Xiamen Marathon, China

After four days of vacation at Guilin and Guangzhou I took the night train to Xiamen. After arrival I checked in at the hotel and took up my start number. Because I did my reservation through a travel agency, I had to pick up my number at their office.

The start of the marathon and the half-marathon was the next morning at 8am. After having breakfast I took the taxi to the start area. The amount of people was much more than I suspected. Also there were some game areas to amuse yourself. When I reached the area of the 4,5 hour runners the race started. Before that there was an opening speech, as well as lighting the torch and release of some doves. Immediately after the marathon the half marathon runners started. To prevent too many runners cramped together in the beginning of the race, it helps to split up the field in different groups of "final time". The course was running beside the sea for about 20km. After that there was a small loop. The last 20km was the same as the beginning, just backwards. After 5km and 10km there were additional points to stop during the race. Along the course there were a lot of aid stations (about every 4km) as well as a few medical stations. Also there were volunteers (students of the UNI Xiamen) and some street police places about every 50m. Besides the "officials" there were plenty of spectaculars and music bands. The people were placed quite well, because there was almost no place without somebody. At the finish there was a T-Shirt, a towel and a medal given to every arrival. At the finishing area there was bananas and drinks for strength. Sadly the towel was only to dry the sweating, because there were no showers. By the way it was also possible o pick up the certificate after the finish.

Results of the organisation
Course
Homepage of the organisation