The First Jingzhou International Marathon Successfully Concluded
Updated: 2017-11-01 10:40:57
Jingzhou News (reporter: Xiao Qi, Ran Qiushi, and Yuan, Chaowei), banners and flags waving in the ancient city of Three Kingdoms, about10,000 athletes participating in the JingzhouInternational Marathon. Today, the Zhongda Haosheng2017 Jingzhou International Marathon, hosted by Chinese Athletic Association, Hubei Administration of Sport, and Jingzhou Municipal People’s Government,organized by Hubei Athletic Association and the Education and Sports Bureau of Jingzhou Municipality and exclusively operated by Guangzhou Borun Spread Co., Ltd., is grandly held at Guangong Yi Park. About10,000 runners from 10 countries attended the Marathon. They go beyond themselves and pursue their dreams. In the steps of the runners, the ancient city, Jingzhou also runs to the world with openness.
At 7:30am in the morning, the starting ceremony took place at the gate of Guangong Yi Park. Shui Tao, deputy secretary of Chinese Athletic Association and director of the Marathon Office, Hu Gongmin, director of Hubei Administration of Sport, Yang Zhi, Cui Yonghui, Wang Shouwei, DuanChanglin, Chen Aiping, Huang Tingsong, Sun Yuqiu, Wen Yi and other leaders from Jingzhou Municipality fired the pistol together for the Marathon.
Hearing the sound of the pistol, all the participants set out from the running track. Full Marathon athletes firstly ran through the starting point, followed by the Half Marathon players and Mini Marathon runners. Both of the starting and finishing points are set at Guangong Yi Park. As the new landmark, tourist destination and the name card of Jingzhou, the bronze statue of Guangong with the largest size in the world seemed to cheer for those participants. For Jingzhou people, this was the first time for them to take part in a marathon held at their own city which is of great significance, while for nonlocal players who came to Jingzhou for the first time, it is a great opportunity to discover Jingzhou, and they felt excited about it.
Starting from the Guangong Yi Park, Mini Marathon athletes ran along the Inner Ring South Road, Inner Ring North Road, and Renmin Road to the destination at Tianwen Square, while the Full Marathon and Half Marathon players should run along the Quyuan Road and Jingzhou South Road after the Inner Ring North Road to reach Jiangjin West Road. During the whole process, participants passed through the Ancient City at East Gate, the famous scenic spot of Jingzhou. Full Marathon athletes ran along a straight line, passing by Dongfang Avenue, Hongxing Road, Jingjiang Bank, Taiyue Road, Nanhu Road and Xueyuan Road to the finishing point, Guangong Yi Park, whereas the Half Marathon participants should turn to Taqiao Road at the intersection between Jiangjin Road and Taqiao Road and then run through Beijing West Road, Wude Road and Xueyuan Road to reach Guangong Yi Park. The whole running track was set from the ancient city to the new city and from the central downtown to the development zone, passing through Jingzhou Ancient City, Jiangzhou Yangtze River Bridge and Linjiangxian Park, which fully present the beautiful scenery and the urban landscape that changing day by day of Jingzhou. Crowding at both sides of the running track on the way, hospitable spectators were waving red flags to cheer for all the participants, which enabled everyone to enjoy the friendly and warm atmosphere of Jingzhou.
Photo: Champion of Men’s Half Marathon
Photo: Champion, Runner-up and the Second Runner-up of Men’s Half Marathon
Photo: Champion, Runner-up and the Second Runner-up of Women’s Half Marathon
With fierce competition, after 67 minutes and 35 seconds, the champion, an athlete from Uganda, of Men’s Half Marathon reached the finishing point. And the second place and third place winners are both from Kenya. As for the Women’s Half Marathon, the top three are from Kenya and Ethiopia.
Photo: Champion of Men’s Full Marathon
After 1 hour, runners of the Men’s Full Marathon came to the finishing point one after another. With 138 minutes and 34 seconds, WeiYaCha, an Ethiopian athlete, won the first place, and Patrick, from Kenya and GangSuHe, from Mongolia won the second and third places respectively.
Photo: Liu Lufeng
Liu Lufeng, born in Henan, from Xiamen, won the fifth place with 158 minutes, but he is the top 1 in domestic participants. He told that the whole running track was flat and smooth, but his running tempo was influenced by other foreign players during the process, otherwise he might get a better place.
After half an hour following the male runners, the first three of Women’s Full Marathon also reached the destination. It is worth mentioning that the second runner-up, Yang Fengxia comes from Gansu, the first one running into the top three among domestic women athletes. She has joined in many Marathons, but this time at Jingzhou, she has different feelings. The flat and smooth running track is beneficial for achieving a good grade and moreover, the hospitality of Jingzhou people impressed her most, that she said she wanted to partake in such competition in Jingzhou again.
According to the statistics, there were 9,591 athletes from 10 countries and regions participating in the 2017 Jingzhou International Marathon, among which the oldest player is at the age of 74, while the youngest is only 4. 36 foreign runners took part in the Full and Half Marathon, and 50 foreign athletes were in the Mini Marathon. There were 396 players born in Jingzhou in the Full Marathon, while 1,550 in the Half Marathon.News channel of Jingzhou TV Station, Jingzhou News, Wireless Jingzhou, Cloud Jingzhou, Yi Live Broadcast, Douyu Live Broadcast, Mobile Client of Xinhua News Agency and Yangtze River Cloud all carried out live broadcasts for the whole process of the Marathon. By 12 o’clock,
Jingzhou runs to the world, the world embraces Jingzhou. Today, with a great success of the first Marathon, Jingzhou presents itself as an ecological, civilized, healthy, innovative and open city. Next year, let us gather together in Jingzhou again. Just run, Jingzhou!