At 7 a.m. on April 21, the 2024 Bank of Jiangsu Nantong Marathon started. Starting from the east side of the Nantong Grand Theater and Art Museum, nearly 25,000 runners from all over the world started together, adding vigorous vitality to the spring in Nantong. On the course of the half marathon, a special participant is running. He pushed his son in a wheelchair and ran the marathon for nine consecutive years, the 71st time the father and son had reached the finish line of the marathon. "I want to show him the bigger world. Contestant Luo Shujian, an SF Express brother, told Modern Express that he also hopes to encourage more families with similar situations to go out of their homes and face life positively and optimistically.
Practice hard to improve physical fitness,
He pushes his wheelchair and takes his children to a marathon
With a total length of 42.195 kilometers, the event consists of three events: full marathon, half marathon and happy run, with 5,000, 7,000 and 13,000 people respectively, attracting runners from many countries and regions. This year's Nantong Marathon specially invited four Nantong world champions, namely badminton Olympic champion Ge Fei, badminton world champion Ma Jin, skills world champion Ji Lei and Hu Xin, as the leading guests.
The Tongma route runs through Chongchuan District and Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone, passing through Zilang Lake Scenic Area, Siyuan Scenic Area, Nantong Botanical Garden, Wolf Mountain Scenic Area, Binjiang Scenic Belt, Nantong Nengda Ecological Corridor and other places.
In the half marathon, there is a special runner running. Luo Shujian, who was born in 1977, pushed his son in a wheelchair and became a special scenery among runners.
Luo Shujian's family lives in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and his son Xiaobai (pseudonym) is 15 years old this year, unfortunately, Xiaobai suffered 15 minutes of suffocation at birth, causing irreversible brain damage, and then epilepsy, autism and other diseases were also detected. "His intellect has remained at less than a year old, and although he has grown up to age, he is still mentally infant. Luo Shujian told the Modern Express reporter that the family also has a daughter who is in elementary school, his wife usually goes to work, and his son is inseparable from people all the time, and is currently mainly taken care of by the elderly at home.
Luo Shujian is an SF Express brother, and he is usually very busy at work. Taking my son to run a marathon was due to a very fortuitous opportunity. Luo Shujian said: "The child has been receiving treatment since he was born, and later I saw a foreign documentary, the main content of which is about the father taking his son with cerebral palsy to participate in thousands of marathons, triathlons and other sports. I was so impressed that I thought I could take my son to try it out. ”
In 2015, Xiaobai's condition finally stabilized, and this idea, which had been hidden in Luo Shujian's heart for many years, began to be put into practice. For Luo Shujian, who had never participated in a marathon before, it was not easy.
In the eyes of his family, Luo Shujian, who was no longer young at the time, could be said to be "fighting". He continues to train his physical fitness every day, and the distance he runs is constantly extended. "Unlike other runners, I'm going to take my son with me. If the child is in a wheelchair, my running movements will be different, and the burden will be heavier. Luo Shujian said that in order to maintain the physical fitness to run with his son, he still insists on training about three times a week, usually in the morning before work, and sometimes in the evening to do core strength training as a supplement.
9 years in 71 games,
He hopes to encourage more people to come out bravely
Nine years have passed, and the footprints of Luo Shujian and his son have traveled all over the motherland. The children are not able to travel, and they usually drive to their destinations. The support of his colleagues is also quite "powerful", and every time Luo Shujian has a marathon, his colleagues will cooperate with him to change shifts. He carries his children's daily necessities, as well as wheelchairs and his own sports equipment, and on average, father and son go out together seven or eight times a year.
In order to let children see the wider world, Luo Shujian will try to choose a city that he has never been to every time. "There have been a lot of marathons lately, and I just ran three times last month. This is our first time in Nantong, and it is already the 71st marathon we have participated in. Luo Shujian told the Modern Express reporter that this time he specially brought his parents with him, and the family arrived in Nantong on Friday. They visited Nantong Museum and Wolf Mountain together, saw such a wide river for the first time, learned about Zhang Jian's life story, gained a very pleasant journey, and also left a good impression of the city.
The race officially started on Sunday, and Luo Shujian, as usual, ran on the track with his son. "Although he is still a baby intellectually, he loves the warm atmosphere of the marathon and the feeling of chasing. When I accelerated, I could clearly feel his happiness, make happy sounds, and clap my hands. If I can immerse him in this atmosphere and feel happy, then it will be very meaningful for me to participate. Luo Shujian said.
This is the 71st time he has crossed the finish line with his son and completed a "check-in" in Nantong. "It took about an hour and 45 minutes, and the pace was about five minutes. Luo Shujian told the Modern Express reporter that it was a normal level for him.
This special father and son always get a lot of attention in the marathon. Luo Shujian said that he hopes to pass on a kind of power to more people through his own behavior. "In a family like ours, if you don't come out, it's hard for people in society to see you. I hope that families in a similar situation to us can come out more courageously, so that they can gain more understanding. It is understood that Luo Shujian has also launched a number of public welfare runs to care for autistic groups, hoping to give more social attention and care to special groups in this way.
It is understood that the champion of the full marathon that day came from Ethiopia, with a race time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 53 seconds. The second and third runners-up were both from Kenya with a time of 2:21:01 and 2:28:35 respectively.
The Modern Express reporter learned that in order to provide guarantee for the marathon, on April 21, Nantong Rail Transit Line 1 and 2 were put into operation ahead of schedule, and the interval between trains during the early operation was 9 minutes and 50 seconds. The first train of Line 1 departs at 4:30, the first train from Line 2 to Xingfu Station is advanced to 4:45, and the first train to Xianfeng Station is scheduled to 4:40. On the day of the event, marathon runners can ride for free with their race bib number.
During the event, the organizers also carefully planned and launched 10 Nantong spring boutique tourism routes, "Sports Carnival Series Activities", 2024 "Spring to Nantong, Enjoy Spring" large-scale theme exhibition, etc., and released "Nantong Specialty Food" and "Nantong Boutique Hotel Recommendation" and other food and accommodation strategies.
Modern Express/Modern + reporter Yan Junchen