As the most age-free sport known as the "last stubborn" sport for middle-aged men, the marathon exploded dramatically after being suppressed for three years.
01, the middle-aged man contracted the marathon
In the past autumn, many middle-aged men waited for a spiritual feast after a three-year absence.
Following the autumn colors of China from north to south, the marathon is rekindling at an unimaginable rate. From October to December, hundreds of thousands of runners run on marathon courses every weekend.
"In the circle of friends, on October 15th, I swiped five or six friends in Beijing to go to Beijing Huairou Great Wall, Xiong'an, Tianjin, Dalian 4 places to run horses. One runner said to City Boundary.
On this day, 32 marathons across the country started at the same time. The marathon will continue until December, and the heat will not wane. According to the incomplete statistics of the event calendar, there will be 20 marathons on October 22 and 29, November 5 and 12, respectively.
▲ (2023 Beijing Marathon)
How enthusiastic are Chinese people about marathons? The numbers speak for themselves – China hosted 67 of the 238 marathons certified by the IAAF this year, more than a quarter. This does not include more marathon or sprint elite races and "fun runs" that are not certified, or have penetrated into county-level cities and even villages.
Among the millions of participants behind these events, middle-aged men make up an absolute percentage.
▲ (2023 Xiamen Marathon results of all ages)
Take the "2023 Xiamen C&D Marathon", which finished in April this year and ranks among the two platinum standard marathons in China, as an example: 30,397 people participated in this year's Xiamen Marathon, and 92.77% of the runners completed the race within the six-hour closing time. Among them, the number of men is 25,108, the number of women is 5,289, and the number of female players is only one-sixth.
Among them, the average age of the contestants is 42.4 years old, with the oldest age for men being 79 years old and the oldest age for women being 76 years old.
Judging from the data of the organizing committee, young people are completely "suppressed" by middle-aged people: men and women between the ages of 45 and 49 rank first, 40 to 44 years old rank second, and the third place is in the 50 to 54 age group. The age group of 29 and under is only ranked fourth from the bottom among the nine age groups.
Marathons have always been a sport that has been ridiculed as the "last stubbornness" of middle-aged men.
Runner Wang Hao, who just turned 40 this year, has missed the strength of the horse race and the cheering crowd on the side of the road for the past three years. This year, he signed up for the Tianjin Marathon and completed the marathon in four and a half hours.
"Marathon is a typical aerobic exercise that tests willpower, long-term commitment and perseverance, and scientific training. Wang Hao said.
His horse running experience started with a jogging exercise 7 years ago, and gradually upgraded to a half marathon and a full marathon. "Young people like competitive sports, and they value explosiveness and skill. Running horses loosen is a competition for muscular endurance and sustained aerobic capacity. To run the whole marathon, I have to ensure that I exercise about 200 kilometers every month, so I have to run about 7 kilometers a day, and if I don't run for a few days, the oxygen level in my muscles will drop. ”
It is basically difficult for young people to be interested in this kind of boring training. "Young people like to fight physically, and middle-aged people need to fight loneliness," Wang said.
According to the "2019 China Marathon Yearbook", in the world's major marathon events, the people with the best average performance are basically distributed between 40 and 45 years old. A runner's best result is generally improved after the age of 35. All the way up to the age group of 65 years old, the average score will exceed that of the age group under 25 years old.
How age-free the sport is, the world record is the best proof of this.
Born in Kenya in 1984, current record holder Eliud Kipchoge competed in the 5,000m until he was 30 years old and won silver in the men's 5,000m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2013, when he was 30 years old, Kipchoge began to train for marathons and achieved results.
In 2018, Kipchoge set a new world record at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:01:39. It wasn't until September this year that he won his fifth Berlin Marathon title at the age of nearly 39.
For ordinary middle-aged men, what is the significance of the marathon?360 founder Zhou Hongyi once said at a financial forum in 2022: The marathon is the square dance of middle-aged men.
"It's a strong psychological suggestion. I've asked a lot of marathon runners why they run because they want to feel young. I couldn't run a marathon, so I went rock climbing. If you always have goals and things to do in life, you won't spend time thinking about whether you are old and useless every day. Life never stops, and the fight doesn't stop. ”
02. Winning the lottery depends on luck
However, middle-aged men who have been holding back for three years want to run a marathon this year, in addition to exercising a good body, they also need to have some good luck.
In various statistics, this year's top-level events generally broke new highs in both registration and attendance. Correspondingly, the winning rate has also hit a "new low".
A number of runners who participated in the lottery told "City Boundary" that the winning rate of this year's horse race is very low, and they can only hope for the quota of sponsors. Complaints about "hard to win" pervade various social platforms.
