "all-marathon" event in western China, attracted 30,000 runners from 26 countries and regions around the world, and all records in the men's and women's categories were refreshed.

　　Promote consumption and drive the economy

　　The fiery marathon event has also ignited the city's sports economy. More and more cities are using road running as a media and events to stimulate the people's enthusiasm for fitness and the vitality of urban development.

　　Data shows that the 2023 Wuxi Marathon attracted 273,000 spectators, of which 41% were from outside. Participants and spectators generated direct economic benefits of 195 million yuan in catering, accommodation, transportation and tourism. This year, the number of sponsors for the event exceeds previous years, with more than 30 brands becoming partners or suppliers of the event.

　　As the iconic "year-opening marathon", the Xiamen Marathon drives sports consumption and becomes a new driving force for consumption growth. In the past three years, Xiamen's per capita sports consumption has increased by nearly 40%, accounting for more than 7% of the city's residents' per capita living consumption expenditure. The cumulative comprehensive economic impact of the Xiamen Marathon has exceeded 6 billion yuan.

　　During the Wuhan Marathon, in order to further stimulate sports consumption, the local government launched the "Wuhan Sports Consumption Week" simultaneously, covering sports consumption expos, sports industry investment promotion meetings, food festivals and many other activities, and issued sports consumption coupons worth 10 million yuan to citizens. .

　　Wang Nan, vice chairman of the Chinese Athletics Association, said that the hosting of road running events not only invigorated the sports consumption market, but also contributed to the economic growth of the host cities, becoming a link to unite the urban public and a stage to display a positive spirit. (People's Daily Overseas Edition Reporter: Liu Wei)