The marathon event is "blowout", how the explosion becomes "long-term red"

On March 31, the 2024 Shijiazhuang Marathon runners were in the race. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Liang Zidong)

Hebei Daily reporter Yang Mingjing Wang Weihong

54 races, 470,000 participants, this is the relevant data of the continental marathon on April 21. And on March 30-31, a total of 40 marathons were held across the country. At the same time, domestic marathons are also showing a trend of extending from large cities to small and medium-sized cities, as well as districts, counties and villages.

Hebei Province has also taken the "fast lane" of the marathon. Relevant data show that in 2023, Hebei Province will hold a total of 29 marathons with more than 1,000 people, ranking sixth in the country, of which 3 with a scale of more than 20,000 people will rank eighth in the country. This year, Hebei Province has held 7 marathon events, and on April 21 alone, there are 3 events: the 2024 Baoding Marathon, the 2024 Dingzhou Half Marathon, and the 2024 Jinshanling Great Wall Half Marathon. There are a number of events to come.

How to run a "blowout" marathon with higher quality?

Why are there so many marathons?

There are so many marathons, are the runners "enough"?

"There's no need to worry about it. Li Tong, general manager of Hebei Savage Sports and Culture Development Co., Ltd., the operator of the Shijiazhuang Marathon, told reporters that the scale of the 2024 "Stone Horse" event is 31,000 people, but nearly 70,000 people have registered, of which the winning rate of the whole marathon is only 38%.

Not only the "Stone Horse", but also many large-scale marathon events in China are now "hard to find". Behind this is the rapid growth of the number of running enthusiasts in the mainland.

Data from the Chinese Athletics Association shows that so far, at least 2.5 million people across the country have completed a half marathon or full marathon.

The number of running enthusiasts in Shijiazhuang is also in a "blowout" development. In 2009, only 26 people participated in the inaugural "Stone Horse". "Now there are 86 running groups in Shijiazhuang, an increase of 10 from last year. Wang Jinghua, president of the Shijiazhuang Road Running Association, told reporters that running is a simple and easy way to exercise, and more than 28,000 people participate in running in Shijiazhuang City all year round.

Li Tong revealed that among the 21,000 participants in the 2024 "Stone Horse" full marathon and half marathon, 9,426 are from Shijiazhuang, accounting for 44.9%, and the completion rate of these two events has reached more than 97%.

If as the "consumer" of the marathon, many running enthusiasts provide strong support for the domestic marathon, then the "win-win" has injected strong vitality into the marathon.

The marathon has the functions of urban marketing and driving consumption, and the local government has become one of the important driving forces for the fiery development of the marathon, hoping that the marathon can become a unique city business card, cultural language and industrial source.

Chen Guoqiang, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai Sport University and an expert in the special working group of the Chinese Athletics Association's road running policy, believes that the marathon can drive the integration of sports and cultural tourism industries in the host country. More and more cities are holding marathons, turning "flow" into "energy" for consumption and "increment" for economy.

Relevant surveys show that the average annual per capita participation cost of marathon participants is more than 11,000 yuan, and the average annual cost of runners who participate in other places is nearly 5,000 yuan, and 71% of them will taste the food of the host city. In participatory sports events represented by marathons, the direct consumption of sports by non-local participants drives the indirect consumption of food, housing and transportation to 1:13.

According to reports, the 2024 Wuhan Marathon held in March this year is estimated to achieve urban benefits of 1.571 billion yuan, with an economic impact of 557 million yuan and a social impact of 1.014 billion yuan on Wuhan. The 2024 Wuxi Marathon held in the same month is estimated to have an economic effect of about 280 million yuan.

The "winners" are not only the host city, but also the event operators and runners.

The hot marathon has become one of the high-profile phenomena in China's sports industry, attracting more and more sponsors, and turning the marathon, which was once supported by the government and "blood transfusion", into a "bonanza" operated by more and more non-governmental organizations and self-financing.

The 2024 Xiong'an Marathon once again achieved a double increase in the number of sponsors and the amount of sponsorship. It is understood that there were 12 sponsors in the last "Xiongma", and 18 in this year, involving finance, sports equipment, food and beverage, automobiles, services and other industries, and the amount of sponsorship reached a new high.

In order to attract more outstanding runners to participate, many marathons have continuously increased the amount of prize money. The growing scale and influence of the event have also made sports equipment companies focus on marathon participants, giving birth to professional runners and professional running groups.

Sun Xiaoyang, who won the 2024 "Stone Horse" men's marathon championship and is from Chengde, is a professional runner. At the age of 31, he worked as a mine supervisor and a movie theater ticket inspector, but because he liked running and his performance improved quickly, he tried to transform into a professional runner in 2019. Sun Xiaoyang told reporters that because of his excellent results in many events, he was already "able to support himself by running" in 2020.

How does an event "stand out"?

