From half-marathon to full marathon, from one marathon to two marathons, the city's double matches let people see the leap of the sports industry in Beijing Municipal Administrative Center. In recent years, the city sub-center has made every effort to build marathons and other brand events, and through the integrated development of culture, sports, and tourism, it has led a new fashion of healthy sports and released the potential of consumption, injecting vigorous power into the city of vitality.
From "one" to "two"
Since its inception in 2017, the Beijing Tongzhou Canal Half Marathon has always been based on the cultural kernel of inheriting and carrying forward the spirit of the canal, and through the event, it has allowed more people to hear the voice of the sub-center and see the sub-center's attitude of openness. In 2017, the "Tongma" (Beijing Tongzhou Half Marathon) was awarded the title of "Bronze Medal Race" by the Chinese Athletics Association and "Natural Ecological Characteristic Race Course" when it was first held, and in 2018, "Tongma" was awarded "Silver Medal Race", as well as the title of "Most Beautiful Track", and in 2019, it was awarded "Gold Medal Race", which has only a 20% chance of being awarded. After that, the first full marathon was held in the sub-center in 2021 through the introduction of professional competitive events. By now, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center’s Marathon has realized a magnificent transformation from a "half-marathon" to a "full-marathon", showing the public the charm of the city of vitality.
From "half-marathon" to "full-marathon", and from "one marathon to two marathons", both in terms of the quality and quantity of races, the brand of the marathon in the sub-center has made a qualitative leap. It has gradually grown into an important sports event in Beijing and a well-known marathon event in China.
"In the process of promoting the construction of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center with high standards, organizing brand events with wide influence and letting the outside world fully experience the natural and humanistic scenery of the sub-center is an important part of it. The marathon has become an important window to show the good style." The relevant person in charge of the District Sports Bureau introduced that each session is more attentive in terms of the race route, event publicity, player services, medical assistance, safety and security, and atmosphere creation.
Over the past few years, the sub-center marathon race line has been constantly updated. The initial line mainly focused on the beautiful natural landscape along the way, with the upgrading of the event, the line added more urban charm elements, "three temples and a tower", the Canal Business District, the City Green Heart Forest Park, the administrative office area, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center Station comprehensive transportation hub and other landmarks continue to increase. The number of participants also increased from the initial 6,000 to 8,000 then and 10,000 people now.
A high-quality sports event with strength and level brings an all-round effect to the city, which not only expands the influence and promotes the great improvement of the city quality, but also broadens the new path of the sports industry, activates the new kinetic energy of the sports industry, and makes the city's high-quality development more valuable.
Marathon has become one of the important brand events in the sub-center. In recent years, the sub-center has undertaken a large number of domestic and international high-level competitions, continued to lay out the sports industry, and invested a lot of time and energy in the field of "event economy", marathon, cycling, Frisbee and other fashionable leisure sports events have been held here one after another. Watching sports competitions at the doorstep on weekends has become a "super benefit" for the citizens of the sub-center.
The sports feast at the door also allows more Tongzhou people to do the honors as the city owner and provides help for all runners in addition to civilized participation. Tongzhou native Feng Yulong is a veteran marathon enthusiast, this time he played a "rabbit" (Pacer) in the race. "I'm responsible for the 230 mark today, which means I'm leading the runners to complete the half-marathon in 2 hours and 30 minutes." He said that he not only wants to participate in the race at his doorstep but also wants to provide good service to runners from all over the country in the process of being a pacer.
Translator: ZHOU Huilin
Reviewer: LIU Jin
