At 8:30 a.m. today (April 13), the 2024 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon will start at Chenjiazhen Bicycle Theme Park.
Spring and Jingming, light steps. On this most beautiful April day in the world, let us gather in ecological Chongming, on the shore of the river and the sea, to witness this wonderful sports event
More professional, more attention-grabbing, more exciting
The most significant change in this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon is the improvement of the level of the event. After the technical certification of the Chinese Athletics Association, the 2024 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon has officially become an A1 event, ranking among the ranks of national high-standard marathon events.
The upgrade of the event brings greater professionalism. This year's Yangtze River Half Marathon focuses on the "full speed and half marathon" event style, and only sets up one event for the "half marathon" standard event, canceling the previous "happy run" event. This adjustment makes the competitive attributes of the event more prominent and the highlights further focused. In order to attract more high-level athletes to participate in the competition and improve the overall level of competition, the prize money of this event has been increased, and the organizers have also set up a number of new awards such as the event record breaking award and the elite player award to motivate the participants to run at a high level.
The scale of the event has also been further expanded - the reporter learned from the District Sports Bureau that nearly 5,000 people have signed up for this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon, and a total of 4,011 runners have been qualified. The competition included experts from more than 110 cities in 26 provinces and autonomous regions across the country, as well as 23 foreign athletes from 11 countries including Kenya, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Compared with the last Yangtze River Half Marathon, which had 3,000 runners, the battle situation of this event will undoubtedly be more intense, especially the participation of more elite runners, which will bring greater suspense and more highlights to the competition of the first echelon and the ownership of the championship.
Data map: 2023 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon
In addition to professional athletes, the majority of long-distance running enthusiasts constitute the main force of this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon - they have firefighters from Xinhai Fire and Rescue Station, retired employees who love sports, and many friends from all walks of life.
In the procession of runners, there is also a special group of runners called "rabbits", who are the official pacemakers and first aid runners. In order to help the runners complete the race according to the preset time and avoid accidents, the event organizer recruited and selected "rabbits" from outstanding runners. "'Rabbit' needs to have plenty of physical fitness and a stable pace to finish the race at the specified time, so as to provide accurate pace guidance and encouragement to the competitors. According to the staff of the District Sports Bureau, "This is very necessary to create a high-level marathon event." ”
Data map: 2023 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon
In order to ensure the safe and smooth progress of the race, the Yangtze River Half Marathon will set the closing time to 3 hours, from 1 hour 45 minutes to 3 hours, and set up 1 pace section every 15 minutes, and each pace section will be assigned 3 official pacemakers and 3 emergency runners, who will wear uniform clothing and eye-catching logos to facilitate the timely identification and follow-up of all echelon runners. "With precise pace levels and super speed control capabilities, you can make your dreams come true. This is the message of the official pacemaker Fei Weifeng. In this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon, he and his companions will give up the pursuit of personal results, conscientiously fulfill the duties of "rabbits", go all out to guide runners to finish the race at the designated pace, and jointly create a high-quality event platform for runners at all levels to refresh personal records.
The most beautiful track on the coast of the river and the sea
As a model form of urban modernization, large-scale sports events not only integrate urban resources, expand urban space, and promote urban transformation, but also serve as an important window to show the image of the city to the world and interpret the spirit of the city.
2024 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon course map
Nowadays, many cities across the country have launched their own marathons. In such a "boom", how to better build a distinctive brand and "recommend the city by borrowing" has become a topic that every host city needs to face. In the subtleties of the design of the track route, there is a university question that spreads the image of the city.
A glimpse of the track
This year's Yangtze River Half Marathon Circuit starts from Chenjiazhen Bicycle Theme Park, passes through Zhongbin Road, Lanhai Road, Huandao Embankment, Sturgeon Road and other high-quality landscape sections, and finally returns to the Bicycle Theme Park via Dongtan Avenue, completing a circular route with a total length of 21.0975 kilometers. The whole race road is in excellent condition, in terms of width, slope, flatness and other aspects fully meet the standards of the half marathon, along the way beautiful natural scenery, high forest coverage, the embankment section around the island can enjoy the magnificent river and sea scenery, which is refreshing.
A glimpse of the track
In the past five years, Chongming's air quality has reached 95.5%, and the average annual concentration of negative oxygen ions per cubic centimeter has exceeded 2,700, reaching 1.5 times the World Health Organization's definition of "very clean air", becoming a veritable "natural oxygen bar". In January this year, Chongming officially won the honors of "China's Natural Oxygen Bar" and "China's Climate Livable City (County)", becoming the first district in Shanghai to be awarded the relevant titles. In this competition, players from all parties will deeply feel the charm of Chongming's "natural oxygen bar" city, and achieve better results with the blessing of high-quality ecology and pure air.