Relevant people pointed out that with the rapid growth of running enthusiasts and the rising demand for participation, the "savage growth" of domestic marathon events is a necessary stage, and it is still a "seller's" market that is "in short supply" on the whole, but in the long run, it will inevitably experience the process of "big waves and sand". Whether a local marathon can be built into an event IP, and whether it can become "popular" after "exploding", depends on the core competitiveness.

Congratulations from Beijing is a veteran runner who participates in fifty or sixty marathons a year. When the reporter asked him about the criteria for choosing to participate in the face of many marathon events, the congratulations blurted out: "The organization of the event is not standardized, whether the track is good or not, and whether the city scenery is beautiful." ”

In the face of runners' "voting with their feet", how can a marathon "stand out" among many competitors?

"Standardized organization and strong guarantee are the cornerstones of the success of the marathon. Zheng Shenghe, a senior track and field coach in our province who has refereed many domestic marathons, said that running a marathon requires full preparation, as well as overall coordination and cooperation of relevant parties. As far as the organization of the event is concerned, it is not only necessary to be standardized and orderly to ensure the safety of the contestants and spectators, but also to strictly screen and train referees, and strengthen the supervision of the whole process to ensure the fairness and justice of the event.

Marathon events involve transportation, security, medical care and other fields, and some cities even hold marathons with the strength of the whole city, so that the event has more confidence in success.

Cheng Yanxia, deputy director of the Baoding Sports Bureau, introduced that in order to ensure the success and excitement of the 2024 "Baoma", the municipal government has held coordination meetings many times to refine the relevant work. Taking medical security as an example, a total of 28 medical security points have been set up along the starting and finishing points and along the track, and 218 medical personnel and 39 monitored ambulances have been dispatched from the city's medical system to participate in medical security. At the same time, 460 medical observers, 70 volunteers from the medical station, and 120 first responders (equipped with 100 mobile AED devices) were arranged, which were scientifically distributed at different points.

The rigorous and standardized event organization and meticulous and thoughtful service guarantee are only the "passing line" of the marathon. Jiang Yiyi, a professor at the School of Sports, Leisure and Tourism at Beijing Sport University, believes that in order to get a "high score" evaluation from the contestants, it is necessary to have "outstanding features", that is, selling points and brands.

Each of the six major marathons in the world has its own characteristics: the Berlin Marathon is known as the "fastest marathon in the world" and allows runners to fully experience Berlin's history and culture, while the Tokyo Marathon is known for its attentive service, with more than 10,000 volunteers wearing different colors of clothing, so that runners in need can find it at a glance......

In China, more and more marathon events have also begun to focus on highlighting characteristics, such as the Xiamen Marathon combined with the local characteristics of the landscape to set up a "round-the-island route" to create the "most beautiful marathon track" in China; Wuxi Marathon has become one of the most popular marathon events in China in just a few years, which is inseparable from its excellent event service.

In addition, in order to attract more participants, the well-known marathons are becoming more and more interesting and interesting, such as the Berlin Marathon, which is preceded by a free "breakfast run" where you can get a hearty breakfast at the end of the race, and the Tokyo Marathon, where the "International Runners' Friendship Run" is held the morning before the race.

"At present, domestic marathon events generally set up full marathon, half marathon, health run, parent-child run and other events, which are conducive to expanding the number of participants. "However, compared with internationally renowned marathon events, there are not many more innovative and interactive projects, and the event system needs to be further optimized." ”

With the marathon as the medium, supporting sports consumption festivals, tourism festivals, expos and other activities are held to enrich the connotation of the event and extend the "industrial chain", which is also the direction of "out of the circle" that some places are exploring. During this year's Chongqing Marathon, the 2024 Chengdu-Chongqing Sports Industry Alliance and the 6th Chongqing Sports Industry Expo, Chongma Food Festival, Chongma International Consumption Festival, UAV Light and Shadow Show and other activities were held, and the competitions, conferences, exhibitions and festivals were in full bloom.

For large and medium-sized events, upgrading the level and enriching the supporting facilities can undoubtedly expand the popularity, but it also requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, which is obviously unbearable for small marathons, and can they survive and develop?

"'Small but beautiful' and 'small but fine' events will also be welcomed. Jiang Yiyi believes that combining the characteristic landscape or cultural history of the host place to give the marathon a unique "spiritual temperament" is a dislocation development choice for small events. For example, the pastoral Songyang Marathon in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province features the "Pastoral" brand, which not only reflects the pastoral characteristics in the name, but also highlights the pastoral scenery in the course design. The 2023 Pastoral Songyang Marathon has only 5,000 participants, but it has attracted 12 foreign runners from 5 countries.

"Every place has a unique culture, and every event should have a unique 'temperament'. The development of road running events should not be the same, but should be a hundred flowers. Cai Yong, vice chairman and secretary general of the Chinese Athletics Association, said.

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