For the city, the marathon is not only a sport, but also a business card, a platform to show the vitality of the city, and an effective way to enhance the city's popularity, reputation and soft power.

As the organizer of this event, the relevant person in charge of Zhuhai Huafa Sports Operation and Management Company (hereinafter referred to as "Huafa Sports") said that the Hengqin Marathon will be held regularly every year, and it is planned to become a double gold standard event of the Chinese Athletics Association & IAAF in five years. With the development of sports, the vitality of Zhuhai will also attract more and more attention from all over the world, and a passionate seaside city is rapidly emerging in the Greater Bay Area.

Hengqin Island, surrounded by water, faces Macao, has beautiful scenery and has a touch of comfort in the bustling. In a few days, tens of thousands of runners will gather on this beautiful island to run towards the new year at the end of the year.

The marathon was hosted by the Chinese Athletics Association, the Hengqin New Area Management Committee and Huafa Group, and undertaken by Huafa Sports. This year's marathon consists of three events: full marathon (42.195km), half marathon (21.0975km) and mini marathon (5km), which are held according to the marathon A1 standard.

This is the second time that Zhuhai has held a marathon after a four-year absence, and it is the first time that Zhuhai has held a full marathon. According to the organizing committee, after the registration channel for the event was opened on November 22, the quota for each event was quickly sold out in less than a week. The number of participants in the three events will be 5,000, 3,000 and 4,000 respectively, and the total number of participants will exceed 12,000.

One of the charms of the marathon is the openness of the venue. For the participants, every step and every section is a different scenery. The route of the tournament is also rich in coastal characteristics, starting and ending at the Hengqin International Tennis Center, passing through many landmark buildings and scenic spots such as Shibo Park, Hengqin Financial Base, Financial Island, Mangzhou Wetland, Flower Sea Promenade, Sandi Spring and so on, enjoying the unique natural and cultural scenery of Hengqin throughout the whole process, connecting the green waters and green mountains and the modern urban style.

The prize money of this competition is also very generous: if the champion of the full marathon male and female sub-events takes less than 2 hours, 9 minutes and 30 seconds, he can get a reward of up to 20,000 yuan, and if he overtimes, he can also get a reward of 10,000 yuan; The champion of the half marathon can receive a cash prize of up to 6,000 yuan; As long as the full and half marathons finish in the top 12, they can get different degrees of cash prizes; Each runner who completes the full and half marathon will receive a medal for the 2018 Hengqin Marathon.

In order to enrich the fun of the race, the Hengqin Marathon also set up a team competition award for the full marathon. The ranking is based on the average time of each team's 10 players to finish the competition, and the teams from 1 to 8 will receive a team certificate of honor and a bonus respectively, and the top three teams will receive a trophy.

In addition, in order to attract players from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to participate in the competition, the competition also set up a special prize for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao players, and the champion of the male and female events in this group can receive a cash prize of up to 4,000 yuan.

Marathon is a high-load, high-intensity, long-distance competitive sport, and it is also a high-risk competitive event, which has high requirements for the physical condition of participants. Although this is the first time that Zhuhai has held a full marathon, Huafa Sports, which has experience in hosting a number of international sports events, has come up with the most professional services.

In order to ensure the safety of the runners and improve the professionalism of the event, the Hengqin Marathon recruits official pacemakers, police escort runners, and physician runners for all runners to provide more professional services and better participation experience for runners.

This is also the first marathon event in Zhuhai's history led by "rabbits". The official pacemaker is the legendary "rabbit". They are the most fun and hardest characters in a game. On the course, they will wear eye-catching signs (pace balloons, pace bibs) and use their experience to teach the participants when to refuel and when to adjust the speed at any time, leading the runners through the marathon.

In addition to the official pacemakers, the marathon will be accompanied by 70 professional physician runners. There will also be a police escort group in the crowd to escort the whole process to maintain on-site order and prevent emergencies.

In addition, the marathon organizing committee will also set up fixed medical points at the starting and finishing points and every 2.5 kilometers along the course, so that runners can receive treatment in case of physical discomfort and other emergencies, the organizing committee will also arrange medical ambulances along the course to deal with emergency medical situations in a timely manner, and medical service volunteers will be set up every 100 meters along the course to maintain the order of the race and assist in the rescue, and the runners can ask them for help at any time.

In order to enhance the experience of runners, the organizing committee has also made sufficient preparations in terms of logistics and supply, and has set up 17 supply stations along the course, especially at 12.5 km and 35 km compared with other marathon races.

According to reports, the supply station prepared a total of about 81,250 bottles of drinking water, 32,000 bottles of sports drinks and 1,149 barrels of bottled water, as well as 81,500 energy bars, 40,000 bananas and 5,700 packs of mustard.

As a famous coastal city, Zhuhai is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, with a beautiful environment. The Master Plan for Tourism Development of Zhuhai (2016-2030) clearly states that Zhuhai will be built into a coastal international tourism and leisure destination and a city of cultural tourism. Festivals and events, business exhibitions, ocean islands and theme parks are listed as the four world-class tourism products that Zhuhai focuses on.

Among them, sports events are also an important starting point for Zhuhai to build a charming city. In order to further promote the development of Zhuhai's cultural and sports undertakings and help enhance the competitiveness of Zhuhai's cultural and sports industry, a high-quality marathon event is about to be held.

Compared with other races, marathons have the characteristics of high participation and popularity. In recent years, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou and other well-known cities have successively held large-scale marathons, and marathons have gradually become the "image ambassador" of a city. According to the relevant data released by the Chinese Athletics Association a few days ago, as of November, a total of 1,072 cross-country races with more than 800 people and more than 300 people have been held in China this year, with 5.3 million participants.

The marathon is not only a business card of the city, but also brings direct economic benefits and promotes the economic development of the city. A marathon can radiate to the surrounding industries such as tourism, hotel industry, and catering industry. According to relevant statistics, the 2016 Xiamen Marathon brought direct economic benefits of 230 million yuan to the city of Xiamen, driving economic benefits of 325 million yuan, totaling 555 million yuan.

"Most of the domestic marathons are concentrated in January, March and April, and as the months go by, there are fewer and fewer marathons." Xiao Hao, who has participated in major marathons across the country, said that the Hengqin Marathon will be held at a staggered peak, which can attract more attention and more runners to participate, and I believe that the beautiful scenery of Zhuhai will leave a deep impression on runners and international friends from all over the country.

As he said, with the development of sports, the vibrant city of Zhuhai is attracting more and more attention from all over the world. As the organizer of the event, in addition to the Hengqin Marathon, in recent years, Huafa Sports has hosted a series of major events such as the Zhuhai WTA Super Classic, the Tour of China International Road Cycling Race (Zhuhai Station), the WDC Standard Dance/Latin Dance Competition, and the Australia Open Tennis Tournament Asia-Pacific Wild Card Tournament, relying on the vitality of sports events to further promote the construction of Zhuhai as a world tourism city.

"Hengqin Marathon will be one of the key development projects of Huafa Sports in the future, which is not only the demand of the company's development, but also an important supporting activity derived from the economic and cultural development of Hengqin New Area." Lv Pinde, executive director and general manager of Huafa Sports, introduced that next, the Hengqin Marathon will be held regularly every year, and the first year of the event will be held according to the A1 standard of the Chinese Athletics Association, and it is planned to build the Hengqin Marathon into a double gold standard event of the Chinese Athletics Association & IAAF in 5 years.