Yancheng City marathon registration opens soon

Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province announced on Thursday that its first full-range marathon will kick off at 7:30am on April 21, and registration for the competition will begin Friday.

The event will host a total of 10,000 runners, including 3,000 in the 42-kilometer full marathon, 4,000 in the 21-kilometer half marathon and 3,000 in a 5-kilometer race.

The runners will start from the Yancheng Sports Center and end at the Dayang Bay scenic area, passing the botanic garden, TV tower, Yancheng Sea Salt Historic and Cultural Zone, as well as other scenic spots around the city.

The top 100 runners, regardless of their nationalities, will receive monetary prizes for the full marathon and half marathon respectively, and there will be 400 special awards for Chinese runners only.

All runners who complete their races will receive certificates, while the top three runners in the men's and women's groups for the full and half marathons will receive gold, silver and bronze prizes, valued from 400 to 1,500 yuan (US$59.50 to US$223) respectively.

Services will be provided in Mandarin Chinese, English, Korean and Japanese during the event.

Everyone who successfully registers for the Yancheng marathon will be given a free ticket to the cherry blossom festival in the Dayang Bay scenic area, and will be able to take public transportation within the city for free using their number bibs.

The registration fee is 120 yuan (US$17.90) for the full marathon, 90 yuan for the half marathon and 50 yuan for the 5km race. Groups with at least 20 members can enjoy discounted prices, and Alipay and WeChat are accepted.

Authorities of the city said that they expect the marathon to be another “name card” of Yancheng.

Located to the north of Shanghai and bordering the Yellow Sea, Yancheng, with the largest jurisdictional area and longest coastline in Jiangsu, is rich in culture and tourism resources, such as wetlands and salt marshes. It is also well-known as home to some unique and endangered species, including Père David's deer and the red-crowned crane. 

Those interested in taking part in the marathon can register at the official website by March 15.