Sports on the c Comeback trail
Enthusiasm, health control hi low-risk areas as natio Ighlights of marathons held in on contains pandemic
The Chengdu Marathon, which drew around 10,000 runners to the capital of Sichuan province on Nov 29, included measures to protect participants from COVID-19.
On Nov 29, running enthusiast Ning Juan took part in her fifth Shanghai Marathon, only to find the event a little different this year. Due to the pandemic, it was the only Platinum Label road race to be staged worldwide as scheduled.
Platinum Label races require at least three athletes from each gender with Platinum Status and at least four with Gold Status to start an event and compete by making a genuine effort.
Ning applied to take part in the marathon on Oct 21. Six days later, she learned that she had been selected as one of the 9,000 runners from 120,000 applicants.
Before collecting everything she needed for the race, including her competition number, she had to produce her travel history for the past 14 days, a negative nucleic acid test result and her ID card.
On race day, Ning left home at 5 am, arriving at the starting point on the Bund an hour later. She wore a face mask and had her temperature checked.
She then waited for the start at a fixed point marked by race officials to ensure social distancing was observed.
As the starting gun fired three times, Ning got into her stride.
After finishing the event in close to 4hr 19 min, she said, “Unlike previous races, we started from different points this year to avoid crowds.”
With the pandemic successfully contained in China, marathons and many other mass sports events have returned after a break of more than six months.
In addition to the Shanghai race, the Dongfeng Nissan Chengdu Marathon was staged on Nov 29 in the capital of Sichuan province, along with the Nanjing Marathon and National Marathon Championships in the provincial capital of Jiangsu.
The smooth return of three major events on the same day was unthinkable earlier this year, when nearly all sports activities were suspended or canceled due to the pandemic.
Runners had to stay indoors, where
many took part in events online, which required the use of smart devices.
Due to pandemic control measures, organizers of the Shanghai Marathon, the only road race in China with a Platinum Label — which was granted in March — limited the field this year to 9,000 competitors. Last year, some 38,000 runners took part.
Hosted by the Shanghai Sports Federation, the authorities in Huangpu, Jing’an and Xuhui districts, and Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Event Management Co, the race started at 7 am.
The event ended after six and a quarter hours, with a 97 percent completion rate among male competitors and 96 percent for female runners.
Due to health control measures, all specially invited athletes were Chinese. The race was won by Jia’e Renjia, from Qinghai province, who broke the event record for domestic male runners with a time of 2:12:44. Li Zhixuan, from Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was the first female runner home, in 2:26:39.
Jia’e, 27, said: “After long hours of training and waiting, we finally ran the race. All of this has not been easy because of the pandemic, but I’m very happy with this result in Shanghai.”
Staging the race successfully during the pandemic not only depended on a great deal of enthusiasm, but also on rigorous and practical measures being taken.
Careful planning
Under guidance from the Municipal Health Commission and epidemic-prevention experts, the organizing committee drew up a plan for the event. The 79-page document took 192 days to compile and covered all aspects of the race.
Referees, volunteers and staff members were required to have a nucleic acid test in the week before race day and state they were committed to health and safety efforts.
Zhou Jin, general manager of Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Event Management Co, said more than 6,000 frontline workers completed COVID-19 tests.
Applicants from medium- and highrisk areas were excluded by the organizers,
along with those showing abnormal health codes and foreigners from outside China.
In addition to taking nucleic acid tests, runners were told to check their health and file their temperature readings to the app for 10 days before the event.
On race day, competitors had to wear face masks from the assembly points to the starting lines, where they were required to maintain social distancing. To avoid large crowds, three starting lines were used for the first time, Zhou said.
Runners were also told to use hand sanitizers provided near the finish line and to wear a mask after their heart rate dropped to the normal level, Zhou added.
In addition to limiting the race to 9,000 participants, organizers of the Shanghai Marathon reduced the number of related events to ensure safety, but this failed to deter the huge numbers of those wanting to take part.
To cater to them, the organizers staged online running events for the first time.
Several races took place online, including 1-kilometer, 5-km and 10-km events, half and full marathons, and group races. The committee also prepared online running certificates and awarded points and prizes.
Yu Libin, who had been aiming to break his personal best time of 3:56:00 this year, failed to qualify for the Shanghai Marathon.
“I then learned that points could be won for the online race, which would give me a better chance of qualification next year, so I signed up for all the online events. This type of incentive is very good,” Yu said.
Chen Xiaolu, 37, took part in the online marathon and other events after missing out on qualification for the physical race.
“I finished all five events in a week. This experience is very special. While I was running, I listened to (Shanghai actor) Huang Hao’s introduction to the marathon course in the local dialect, which was friendly and relaxing,” Chen said.
Over 20 days, a total of 121,958 people signed up for the online races,
including many from Japan, the United States, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore.
Supply stations were positioned every 2.5 km to 5 km along the Shanghai course by the organizing committee.
