Marathon
17:38, 06-May-2018
Chinese runners take top 3 of 2018 Beijing Bird's Nest Half Marathon
["china"]
Share
Copied
The 2018 Beijing Bird's Nest Half Marathon started at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday with almost 13,000 runners from 22 countries and regions starting at the Olympic Park Central Area. In the end, six Chinese runners – Sha Yuchao, Zhang Yanqiao and Feng at the men's team; and Zhang Chen, Zeng Ying and Zhang Lijun at the women's team – have secured top three spots on both sides.
The course of this half marathon includes the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, the Water Cube, the Beijing International Convention Center, the Olympic Green Tennis Center, the Olympic Forest Park, the Linglong Pagoda, China Science and Technology Museum and other Olympic facilities and landmarks in Beijing.
A father running together with his son at 2018 Beijing Bird's Nest Half Marathon /VCG Photo
A father running together with his son at 2018 Beijing Bird's Nest Half Marathon /VCG Photo
In the last dashing part of the event, runners got the chance to go all out on the special tracks within the Bird's Nest, the venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and IAAF World Championships. Sha Yuchao and Zhang Chen finished as champions at men's and women's divisions, respectively; clocking in one hour, 11 minutes, 27 seconds and one hour, 31 minutes, 51 seconds, respectively.
Held 10 years after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, this half marathon came with a special program of team-running by parents and their kids. Over 300 families got together, running towards the Bird's Nest. Fifty of them have kids born right in 2008.
The Beijing Bird's Nest Half Marathon was first launched in 2015. This year's event was supposed to happen in 2017 but was delayed to 2018. It is also the first time that items for the event were delivered to runners in a paperless way. Most of the preparation materials used are also recyclable.