Great Wall Marathon
The Great Wall Marathon is an annual marathon race held in May along and on the Huangyaguan or Huangya Pass (Chinese: 黄崖关; Chinese: 黃崖關; Pinyin: Huángyáguān; Literally: "Yellow Cliff Pass"), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East of Beijing.[1][2] Since it first start in 1999, the race has grown to several hundred participants. Aside from the main marathon, a half marathon, 10 km and 5 km runs were also held until 2012. 2013 marked the debut of an 8.5 km "fun run", replacing the 5 and 10 km distances. The course is much tougher than traditional marathons with participants challenged by 5,164 stone steps and many steep ascents and descents.[3]
2007
The winner was Salvador Calvo, whose time of 3:23:10 broke the previous course record by four minutes.
2008
Saturday May 17, 2008: Again, the previous race record was broken, this time by Great Wall Marathon first-timer Romualdo Sanchez Garita from Mexico. His finish time was 3:18:48. The fastest woman in the field was South African Leanne Juul, who finished in 4:09:10.
2009
Saturday May 16, 2009: There were 1,363 runners in the four distances. More than 40 countries were represented. The two winners in the marathon category were:
- Justin Walker, USA, 3:40:54
- Joanna Gosse, New Zealand, 4:03:23
2010
Saturday May 15, 2010: A record number of 1,748 participants from around the world ran the four distances.The fastest runners in the marathon were:
- Qiang Tong, China, 3:24:44
- Inez-Anne Haagen, The Netherlands, 3:56:38
2011
Saturday May 21, 2011: The fastest runners in the marathon were:
- Yanqiao Yun, China, 3:18:48
- Mari Kauri, Finland, 4:11:19
2012
Saturday May 18, 2012: The fastest runners in the marathon were:
- Luis Alonso, Spain, 3:39:28
- Mari Kauri. Finland, 4:10:43
2013
Saturday May 18, 2013: The fastest runners in the marathon were:
- Jorge Maravilla (USA), Dimitris Theodorakakos (Greece) and Jonathan Wyatt (New Zealand) who crossed the finish line together in record time, 3:09:18
- Silvia Serafini, Italy, 3:32:12 (a new women's record)
The half-marathon was won by Geoffrey de Bilderling with a time of 1 hour 38 minutes 56 seconds.
2014
Saturday May 17, 2014: The fastest runners in the marathon were:
- Men: Ernesto Ciravegna, Italy, 3:33:56
- Women: Sofía García Bardoll, Spain, 3:57:25
2015
The 2015 race was held on Saturday, 16 May. The Fastest Runners in the Marathon main event were:
Men: China's Shen Jason won. His finish time was 3:41:40
Women: USA's Eleanor fuqua Williamson won. Her finish time was 4:18:35
References
- ↑ Fishpool, Sean (5 November 2002). "The Great Wall Marathon". Runners World.
- ↑ "On your marks, get set, race! Alternative marathon runs". Metro (UK). 26 Oct 2012.
- ↑ Conner, Shawn. "5 Extreme Marathons Only Superhumans Could Survive (and Two for the Rest of Us)". BC Living. Retrieved 11 January 2013.