On March 19, the 2023 Fenghua Cross-Strait Peach Blossom Marathon was held in Fenghua District, Ningbo City.

With the arrival of spring, runners ushered in the marathon trip.

On March 19, the 2023 Wenzhou Marathon with 18,000 participants, and the 2023 Xinchang Marathon Challenge with more than 2,500 participants kicked off. A week ago, the 2023 Longwan Half Marathon attracted more than 5,000 runners. Next, Lishui, Lin'an, Shangyu, Yuhuan, and other places will also hold marathons on March 26...

Today, the marathon has become a new fashion. Marathon has always represented the human desire for faster, higher, and stronger.

But now, the marathon has become a symbol of mass sports. Marathon competitions, in addition to the traditional full marathon, often arrange half marathons, cross-country running, health running, couple running, family running, and other events that are closer to the needs of the public and lower the threshold for participation.

Zhejiang people's enthusiasm for the marathon is high. Let’s take a look at the following two sets of data——

From 2017 to 2019, Zhejiang held the most marathons and related events in the country. In 2019, a total of 365 events were held, with 810,000 participants. It can be said that almost every day there are events;

The number of people who can complete the half-marathon and above mileage events in the competition was 74,000 in 2017 and doubled to 148,000 in 2019. It can be seen that the level of competition has improved significantly.

Zhejiang has rich experience in hosting marathon events, which can be traced back to the 1980s.

The Wenzhou Yuanri Fitness Run started in 1982, the Ningbo New Year's Day Fitness Run started in 1984, and the Hangzhou Marathon founded in 1987 all have a long history of running races.

The enthusiasm of the competition fully demonstrates the love of the Zhejiang people for running.

The "2021 Survey Report on the National Fitness Activities in Zhejiang Province" released by the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau last year showed that, excluding the student population, nearly 30% of the population in Zhejiang regularly participates in physical exercise, and two-thirds of the people exercise for more than half an hour a single time. And their first choice is walking and running, which is traditionally simple and not subject to venue constraints.

Translator: Lou Shihang (intern)

Editor: Xiao Da