(Photo/Red Star News)

A young couple in Yibin, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, recently caught widespread attention on their wedding day, as instead of picking out fancy cars to drive to the wedding ceremony, they opted to run there instead, Red Star News reported on March 17.

On the morning of March 17, more than 40 runners gathered in Baixi Town, Xuzhou District of Yibin City, to escort the couple on their special day.

The groom, Liu Zhouzhou, ran with the group to meet his bride Ma Ting at her parents’ house, and then escorted her to the wedding on foot.

It is a traditional Chinese custom for the groom to lead a group of friends and family to meet the bride at her parents’ house, and then escort the bride, together with her friends and family, to the wedding venue. However, Liu and Ma decided that they should do it differently.

“We got to know each other and fall in love through running. To commemorate our special journey of love, we came up with this idea of running instead of driving to our wedding ceremony. It’s both environmentally friendly and special,” said Ma, noting that they are both running enthusiasts.

(Photo/Red Star News)

Ma has enjoyed running for a long time and has been a member of a local running club for a number of years. Later, Liu joined the club and started to run with Ma, and then asked her to exercise at the weekends too. From there, love blossomed.

The round trip Liu and his group took to meet his bride and escort her to the wedding was 13.14 km in length, as the numbers 1,3,1, and 4 sound like the phrase “in all one’s life” in Chinese, according to the couple.

Friends and family on the bride's side ran 5.20 km, as the numbers 5,2, and 0 sound like the Chinese phrase “I love you” when pronounced one by one.

(Photo/Red Star News)

All the runners who took part were friends that the couple had made in running groups.

“We all love long-distance running, and we have run many times with the new couple. Environmental protection has always been a subject we want to raise awareness of," said one of the runners.