1,102 marathons with 4.98 million participants held in 2017

A total of 1,102 distance running events were held in China last year, and the participants in these events totaled some 4.98 million, according to figures released at the 2017 Chinese Marathon Gala held in Shanghai on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Photo shows the 2018 Xiamen Marathon held on January 7, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Yu Hongchen, vice president of the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), revealed that the regions covered by the events were much wider than before, a total of 234 cities held marathons and related events, an increase of 101 cities from the previous year.

"Marathons have become one of the most popular and influential events in China," said Yu.

With the rapid development of the marathon market, more and more entrepreneurs and investors have thrown themselves into the booming industry, and the growth is expected to continue.

China's marathon industry increased 20 percent from 2016 to reach 70 billion yuan (11 billion US dollars) in 2017, according to data released by the country's governing body of the sport on Thursday.

Yu said, "An estimated 720,000 people are working directly in the marathon industry, and another 2 million people have jobs related to the industry."

"We expect that the number of events can increase to 1,900 by the year of 2020 with some 10 million participants and that the scale of the industry can reach 120 billion yuan by then," said Yu.