Beijing Marathon

The Beijing Marathon (Chinese: 北京马拉松) is an annual marathon race of 42.195 km held in October in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The race was first held in 1981 and has been held every year since. Beijing Marathon is the first international sport event ever to be held in China. The race is also the first marathon race to use lottery system to allocate entries and the first full marathon race only in China.[1]

Beijing Marathon
The National Olympic Sports Centre is the race finishing point
DateSeptember
LocationBeijing, China
Event typeRoad
DistanceMarathon
Primary sponsorCFLD
Established1981
Course recordsMen's: 2:07:06 (2019)
Mathew Kisorio
Women's: 2:19:39 (2003)
Sun Yingjie
Official siteBeijing Marathon

The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes at the National Olympic Sports Centre stadium.[2] Beijing Marathon is now a full marathon only marathon race.[3] At the 2009 edition of the race, 4897 runners finished the marathon course, which included 556 women.[4]

The race holds an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, one of three marathons in the People's Republic of China to receive the distinction (along with the Xiamen International Marathon and Shanghai Marathon). It is AIMS-certified course, making it eligible for world record performances.[5] It hosted the Asian Marathon Championship races in 2006.[6]

The 2014 edition of Beijing International Marathon was held on October 19 under intense smog.[7][8] Many marathoners used face masks and sponges to help their performance.[9]

2014 Beijing Marathon Medal

History

The Beijing International Marathon has been organized by the Chinese Athletics Association annually since 1981. The creation of the race, which was international in nature from its inception, was part of a wider movement to open up China and its culture to foreign innovations – a change which was led by Deng Xiaoping, who sought to move China away from its Maoist past.[10]

In 1986 Taisuke Kodama of Japan set a men's course record in a time of 2:07:35. Ethiopian runner Abebe Mekonnen equaled this time in 1988 and some commentators (including the Association of Road Racing Statisticians) regard this as the true course record, in respect of reports that the 1986 course was around 400 m short of the marathon distance.[11] In 2003, Sun Yingjie of China set the current women's record of 2:19:38 – this run was an Asian record and the fourth fastest ever at the time, and it remains the Chinese record for the event.[12] The 2005 race served as the marathon for the 2005 National Games of China – Sun Yingjie took the Games gold medal for women while seventh placed Zhang Qingle (18 years old at the time) was the highest placing Chinese man and won the men's Games gold.[13]

Also in 2005, the men's race winner Benson Kipchumba Cherono missed some 800 metres out of the course due to being misdirected. The race organisers accepted the blame for the mishap and, although James Moiben was the first to finish the complete course (2:12:15), Cherono was declared the official winner as he held a large leading margin before the incident.[13] After 27 years unbeaten, Taisuke Kodama's course record was improved by Tadese Tola in 2013 as the Ethiopian beat the previous mark by nineteen seconds with 2:07:16 hours.[14] In 2019 Mathew Kisorio improved the course record with a time of 2:07:06.

The competition has hosted the Chinese men's national marathon championships on one occasion (1997) and title went to the race winner Hu Gangjun, who had won in Beijing two times previously.[11]

2012 Japanese entrants

When the online registration of runners for the 2012 event started on November 8, 2012, it did so without the option for Japanese to do so. The events organizers said that Japanese couldn't enter this year because of "safety concerns" due to tension between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands dispute.[15] The Japanese embassy protested the decision.[16]

This move attracted a large amount of criticism and on the night of November 10 the option for Japanese runners re-appeared, although there was no Japanese-language version available, which had been available the previous year.[17]

The Chinese Athletic Association subsequently claimed that Japanese runners had never been rejected. CAA Deputy Director Shen Chunde said that in the past Japanese athletes had mainly applied through Japanese organizations so no individual registration was available.[18]

Winners
Chinese runner Bai Xue has won the race twice consecutively.

