Beijing Marathon Explained

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Date:Around October
Location:Beijing, China
Type:Road
Distance:Marathon
Sponsor:CFLD
Record:Men's: 2:07:06 (2019)
Mathew Kisorio
Women's: 2:19:39 (2003)
Sun Yingjie
Participants:4,897 finishers (2009)

The Beijing Marathon is an annual marathon race held around October in Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1981. The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes in Celebration Square in Olympic Green. The full marathon is the only distance offered.[1]

The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics.[2] The course is certified by AIMS.[3]

Beijing Marathon is the first international sport event ever to be held in China. The race is also the first marathon race to use lottery system to allocate entries and the first full marathon race only in China.[4]

History

The Beijing International Marathon has been organized by the Chinese Athletics Association annually since 1981. The creation of the race, which was international in nature from its inception, was part of a wider movement to open up China and its culture to foreign innovations – a change which was led by Deng Xiaoping, who sought to move China away from its Maoist past.[5]

In 1997, the marathon hosted the Chinese men's national marathon championships, with the title going to race winner Hu Gangjun, who had won in Beijing two times previously.

The 2005 race served as the marathon for the 2005 National Games of ChinaSun Yingjie took the Games gold medal for women while seventh placed Zhang Qingle (18 years old at the time) was the highest placing Chinese man and won the men's Games gold.[6]

Also in 2005, the men's race winner Benson Kipchumba Cherono missed some 800 metres out of the course due to being misdirected. The race organisers accepted the blame for the mishap and, although James Moiben was the first to finish the complete course (2:12:15), Cherono was declared the official winner as he held a large leading margin before the incident.[6]

The marathon hosted the Asian Marathon Championship races in 2006.[7]

At the 2009 edition of the race, 4897 runners finished the marathon course, which included 556 women.[8]

The 2014 edition of Beijing International Marathon was held on October 19 under intense smog.[9] [10]

The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[11]

In 2021, although participation was initially restricted to permanent residents of Beijing and invited domestic elite athletes, and strict coronavirus protocols were put in place, the marathon was postponed days before the scheduled date of due to an outbreak of the Delta variant of the virus.[12] [13] [14] [15] The postponement closely followed an earlier postponement of the Wuhan Marathon days before its scheduled date.[16]

The 2022 edition finally took place in November 6, and got around 30,000 runners, becoming first Beijing Marathon since 2019 after Covid cancelled previous races.[17]

2012 Japanese entrants

When the online registration of runners for the 2012 event started on November 8, 2012, it did so without the option for Japanese to do so. The events organizers said that Japanese couldn't enter this year because of "safety concerns" due to tension between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands dispute.[18] The Japanese embassy protested the decision.[19]

This move attracted a large amount of criticism and on the night of November 10 the option for Japanese runners re-appeared, although there was no Japanese-language version available, which had been available the previous year.[20]

The Chinese Athletic Association subsequently claimed that Japanese runners had never been rejected. CAA Deputy Director Shen Chunde said that in the past Japanese athletes had mainly applied through Japanese organizations so no individual registration was available.[21]

Course record

In 1986 Taisuke Kodama of Japan set a men's course record in a time of 2:07:35. Ethiopian runner Abebe Mekonnen equaled this time in 1988 and some commentators (including the Association of Road Racing Statisticians) regard this as the true course record, in respect of reports that the 1986 course was around 400 m short of the marathon distance.[22]

After 27 years unbeaten, Taisuke Kodama's course record was improved by Tadese Tola in 2013 as the Ethiopian beat the previous mark by nineteen seconds with 2:07:16 hours.[23] In 2019 Mathew Kisorio improved the course record with a time of 2:07:06.

In 2003, Sun Yingjie of China set the current women's record of 2:19:38 – this run was an Asian record and the fourth fastest ever at the time, and it remains the Chinese record for the event.[24]

Course

The marathon starts in Tiananmen Square between the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the National Museum of China, and finishes in Celebration Square in the Olympic Green, slightly north of the Beijing National Stadium and the Beijing National Aquatics Center.[25]

Winners

Course record (in bold)

