Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan, April 17th (Reporter Zhao Jiantong, Li Chunyu, Xu Dongyuan) Spring is as deep as the sea, and with the rapid temperature rise, people are enthusiastic about horse racing. According to incomplete statistics, only on the weekend of April 15th and 16th, there were more than 30 road races all over the country, and the races in Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai became hot topics on social platforms.

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter observed that this spring marathon showed a comprehensive return trend, and emerging events blossomed everywhere with outstanding characteristics. Judging from the surge in the number of applicants in some competitions, the horse racing fever even exceeded three years ago. Taking running as the medium, all localities have integrated the enthusiasm of national fitness with the vitality of urban development, and set up platforms such as sports consumption festivals, tourism festivals and expositions that are compatible with marathons, showing local cultural landscapes, beautiful ecological environment and meticulous public services.

　　On April 16th, the contestants of Wuhan Marathon passed the Yellow Crane Tower. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun photo

　　Running has become a way of life.

　　In 2019, there were more than 300 marathons certified by China Athletics Association, and in 2023, only 133 events were registered in the first half of the year. Judging from the number of events, the marathon craze has basically returned to the level before the epidemic.

　　The return of the number of races gives the horse racers more choices. Wang Lin, head of Beijing Fangshan Running Group, said: "There are marathons almost every weekend in China, and runners even have to make multiple-choice questions according to their own schedule!"

　　The craze for horse racing among the whole people has risen again, and running has become a way of life for more and more people. According to the official data of Shanghai Half Marathon, the number of applicants reached 78,922 in 2023, which is more than the sum of the number of applicants in 2019 and 2021.

　　"This year’s Beijing Half Horse, I felt a lot of people when I started. There were about 200 people running in our group. Everyone enjoyed the game and enjoyed sports." Wang Lin said.

　　In addition to the number of participants, citizens from all over the world are also paying more attention to the marathon. In Wuhan on the early morning of the 16th, the cheers hardly stopped among the crowded crowd watching the marathon. The mother runner pushing a stroller, the uncle who came to watch the game with Regan Noodles, and the primary school students holding math test papers while cheering have become hot anecdotes in Wuhan.

　　Yu Meng, 64, has been running for nearly 10 years. After the semi-Marseille in Shanghai, he said: "There are few people on the side of the road. Up to now, everyone will cheer for those who take part in the marathon. Our healthy life is getting better and better."

　　Events have their own characteristics, and the experience of participating in the competition has improved.

　　According to industry insiders, nowadays, national marathons are everywhere, and most of the events have distinct grades and characteristics, and they are becoming more and more mature in improving the experience and ensuring the safety of the events. At the beginning of planning and preparation, many events often publicize the biggest characteristics of the current event to attract more runners to punch in.

　　Beijing Half Horse, which shows the charm of "Double Olympic City", is committed to telling the world the sports story of "Double Olympic City" this year. Competitors pass through the National Swimming Center, the National Gymnasium and other "double Olympic venues", and at the end of the competition, the "Snowflake" torch platform of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the nearby "Bird’s Nest" complement each other.

　　On April 16th, the contestants of Beijing Half Marathon finished shooting medals after the race. Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zhongyu photo

　　The theme of the 2023 Wuhan Marathon is "The Return of Heroes", which reproduces the classic track of "One City, Two Rivers, Three Towns, Four Bridges and Five Lakes" in previous events, adjusts the starting mode, optimizes the participation experience, introduces the "Chinese Racing Plan" and "Famous School Team Challenge" to help China athletes improve their competitive level, and 7,000 volunteers from 19 universities in Wuhan enthusiastically maintain the reputation of "zero bad reviews" in running laps.

　　Not only in "super cities", but also in some prefecture-level cities and even county towns, they have begun to create characteristic and high-quality marathon events. The new route of "Yangma" has turned into a punch line to experience Yangzhou cuisine, and "Fireworks in Yangzhou in March" has become a popular choice for domestic runners. The Dao Jiang Half Marathon in jianye district, Nanjing has created a "natural" smart track formed by closed-loop dikes, which can also be used by citizens for all-weather, self-help and intelligent running. Forest Marathon is held in Xianfeng County, Hubei Province, and runners from all over the country can enjoy the local customs in the "natural oxygen bar".

　　On April 16th, the runners were in the 2023 Yangzhou Jian Zhen Half Marathon. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Ren Fei)

　　"A marathon knows a city", and more and more regions regard marathon as an important carrier to enhance the image and influence of the city.

　　Behind the road running craze, the sports industry is full of vitality

　　Why is road running so hot? Where should the domestic marathon develop in the future?

　　According to industry experts, the return of marathon craze is the natural release of the demand for exercise and fitness after the epidemic, and the underlying reason is that the concept of healthy living has taken root with the joint efforts of all sectors of society. Under the guidance of the national strategy of national fitness, local governments use the platform of competition to promote cities, thus releasing policy dividends; The experience of competition operators is getting richer and richer, which makes the sense of experience and satisfaction of participating in the competition gradually improve; With the development of national economy, the concept of participating in physical exercise has deepened, and participating in road running events has become the spontaneous demand of Chinese people; With the development of social media such as friends circle, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, the social attribute of road running activities has been further enhanced, and the participation of various groups has been enhanced.

　　According to the calculation of China Athletics Association, by 2025, the number of domestic road races and related sports events is expected to increase to 2,500, and the number of people participating in the Volkswagen Marathon will increase to 10 million.

　　On April 16th, the contestants of Wuhan Marathon passed the East Lake Greenway in Wuhan. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Minshe

　　In the face of such a broad development space of road running, the development prospects of related event services, sports training, tourism and catering, and sporting goods manufacturing are very impressive. According to media statistics, among the top 100 runners in this year’s Wuhan Marathon, more than half of them wear Xtep running shoes, leading the way in "fault"; Among the "breaking three" people in Malaysia, the proportion of wearing domestic running shoes is more than 70%. It seems that the phenomenon that Nike and Adidas running shoes once filled the track in Malaysia will be ended.

　　At the same time, some experts said that although some domestic events are not inferior to the world Grand Slam events such as London Marathon and Boston Marathon in many aspects such as track design and service ability, there is still room for further improvement in terms of brand building. Many start-up events are greedy for perfection, pursuing the scale of the event regardless of the carrying capacity of urban management and the sustainability of the operation model.

　　Therefore, in order to maintain the popularity of marathon and broaden the development space of the whole road running industry, we must further standardize the development of road running events and guide the marathon culture to truly take root and grow healthily and sustainably.