Dongguan Marathon shows off city's event hosting, cultural prowess

The 16th Asian Marathon Championships and Dongguan International Marathon 2017 kicked off on Nov 26 in Dongguan, Guangdong province, demonstrating the city's superior infrastructure, facilities and international image.

The Asian Marathon Championships is the top intercontinental marathon competition on the continent. Dongguan is the third Chinese city to undertake this big event, after Beijing and Hong Kong.

Some 30,000 sports enthusiasts and 40 professional runners took part in the event, doubling the figure of the last Dongguan International Marathon. Participants came from 18 different countries and regions across Asia.

The competition consisted of a full marathon, half marathon, mini marathon and carnival run. The full marathon measured 42.2 kilometers, with 6,000 runners; the half marathon 21.1 km, with 8,000 participants; the mini marathon 5.2 km, with 10,000 competitors; and the carnival run 2.6 km, with 6,000 people running the route.

All starting from the Dongguan midtown plaza, the full marathon ended at an ecological park, the half marathon ended at the Dongguan Basketball Center and the carnival run ended at the Qifeng Park, a picturesque resort in Dongguan.

Along the various race routes, Dongguan spared no efforts to showcase its environment, culture, history, innovation and development to the participants and audiences involved. Taking this event as the perfect opportunity, Dongguan has been upgrading the buildings and optimizing the surroundings alongside the marathon circuit.

The organizing committee invited international measurement officers to survey the racing track, which had finally obtained authentication certificates issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations and the Asian Athletics Association.

The organizing committee established a professional referee team comprising 38 State-level referees and 184 referees from Dongguan.

The committee also recruited 33 official running guides and established two training camps in advance of the event.

Dongguan set up 37 medical stations along the tracks, easily identifiable at every 2.5 km.

Some 475 medical staff members, 132 physicians, 800 medical volunteers and 80 emergency vehicles were available for any incident during the competition.

Around 3,200 volunteers offered their services for the event. They were comprehensively trained with general knowledge of marathon volunteer services and had participated in more than 26 field exercises before the races started.

The organizing committee installed water points, food depots, showering facilities and mobile toilets along the race tracks.

"The city is very clean and beautiful. The organization before the competition, during the race and after the event were all thorough and thoughtful," said Guan Siyang, champion of the Dongguan International Marathon 2017.

"The medical workers are very professional, strongly enhancing our confidence. The audience are all very cheerful and passionate, offering an extremely beneficial atmosphere for all of us," Guan added.

Gopi Thonakal, an Indian athlete who won the 16th International Marathon Championships, said: "The organization of the whole competition was very good and the climate here is pleasing. I really enjoy the whole race today, though the competition is tough."

In a bid to present its profound cultural resources and allow all the participants, audience members and citizens to enjoy themselves at the event, the Dongguan government organized innovative and indigenous cultural programs.

These included lion dancing, martial arts, freestyle basketball, street dance, classical Chinese songs and famous overseas songs played with the lute, urheen and flute, which were performed at the starting point, the terminals and alongside the race tracks.

"The performances were wonderful and the atmosphere here is so inspiring. I am an athletics amateur and I'm so motivated. I even plan to participate in the next Asian Marathon Championships in 2019, which will also be held in our city," said a citizen of Dongguan.