The marathon is "solid" and became popular. Cheney, the head of the Xiaohongshu marathon project, told "City Boundary" that since January 2023, the number of user notes about the "marathon" on Xiaohongshu has increased by 400% year-on-year.
35-year-old runner Xiaochao, who lives in Baoding, is running for the first time this year, and he is ready to register for a half marathon first. "Don't think about these popular marathons in Beijing and Tianjin", he retreated and chose the Xiong'an Marathon. Xiaochao signed up with four runners and found that the lottery still needed to be drawn, and in the end, only one of the four people won the lottery.
"It is said that because of the high number of applicants, the winning rate is only 25%." Fortunately, Xiong'an also arranged a second lottery, "this time there is a one-in-one probability", and he was lucky to be drawn.
The first experience of the marathon was very happy, and Xiaochao finished the race smoothly. He saw that most of the contestants were middle-aged men, and there were very few young people. "A lot of runners are dressed up in fancy clothes, and when they meet a spectator taking pictures, they will stop and pose, as if they are playing a casual game. ”
Cheney also revealed that marathon runners now have a more relaxed mentality. "Not only the medal results, but also the amount of 'experiential' notes such as sharing the preparation, the mood of the competition, the onlookers on the track and the post-race feelings will also be very good. People who are eager to try are more willing to get the courage to stand on the starting line from the stories of others' personal experiences. ”
Among the running crowd, Xiaochao also saw many elderly people in their sixties and seventies. "Their posture may not be standard, but it's not slow. ”
Xiaochao also said that he participated in the Xiong'an Marathon in order to "run the North Marathon and brush up on experience" in the future. "I haven't run a local marathon, and it's hard to win the lottery in North Malaysia. Even if you run over, it depends on your luck if you want to draw the North Horse. ”
At least until next year, it will undoubtedly be more difficult to compete at the top of the elite competition.
On October 29, the Beijing Marathon, known as the "national marathon", kicked off, with more than 30,000 runners participating, more than 130,000 registrations, and a winning rate of only 23%.
On November 3, the "2024 Xiamen Marathon" announced the pre-registration winning rate that will start in January next year, and the winning rate has been as low as 5%, which is likely to become the most difficult to be drawn.
With the surge in demand for marathons, local events have also provided more "replacement" for runners - on the opening day of the North Marathon, 19 other cities across the country held marathons at the same time.
"The number of users running is very large, and there is a clear stratification. In the fall, outdoor enthusiasts love City Run and visit professional landmarks. There is also a marathon season in October and November, which pursues professional runners from all over the country," says Cheni.
The long running route of the marathon has made many cities regard the event as a great opportunity to combine tourism resources and show their business cards. Correspondingly, the contestants also experienced more fun from participating in the competition.
In the calendar of just one month from October 15th to November 12th, "City Boundary" saw the events of Dandong Yalu River, Jiangxi Longhu Mountain, Anhui Huangshan, Xinjiang Kashgar, Guizhou Huangguoshu, Gansu Dunhuang, Sichuan Langzhong Ancient City and other events, which constitute a marathon travel check-in log across China's north and south, east and west.
At the same time, runners who want to have a higher challenge for themselves also have Kunming Plateau Marathon, Xinjiang Karamay Marathon and other events for selection.
▲ (The Chengdu Marathon design route ran into Sichuan University.) Photo source/city boundary)
In order to meet the popularity of the marathon, local organizers have also introduced a variety of services and favorable policies for runners. For example, runners in the Chengdu Marathon can visit six major scenic spots and museums in Chengdu, including the Panda Base, for free.
What's even more exaggerated is that along the Harbin Marathon held in August, the organizers have prepared "buffet-style" flowing water seats such as pot-wrapped meat and pork stewed vermicelli. Some netizens commented: I ran last place, is it okay to "show off rice"?
▲ (2023 Harbin Marathon.) Image source/screenshot of Xiaohongshu)
Cheni introduced: In addition to the top marathon cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, the search volume of Dalian, Qingdao, Xiangyang, Yantai and other cities with tourism characteristics or coastal cities is also skyrocketing.
"In addition to the people who participate with the simple purpose of weight loss exercise, other scenes are also increasing. For example, to relieve stress, go to the running holy place to check in, participate in the running group offline socialization, and so on. From this, Cheni judged that the marathon has obvious growth potential in the future.
03. "Show equipment" trillion industrial chain
Under the strong demand, along with the event, there is also the entire industrial chain such as marathon equipment and peripheral consumption - after all, middle-aged men are the most obsessed with "show equipment".
Wang Hao said that for the more affluent middle-aged people, "running horses" to save money is just a legend.
