86-year-older marathoner on trending as Chinese embrace fitness

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- A day before the Chinese solar term of the Beginning of Winter, downtown Beijing was heated up by a bustling sports event, with thousands of runners and hordes of citizens cheering them on from the sides of the streets.

The 2022 Beijing Marathon, which reopened on Nov. 6 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 epidemic, attracted nearly 20,000 runners. Setting off from Tian'anmen Square toward the destination in the Olympic Park, many participants dubbed the track of 42.195 km a pilgrimage.

Among them, an octogenarian "running man" called Zhang Shun ran into the public spotlight, as a video clip showing the 86-year-old jogging in small steps but in fine fettle and giving a big grin at the finishing line was widely applauded on China's social media and vlogging platforms.

The oldest racer, who secured a result of more than six hours at the last place, received many likes on the internet and was commented by netizens as "the best example of upholding the marathon spirit."

Amateur marathoners used to be unusual years ago, let alone elderly runners like Zhang. Inaugurated in 1981, the Beijing Marathon had only 86 participants at first, most of whom were athletes.

"The growth of the Beijing Marathon reflects the fever of public fitness in China and is a mirror of the development of a country leading in sports," said Sun Yingjie, a winner of the female race in the Beijing Marathon for three consecutive years.

The past four decades, especially the recent years since 2012, have seen a growth spurt of marathon sports in China, with more and more people taking to running and exercising, which observers said was driven by a mounting desire for a healthy lifestyle and social progress in the building of fitness venues and amenities.

China has integrated advancing fitness among the public into its national strategy. In 2021, a work plan for the period between 2021 and 2025 was issued to better meet people's increasing demands for fitness and health.

Data show that by 2021, there were nearly 4 million sports fields across the country and the total length of public fitness trails in Chinese cities reached 263,400 km in total. "Wherever you live, there would always be suitable places to go for a run, just on your doorsteps," said Yang Ziyu, a veteran runner in Beijing.

City marathon, a professional competition once deemed inaccessible to ordinary people, has thus gradually transformed into a festive gathering for runners. Data from the China Athletics Association show that between 2014 and 2019, the number of marathons and related races hosted in China soared by over 300 percent to 1,828.

"Marathons serve as a name card of a city and is conducive to improving social infrastructure and people's daily lives," said Zhao Fuming, director of the Beijing Marathon Association.

The report to the recently-concluded 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China said that China will launch extensive public fitness initiatives, improve physical education for young people, promote all-around development of recreational and competitive sports, and move faster to build China into a country strong in sports.

Nowadays it is trendy for young people to use exercise-themed mobile applications to record their running routes in landmark places and post them on social media; some meticulously design their routes into the shape of a Chinese rose when running in the Olympic forest park and others draw an elephant in the Temple of Heaven with footsteps.

China's progress in promoting fitness among the public also created huge business opportunities for its sports market. At the just-concluded 5th China International Import Expo, an exhibition area for sports equipment and events attracted more than 10 well-known sporting giants from around the world, such as American footwear maker Skechers and French sporting goods retailer Decathlon.

China's sports market has unparallel potential, as the Chinese people's living standards rise and their awareness of keeping fit grows stronger, said Daisy Wang, Decathlon China vice president.

"It is the essential requirement of the Chinese modernization to realize high-quality development and enrich people's cultural lives, while fitness and sports can play a unique role in pushing ahead the modernization drive," said Luo Wenhua, deputy director of the Shanghai municipal bureau of sports.