National championship race

Asian Marathon Championship race

DateMen's winnerTimeWomen's winnerTime
1981.09.272:15:20
1982.09.262:14:44
1983.09.252:18:51
1984.10.142:12:16
1985.10.132:10:23
1986.10.192:07:35
1987.10.182:12:19
1988.10.162:07:35
1989.10.152:12:472:27:16
1990.10.14 -2-2:14:552:32:14
1991.10.132:12:552:35:18
1992.10.112:11:292:28:53
1993.10.172:10:57 -2-2:30:36
1994.10.30 -2-2:10:562:31:11
1995.10.152:16:202:30:00
1996.10.202:10:37 -2-2:27:13
1997.10.04 -3-2:09:182:26:39
1998.10.102:13:492:28:50
1999.10.092:11:332:29:20
2000.10.15 -2-2:13:522:26:34
2001.10.142:10:112:23:37
2002.10.202:13:092:21:21
2003.10.192:07:49 -2-2:19:39
2004.10.172:10:42 -3-2:24:11
2005.10.162:06:55 -4-2:21:01
2006.10.152:10:362:34:41
2007.10.212:08:092:27:05
2008.10.192:10:142:26:27
2009.10.182:08:20 -2-2:34:44
2010.10.242:15:452:29:31
2011.10.162:09:002:28:05
2012.11.252:09:392:27:40
2013.10.202:07:162:31:19
2014.10.192:10:422:30:03
2015.09.202:11:002:27:31
2016.09.172:11:092:25:56
2017.09.172:11:182:27:44
2018.09.162:12:082:21:38
2019.11.032:07:062:23:31
2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021 Cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic[26]
2022.11.062:14:342:28:57
2023.10.292:07:412:21:57
2024 To be announced

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Beijing Hyundai Beijing Marathon 2016 Registration Notice. 22 July 2016. Committee of Beijing Marathon. 2016-07-20.
  2. Web site: World Athletics Label Road Races Archive of Past Events | World Athletics. September 2, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200902131643/https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-label-road-races/calendar/2020. 2020-09-02.
  3. http://www.aimsworldrunning.org/Directory.htm AIMS Race Directory
  4. Web site: About Beijing Marathon-Beijing Marathon. new.beijing-marathon.com. 2017-12-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20171204114538/http://new.beijing-marathon.com/en/page-7174.html. 2017-12-04. dead.
  5. Butcher, Pat (2010-10-22). Sammy Mugo aiming for Beijing Marathon title defence. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  6. Jalava, Mirko (2005-10-16). Sun Yingjie scores fourth consecutive Beijing win, Benson Cherono men's winner. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-15.
  7. https://www.arrs.run/HP_AsChMa.htm Asian Championships Marathon
  8. http://www.kondis.no/3-07-38-og-54-plass-paa-veslemoey-hausken-i-beijing-marathon.4702235-127694.html 3.07.38 og 54. plass på Veslemøy Hausken i Beijing Marathon
  9. Beijing Marathon website Registration Instructions
  10. Web site: 2014 Beijing International Marathon to be held on October 19. IANS. news.biharprabha.com. 20 July 2014.
  11. Web site: 2020 Beijing Marathon canceled - Xinhua | English.news.cn. https://web.archive.org/web/20201203230156/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/03/c_139560466.htm. 2020-12-03.
  12. Web site: Beijing to resume marathon after one-year COVID-19 suspension | Reuters . www.reuters.com . 26 January 2022 . https://archive.today/20211107205126/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/beijing-resume-marathon-after-one-year-covid-19-suspension-2021-10-03/ . 7 November 2021 . dead.
  13. Web site: Beijing Marathon set to return on October 31 with 30,000 runners . www.insidethegames.biz . 26 January 2022 . https://archive.today/20211027194903/https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1113893/beijing-marathon-to-return-2021 . 27 October 2021 . dead.
  14. Web site: Beijing Marathon postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 | Reuters . www.reuters.com . 26 January 2022 . https://archive.today/20211026214940/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/beijing-marathon-postponed-indefinitely-due-covid-19-2021-10-26/ . 26 October 2021 . dead.
  15. Web site: Beijing marathon postponed as China fights Delta outbreak . www.france24.com . 26 January 2022 . https://archive.today/20211025065607/https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20211025-beijing-marathon-postponed-as-china-fights-delta-outbreak . 25 October 2021 . dead.
  16. Web site: Wuhan Marathon postponed amid surge of Covid-19 cases in China | South China Morning Post . www.scmp.com . 26 January 2022 . https://archive.today/20211022065938/https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3153286/wuhan-marathon-postponed-amid-surge-covid-19-cases-china . 22 October 2021 . dead.
  17. Web site: 2022-11-06 . Beijing Marathon back after two-year absence with Covid rules in force . 2022-11-07 . France 24 . en.
  18. ABC website Japanese runners barred from Beijing marathon November 10, 2012
  19. [Daily Yomiuri]
  20. [Asahi Shimbun]
  21. China.org.cn Beijing Marathon never rejects Japanese athletes November 11, 2012
  22. https://www.arrs.run/HP_BjnMa.htm Beijing International Marathon
  23. Jalava, Mirko (2013-10-20). Beijing course record finally broken by Tola. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-10-21.
  24. http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=23410.html Sun Yingjie sets Asian marathon best with fourth fastest time in history
  25. Web site: Important Tips. https://web.archive.org/web/20201204054229if_/http://www.beijing-marathon.com/upload/site/1132/file/art/20191029/6370797410086270732940456.pdf. dead. 2020-12-04. www.beijing-marathon.com.
  26. News: 2021北京马拉松宣布取消 已经连续两年停办 . 2021-11-26 . 2021-11-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211126171213/https://sports.sina.com.cn/run/2021-11-26/doc-ikyamrmy5267698.shtml .