The Guangzhou Marathon is an annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

race held in December in the city of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, since 2012. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

History

The event was first held on 18 November 2012. Two people died during the event: a 21-year-old male student died after completing the 10 km race and a 25 year old real estate agent collapsed before completing the 5 km race. In 2015, Sentayehu Merga Ejigu crossed the finish line first with a course record time of 2:09:57, but was later disqualified for failing an in-competition

drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug ...

.https://web.archive.org/web/20201218060423if_/https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/Feb-2019-Sanctions-List-Full.pdf#page=6 This led to the promotion of the second runner to cross the finish line, Abdellah Tagharrafet, to first place. He too had broken the course record, with a time of 2:10:01, but he too was later disqualified for doping.https://web.archive.org/web/20201218054755if_/https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=76b0498e-4c44-4d5d-aa11-50c0cb58b18f.pdf&urlslug=Doping+sanctions+-+News+187 As a result, the third runner to cross the finish line, Ethiopian

Raji Assefa Raji Assefa Worku (born 1986) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In 2008, he competed at the 2008 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He finished in 14th place. In 2012, he competed in the men's half marath ...

, was then promoted to first place. In 2019, both winners won the event with a new course record: Gebretsadik Abraha Adihana won the men's race with a time of 2:08:04 and Hiwot Gebrekidan won the women's race with a time of 2:23:50. In 2020, during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, only runners who resided in areas of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan that were deemed to be at low risk for the virus were allowed to participate. In addition, the marathon was the only distance offered that year. A year later, the 2021 Guangzhou Marathon was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Course

Beginning at

Tianhe Stadium Tianhe Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is currently used for football matches. History Construction of the stadium began on 4 July 1984 at the former site of Guangzhou Tianhe Airport. ...

, the marathon initially heads south to the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...

. The course then largely runs along both sides of the river, with the rest of the first half mostly either on or east of the Liede Bridge, and most of the rest of the second half west of the bridge. The last few kilometres are run on

Ersha Island Ersha Island, formerly Napier Island in English, is an island in the Yuexiu District of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. It houses the American International School of Guangzhou elementary school campus, several apartment complexes, a badmi ...

and Haixinsha Island before entering

Huacheng Square Huacheng Square, or Flower City Square (), is the largest city square in the city of Guangzhou. The square is situated on the city axis in Zhujiang New Town, occupies a area with Haixinsha Island to its south and Huangpu Avenue to its north. ...

for the finish.

Winners

Key: Course record (in bold)

By country

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Marathons in China Marathons in China Sports competitions in Guangzhou Autumn events in China