Thousands of women set to compete in Jing'an half marathon
The city’s top women’s running event returns to Jing’an this weekend.
The 2021 Shanghai Jing’an Queens Half Marathon, the Shanghai leg of the Queen’s Run series, will kick off in the district’s Daning area on Saturday morning.
A total of 4,000 runners will participate in the 21-kilometer half marathon and 5.2-kilometer race. As the name suggests, most runners will be women. However, their boyfriends and husbands are allowed to run with them.
They will start in Daning Park and pass Daning’s iconic commercial complex IMIX Park, an eSports hub and film industry park on Lingshi Road that houses hundreds of industry players.
Eight water and seven medical stations will be situated along the course, along with four ambulances. Cooling sponges will be available every 5 kilometers, and three water sprays will help runners beat the heat.
A pop-up nail salon will offer free manicures for female runners.
From 7am to 10:30am Saturday morning, some roads will be closed to traffic –Guangzhong Road W. between Gonghexin and Gaoping roads; Yichuan Road between Wanrong and Yuncheng roads; Lingshi Road between Ningsheng and Yuncheng roads; Yonghe Road between Gonghexin and Gaoping roads; Wanrong Road between Yonghe and Guangzhong W roads; Ningsheng Road between Lingshi and Guangzhong W roads; and Gaoping-Yuncheng Road between Yonghe and Yichuan roads.
There will be further adjustments to the temporary road closures ahead of the event.
Runners who finish the half marathon within two hours will be awarded accesses to any Queen’s Run station held this year in the Yangtze River Delta region, including Wuxi and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province.
An online race that enables runners to follow the map of the race and register through the WeChat app of Queen’s Run is up and running until May 25. Participants will also be awarded medals if they finish the race.
The event started as a 10-kilometer mini marathon in Daning Park, but last year expanded to cover the entire Daning area with the half marathon.
It is designated as a “silver medal” race by the Chinese Athletics Association, and is the highest-level race of its kind in Shanghai, said Yu Biao, director of the Jing’an Sports Bureau.
“We hope runners will experience Daning’s charm as a place that perfectly blends industry and living spaces,” Yu said.