The number of marathons and road races hosted or co-hosted by the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) last year reached 134, which was a 160% increase compared to the year 2014, CAA vice president Du Zhaocai announced at its annual conference held in Guangzhou on Saturday January 9.

"The 134 events included 53 marathons, 43 half marathons, 13 x 10-kilometer road races and 25 other distance running events, 83 more than the number in 2014, attracting 1,500,000 participants from nearly 90 countries and regions," said Du at the China Marathon Conference.

"In 2010, there was a total of only 13 marathons and now it has increased more than 10 times," Du added.

According to Du, marathons in China have covered four municipalities and 79 cities in 23 provinces and autonomous regions.

Du said, "Now we can say that marathon has become the most popular competition in China contributing to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle."

Source: Xinhua

Proofread by John Devlin