The race package provided by the committee, to help runners recover, included water, a banana, a towel, slippers, chocolate and a blanket.
More than 400 referees maintained order at the starting points, the finish line and along the course, while 48 positions were manned by 3,872 volunteers from colleges and universities.
In addition to two medical stations, there were 26 medical rescue points on
the course, 20 ambulances on standby and nearly 1,000 medical workers and emergency volunteers in attendance.
Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s COVID-19 clinical expert team, said the fact the marathon had been staged successfully was good encouragement for health workers and the public.
“The marathon was a new turning point, meaning we have entered a normalized anti-epidemic stage,” said Zhang, who is also director of the Infectious Disease Department at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University.
With runners again finally able to take part in physical races, all three major events staged on Nov 29 trend
ed on social media, with the hashtag “Chengdu Marathon” viewed more than 98 million times on Sina Weibo by Nov 29 afternoon.
This year, the Chengdu Marathon attracted 10,000 runners. In addition to basic necessities, such as water, 20,000 cups of hot ginger tea were offered to competitors, as they had to deal with much colder weather, with the event being staged a month later than usual.
Organizers also prepared a range of local snacks, including rice noodles, tofu pudding and bobo chicken for runners at supply stations scattered throughout the course.
A total of 20 “cheering points” were also positioned along the course, where the athletes were cheered to the sound of drumbeats and Chinese folk music.
However, creating such an atmosphere was no easy task for the organizers, whose main priority was safety. They worked with six local health departments and hospitals to draw up comprehensive epidemic-prevention regulations and a contingency plan for emergencies.
A total of 800 medical workers, first responders and volunteers were positioned at 24 medical stations on the course, with 22 ambulances on standby.
Runners had to produce a negative nucleic acid test result within seven days of the start and their travel history for the previous 14 days. All staff members and support teams were given comprehensive epidemic-prevention training.
The Nanjing Marathon also attracted huge attention over that weekend, as it was a qualification event for the postponed Tokyo Olympics. The field of 10,000 included 12 Chinese national team runners.
Satisfying result
Peng Jianhua, from Jiangxi province, won the men’s title with a personal best time of 2:08:50, while Li Dan, from Liaoning province, won the women’s title in 2:26:59.
Peng, who hopes to make a breakthrough at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “I’m surprised by the result. My pressure is also my motivation, and I have confidence in myself.
“I will keep training with my coach, and I hope to further improve with winter training. The postponement of the Olympics has given me more time to adjust and more chances to train and compete ahead of the Games.”
His coach, Xiao Li, praised Peng’s performance, saying: “I’m truly satisfied
with the result. This is the first official marathon event he has joined this year. Due to the pandemic, we spent almost a year training, but had no events to participate in.”
Tian Xiaojun, a vice-president of the Chinese Athletic Association, or CAA, said the Nanjing Marathon, the only Olympic Marathon qualifying race staged in China to date, was a great chance for the national team and provincial team runners to test their skills.
The country’s elite runners start their winter training shortly, so such an event is vital for them to gain more experience, Tian said.
In addition to marathons, other longdistance and cross-country running events are returning nationwide.
For example, organizers of the Spartan Race, a series of obstacle events of varying distance for endurance runners, originally aimed to stage 49 races in 13 Chinese cities this year, but the pandemic disrupted their plans.
The Spartan Race only returned in the second half of the year, with seven events staged since July. Organizers drew up detailed epidemic-prevention regulations and limited the number of competitors for each event to ensure safety.
Runner Liu Yue said: “I hadn’t participated in any outdoor sports since the pandemic emerged, but thanks to the virus being successfully contained in China, I can finally return to events like the Spartan Race. I really enjoyed it.”
Earlier this year, many people thought it would be impossible for the 2020 BMW Hood to Coast China Relay to be staged in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, in September.
However, thanks to the organizers’ efforts, 374 five-member, one-car teams challenged themselves on a 147-km regular course within 21 hours, while 35 10-member, two-car teams took on a 234.3-km course.
The courses were divided into 16 and 29 sections respectively, with one team member required to complete each section while the others traveled by car, interchanging at the end of every leg.
On Dec 12, the second Hood to Coast Relay race of the year was staged in Sanya, Hainan province. A total of 420 teams had signed up for that event.
Shui Tao, a deputy secretary-general of the CAA, told Xinhua News Agency the association plans for the return of a wide range of running events in lowrisk areas nationwide, but races will still not be permitted in medium- and high-risk areas.
Event organizers must obtain approval from local epidemic-prevention departments, and while the scale of events should be limited, the CAA encourages the hosting of more such activities, Shui said.
“The pandemic has resulted in the emergence of online running. By October, China had hosted 368 such events, attracting some 52 million participants,” he added.
“These events meet demand and are a solution to the lack of offline competition. They also lower the risk of the virus spreading.”