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In Fast-Paced China, Marathon Craze Is Off And Running (Despite A Clumsy Start)

Runners begin the third annual Qingyuan marathon, held on March 19. Runners competed in half- and full-marathon races.
Rob Schmitz
/
NPR
Runners begin the third annual Qingyuan marathon, held on March 19. Runners competed in half- and full-marathon races.

The festivities at this month's third annual Qingyuan marathon, in southern China's Guangdong province, begin at 7 a.m.

On one side of the starting line, there's a traditional Chinese music troupe in robes and long, flowing beards; on the other, there's a stage full of dancing girls wearing skimpy marathon attire, gyrating their hips in unison to a rap song.

Stuck in the middle are more than 23,000 runners, itching to start. The music stops, a gun is fired, and for the next half-hour, runners jostle with one another to cross the starting line

Like many here, runner Xu Ting can't wait to begin his first full marathon.

"I've trained a long time for this. All my muscles are relaxed and ready," says Xu, looking calmly ahead to a sea of runners dressed in neon shirts and shorts. "I haven't even smoked a single cigarette in five days!"

The skinny 35-year-old wears his hair in a ponytail. His easygoing smile reveals nicotine-stained teeth. Last year, when Xu ran his first half-marathon, he says he had a hard time breathing because he smoked right up to the morning of the race. He figures a five-day break from his two-pack-a-day habit will help him today.

"I think I'll run much faster," Xu says confidently. "But I'll definitely need a cigarette after the race. Just like running, smoking has benefits, too."

Runner Xu Ting, just before starting his first full marathon, in Qingyuan, China, says he's prepared a long time for this race — even suspending his two-pack-a-day smoking habit for five days in the hope of running faster.
Rob Schmitz / NPR
/
NPR
Runner Xu Ting, just before starting his first full marathon, in Qingyuan, China, says he's prepared a long time for this race — even suspending his two-pack-a-day smoking habit for five days in the hope of running faster.

Xu is new to marathons, and so is China. Six years ago, the country hosted 22 marathons. This year, it's scheduled to host more than 400.

"This is part of the central government's nationwide campaign," says Xu Guangyou, director of the Qingyuan city sports bureau. "They want more marathons and more people exercising."

Xu wants that, too.

"Marathons boost tourism," he says. "You come here, run a marathon and see how beautiful the city is. Every hotel room in town is occupied."

A trainer guides marathoners in a series of stretches before the start of the race.
Rob Schmitz / NPR
/
NPR
A trainer guides marathoners in a series of stretches before the start of the race.

That's a big perk in a period of slower economic growth, and that's why cities all over China have suddenly appeared on the country's marathon map.

But China's government has urged caution. A report published last year by the state-run Chinese Athletic Association criticized Chinese runners for lacking awareness of their own health and safety, and it took organizers to task for their inexperience in managing marathons.

"Some marathon organizers are incapable of organizing proper marathon events," the report said, and "the marketing level of running these events is quite low."

Last year, Qingyuan was at the center of this controversy when state media reported that 12,000 of 20,000 runners had sought medical care at the marathon. Xu, from the sports bureau, is quick to set the record straight.

"Our medical service tents assisted people 12,000 times, providing water, glucose and things like that," Xu says. "The media misreported this as 12,000 injuries."

But that's not all that went wrong.

After the race, organizers handed out gift bags that included bars of purple soap in packages with English text and pictures of grapes. Some runners, unable to understand the English packaging, mistook the soap for energy bars, ate them and fell sick.

Xu shakes his head when recalling last year's marathon.

"Nobody can prove who ate the soap," he says. "We thought we were helping runners by giving them some soap for their showers afterwards! We've learned our lesson. We're now giving out the soap before the marathon, not after."

Fruity soap was handed out to runners this year and last at the Qingyuan marathon. At last year's marathon, runners, unable to read the English on the packaging, mistook the soap for grape-flavored power bars and ate it; some fell ill.
Rob Schmitz / NPR
/
NPR
Fruity soap was handed out to runners this year and last at the Qingyuan marathon. At last year's marathon, runners, unable to read the English on the packaging, mistook the soap for grape-flavored power bars and ate it; some fell ill.

It is, in fact, the same grape-scented soap in English-language packaging. But this year, organizers warned runners not to eat it.

Two hours into the Qingyuan marathon, smiling runners cross the finish line in the pouring rain. Forty-year-old Wang Jingjun just completed his first half-marathon in an hour and 40 minutes.

"I'm thrilled," says Wang. "It was really exciting to run with thousands of people like that. I'll definitely run another one."

Wang works on an assembly line in a factory a few hours away. Like many people here, he says he runs to help deal with the stress of his job and life in a fast-paced society.

Twenty-nine-year-old runner Qi Min has a different take.

"To be honest, I don't like running," Qi says, smiling. "It's too tiring and tedious. I only run marathons because I like to compete."

Though Qi disliked the running part of today's marathon, he thought the ending was pretty good.

Of the 23,000 competing in Qingyuan's third annual marathon, with a time of two hours and 25 minutes, he finished first.

Yuhan Xu contributed research to this story.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: April 26, 2017 at 8:00 PM AKDT
A previous version of this story misspelled marathon winner Qi Min's name as Qin Min.
Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.