  Course record   National championship race   Asian Marathon Championship race

Date Men's winner Time
(h:m:s)		 Women's winner Time
(h:m:s)
3 Nov 2019  Mathew Kisorio (KEN) 2:07:06  Sutume Asefa (ETH) 2:23:31
16 Sep 2018  Dejene Debela (ETH) 2:12:08  Valary Aiyabei (KEN) 2:21:38
17 Sep 2017  Salah-Eddine Bounasr (MAR) 2:11:18  Meselech Beyene (ETH) 2:27:44
17 Sep 2016  Mekuant Ayenew (ETH) 2:11:09  Meseret Mengistu (ETH) 2:25:56
20 Sep 2015  Mariko Kipchumba (KEN) 2:11:00  Betelhem Moges (ETH) 2:27:31
19 Oct 2014  Girmay Birhanu (ETH) 2:10:42  Fatuma Sado (ETH) 2:30:03
20 Oct 2013  Tadese Tola (ETH) 2:07:16  Zhang Yingying (CHN) 2:31:19
25 Nov 2012  Tariku Jufar (ETH) 2:09:39  Jia Chaofeng (CHN) 2:27:40
16 Oct 2011  Francis Kiprop (KEN) 2:09:00  Wei Xiaojie (CHN) 2:28:05
24 Oct 2010  Siraj Gena (ETH) 2:15:45  Wang Jiali (CHN) 2:29:31
18 Oct 2009  Samuel Muturi (KEN) 2:08:20  Bai Xue (CHN) -2- 2:34:44
19 Oct 2008  Benjamin Kiptoo (KEN) 2:10:14  Bai Xue (CHN) 2:26:27
21 Oct 2007  Nephat Kinyanjui (KEN) 2:08:09  Chen Rong (CHN) 2:27:05
15 Oct 2006  James Kwambai (KEN) 2:10:36  Sun Weiwei (CHN) 2:34:41
16 Oct 2005  Benson Cherono (KEN) 2:06:55[19]  Sun Yingjie (CHN) -4- 2:21:01
17 Oct 2004  James Moiben (KEN) 2:10:42  Sun Yingjie (CHN) -3- 2:24:11
19 Oct 2003  Ian Syster (RSA) 2:07:49  Sun Yingjie (CHN) -2- 2:19:39
20 Oct 2002  Li Zhuhong (CHN) 2:13:09  Sun Yingjie (CHN)[20] 2:21:21
14 Oct 2001  Gong Ke (CHN) 2:10:11  Liu Min (CHN) 2:23:37
15 Oct 2000  Nelson Ndereva (KEN) -2- 2:13:52  Wei Yanan (CHN) 2:26:34
09 Oct 1999  Kenichi Suzuki (JPN) 2:11:33  Ai Dongmei (CHN) 2:29:20
10 Oct 1998  Kim Jung-won (PRK) 2:13:49  Wang Yanrong (CHN) 2:28:50
04 Oct 1997  Hu Gangjun (CHN) -3- 2:09:18  Pan Jinhong (CHN) 2:26:39
20 Oct 1996  Nelson Ndereva (KEN) 2:10:37  Ren Xiujuan (CHN) -2- 2:27:13
15 Oct 1995  Meng Xianhui (CHN) 2:16:20  Ren Xiujuan (CHN) 2:30:00
30 Oct 1994  Hu Gangjun (CHN) -2- 2:10:56  Wang Junxia (CHN) 2:31:11
17 Oct 1993  Hu Gangjun (CHN) 2:10:57  Li Yemei (CHN) -2- 2:30:36
11 Oct 1992  Takahiro Izumi (JPN) 2:11:29  Xie Lihua (CHN) 2:28:53
13 Oct 1991  Negash Dube (ETH) 2:12:55  Deborah Noy (GBR) 2:35:18
14 Oct 1990  Peter Dall (DEN) -2- 2:14:55  Li Yemei (CHN) 2:32:14
15 Oct 1989  Peter Dall (DEN) 2:12:47  Mun Gyong-ae (PRK) 2:27:16
16 Oct 1988  Abebe Mekonnen (ETH) 2:07:35
18 Oct 1987  Juma Ikangaa (TAN) 2:12:19
19 Oct 1986  Taisuke Kodama (JPN) 2:07:35[21]
13 Oct 1985  Shigeru Sō (JPN) 2:10:23
14 Oct 1984  Hideki Kita (JPN) 2:12:16 -
25 Sep 1983  Ron Tabb (USA) 2:18:51
26 Sep 1982  Li Jong-hyong (PRK) 2:14:44
27 Sep 1981  Kjell-Erik Ståhl (SWE) 2:15:20

References
  1. "About Beijing Marathon-Beijing Marathon". new.beijing-marathon.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  2. Jiang, Yi (2007-10-21). Kinyanjui, Chen take top honours in Beijing – Beijing Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-21.
  3. "Beijing Hyundai Beijing Marathon 2016 Registration Notice". Committee of Beijing Marathon. 2016-07-20. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  4. 3.07.38 og 54. plass på Veslemøy Hausken i Beijing Marathon (in Norwegian). Kondis. Retrieved on 2010-08-21.
  5. AIMS Race Directory. AIMS (2010). Retrieved on 2010-08-21.
  6. Asian Championships Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2013-03-02). Retrieved on 2013-09-28.
  7. Beijing Marathon website Registration Instructions Archived 2012-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "2014 Beijing International Marathon to be held on October 19". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  9. "30,000 runners participate in Beijing Marathon despite heavy fog". China Central Television. Oct 19, 2014. Retrieved Oct 20, 2014.
  10. Butcher, Pat (2010-10-22). Sammy Mugo aiming for Beijing Marathon title defence. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  11. Beijing International Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2009-10-20). Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  12. Sun Yingjie sets Asian marathon best with fourth fastest time in history. IAAF (2003-10-20). Retrieved on 2010-08-15.
  13. Jalava, Mirko (2005-10-16). Sun Yingjie scores fourth consecutive Beijing win, Benson Cherono men's winner. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-15.
  14. Jalava, Mirko (2013-10-20). Beijing course record finally broken by Tola. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-10-21.
  15. ABC website Japanese runners barred from Beijing marathon November 10, 2012
  16. Daily Yomiuri Chinese block, clear Japanese for marathon November 12, 2012
  17. Asahi Shimbun Under heavy fire, China allows Japanese to enter Beijing marathon November 12, 2012 Archived June 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  18. China.org.cn Beijing Marathon never rejects Japanese athletes November 11, 2012
  19. Time invalid – finished the race 800 metres short due to misdirection.
  20. Wei Yanan, the original winner in 2:20:23, was later disqualified for drug abuse.
  21. The course is believed to have been around 400 metres short of the official 42.195 km distance.
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