He calculated the amount of money he spends on running horses every year: he runs about 7 kilometers a day, and buys 3-4 pairs of running shoes a year, each of which is about 500 yuan. He was equipped with a Huawei sports watch of more than 2,000 yuan and several sets of sportswear of several hundred yuan.
"However, the majority of the money is still spent on the consumption of health care products, vitamins, sports supplements, energy gels, and bone and joint health care. If you include the cost of gym muscle training, it may cost about 10,000-20,000 yuan per year. This does not include the entry fee and local accommodation for horse racing in other places. ”
According to statistics, from 2014 to 2019, the number of marathons in China has increased by more than 30 times in just five years. In 2019, the cumulative number of participants in the marathon exceeded 7 million.
Among these runners, a large proportion of the population has very strong spending power and motivation.
According to relevant reports, in 2020, Chinese runners spent an average of more than 11,000 yuan per person, including daily training equipment, clothing, nutrition and other expenses. In terms of derivative tourism, 50% of the runners had the experience of participating in other places, and the average cost was 4598.84 yuan. 71% of the runners from other places will taste local food and special snacks, and 64% will travel and sightsee.
These consumption potentials have made the economic value of the marathon industry continue to rise.
At the beginning of 2019, the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China issued the "Marathon Sports Industry Development Plan", which said that by 2020, the scale of the marathon industry in the mainland will reach 120 billion yuan. If the surrounding consumption is included, the amplified value of the entire industrial chain will exceed one trillion.
According to official statistics, the 2019 Shanghai International Marathon brought direct economic benefits of 328 million yuan, indirect economic benefits of 1.145 billion yuan, and tax revenue of 67.9409 million yuan.
On March 19 this year, according to the statistics of the organizers of the Wuxi Marathon, this event attracted more than seventy percent of foreign spectators to visit Wuxi. In addition to watching the games, the audience contributed great economic benefits to Wuxi in catering, accommodation, transportation, tourism, exhibition hall sales, etc. Among them, it is estimated that the economic benefits of catering will be 69.6 million yuan, the economic benefits of accommodation will be 116.61 million yuan, the economic benefits of transportation will be 6 million yuan, the economic benefits of tourism will be 2.09 million yuan, and the sales of event booths will be 500,000 yuan.
After smelling business opportunities, many sports brands are also stepping up their entry into the market.
According to Cheney, in the Xiaohongshu community, most of the words related to searching for marathons were "jogging shoes", but this year, more refined keywords appeared: "marathon running shoes", "half-marathon running shoes", etc., and the related words include materials, whether shock absorption and cushioning, etc.
Among them, the data on entry-level running shoes is better - which also proves that the number of "first marathons" (first marathons) continues to increase.
A leading outdoor blogger told "City Boundary" that he can feel that many brands in different fields this year want to get close to the popularity of the outdoor category. For example, beauty and skin care, including automobiles, are seeking cooperation with outdoor projects this year to do cross-border communication.
In the latest financial report, the four major sports domestic brands of Li Ning, Anta, Hongxing Erke and Xtep all emphasized the increase in R&D investment in the professional sports sector. In the professional sports sector, the proportion of running is firmly in the first place among manufacturers.
According to a report by NPD, a third-party research organization, since 2020, the sales performance of the running shoes category has significantly outperformed other types of sports shoes, and sports brands focusing on running, hiking, and walking categories have grown rapidly. "The global running market has the potential to continue to grow, and in the coming years, diversification of running shoe products will be the focus of brand product design. ”
The growing market is also driving the emergence and participation of new sports brands.
The Swiss high-end running shoe brand On is generally priced at more than 1,000 yuan. It first entered the Chinese market in 2018. According to Tmall data, after entering the platform in 2019, Angrun has grown rapidly at a year-on-year rate of 263% and 125% for two consecutive years.
This year, the net sales in the first half of the year rose by 63.9% year-on-year to 860 million Swiss francs (about 7.088 billion yuan). Among them, the Asia-Pacific market, where China is located, performed the best, up more than 90% year-on-year.
▲ (2023 Xiamen Marathon)
And this is just the beginning of the full explosion of China's marathon industry.
In 1981, when China held the first Beijing International Marathon, only 86 runners from 12 countries and regions participated, and there were even fewer service providers for the marathon. By around 2019, China has formed the "Four Marathons in China" composed of Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Xiamen, and the number of enterprises related to sports event services has grown rapidly.
According to iResearch's estimates, the number of core runners and mass runners in China has reached 100 million and 300 million respectively. This also means that the Chinese market is becoming the second largest running market in the world.
As the event continues to become elite and mature, middle-aged men will contribute more real money to the city marathon and their own male dignity.
(Wang Hao and Xiaochao are pseudonyms)
(Author |.) Zhao Zikun, editor | Li Yuan)