Bicycle theme park
"This will be a half marathon event held in the forest, wetland, river and seaside, the course not only maintains high standards and specifications, but also highlights the elements of 'ecological civilization' and 'Yangtze River protection', so that everyone can experience the beauty of Chongming while participating in the race. The staff of the District Sports Bureau said. It is worth mentioning that the track passes through a series of cultural and commercial points, connecting Xianda College of Shanghai Wai Chinese University, Sheraton Chongming Hotel, Shanghai Aquatic Wildlife Conservation and Research Center, Yingdong Resort, etc., successfully creating a mobile "display window", presenting different aspects of the high-quality development of ecological Chongming to the majority of runners and audiences.
Seize the spillover effect of the event
The successful holding of high-end sports events has a strong spillover effect, and the stimulating effect on local economic and social development is all-round. In the past year, Shanghai has held a total of 118 large and small sports events, driving the high-quality development of the tourism industry and sports consumption, and driving the growth of related industries to 12 billion yuan.
As an event independently created by Chongming, the Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon is deeply integrated with the construction and development of the ecological island, and its characteristics are particularly distinctive. In late March last year, the 2023 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon was successfully held in the Xisha Pearl Lake Scenic Area in the west of Chongming. During the event, in addition to more than 3,000 contestants participating in the competition, many citizens watched the game on site, and many people watched the online live broadcast through platforms such as "Shanghai Chongming". At the same time as the event was held, the Chongming Spring Festival shopping season also kicked off, and many "Chongming good things" appeared one after another, deeply activating the event economy. The event not only brings short-term "traffic", but also provides a long-term driving force for activating the tourism economy in the western part of Chongming and building the "Chongming Good Things Brand".
Data map: 2023 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon
In this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon, all parties in Chongming fully learned from the experience of successfully hosting the competition, while striving to create a high-level event for the general public, actively creating a new scene of sports tourism consumption, expanding the influence of the event through the combination of online and offline, and creating a new situation of integrated development of "business, culture, agriculture, sports and tourism". In the bicycle theme park, which is the starting and ending point of the track, a boutique market will be set up to allow all kinds of "Chongming good things" to meet with the contestants and spectators, and actively release the driving effect of the "event economy"; in addition to the traditional race materials such as horse running clothing, energy gel, raincoats, etc., the organizers have also added souvenirs with Chongming characteristics - bitter grass skin care products and Chongming rice, so that athletes from all over the world can take "ecological Chongming" home; in addition, including the saffron brand "Zhiguangji" under Yougeng Agriculture Among them, the addition of a number of local enterprises and brands in Chongming has also made the lineup of "good things for the event" stronger.
Today, in Chenjia Town and Zhongxing Town in the east of Chongming, the development of the sports tourism industry has been thriving. Including equestrian, cycling, road running, and water sports, the hardware facilities of various sports have been continuously improved, the participation crowd has been accelerated, and the influence of the series of events hosted by the host has grown steadily in their respective fields, and has gradually become a momentum. What is particularly gratifying is that the B&B hotel industry in the region is developing rapidly, with rich formats and complete levels, including high-end hotels such as Sheraton, boutique B&Bs represented by Yuyuan, and tourism complexes such as Yingdong Resort, which will cover the accommodation needs of all parties participating in the event. Among them, less than 1 km away from the starting and ending points of the competition, there is an elegant environment and complete facilities of the orange homestay. According to the store manager, since the announcement of this year's Yangtze River Half Marathon, the number of homestay bookings has skyrocketed, bringing significant economic benefits.
Yukirai Hotel
Before the competition, many competitors have arrived in Chongming one after another to make final adjustments for the competition, and a large number of citizens and tourists have poured in to taste authentic Chongming food, buy special agricultural products, and enjoy the beautiful natural scenery and cultural landscape. They are full of praise for the abundance and enthusiasm of this ecological island.
Data map: 2023 Shanghai Yangtze River Half Marathon
The holding of this Yangtze River Half Marathon will activate the development vitality of the regional sports and tourism industry and open up the pattern of integrated development of sports and commerce, culture, agriculture and tourism. Taking this event as an opportunity, Chongming will continue to promote the development of the sports tourism industry, activate sports consumption, build the marathon into a series link between ecological Chongming, sports Chongming, humanistic Chongming, and economic Chongming, accelerate the construction of a "sports and leisure island", and promote the high-quality development of Chongming.
Reporter: Zhu Yuanzhe Editor: Chen Jinyuan