High standard and good atmosphere! 2026 Northern Marathon sets new record, event organization recognized by players

China News Service, Beijing, October 18 (Reporters Wang Hao and Liu Xingchen) On October 18, the 2026 Beijing Marathon (hereinafter referred to as "Northern Marathon") and National Marathon Championships were held. Ethiopian athlete Tola won the Northern Marathon men's championship with a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds, breaking the competition record and setting the best marathon result in China. In the women's group, Ethiopian player Gennach successfully defended the title with a time of 2 hours, 20 minutes and 36 seconds. Chinese players Tsering Tsom and Lu Ying ranked second and third.

This event combines the Beijing Marathon and the National Marathon Championship into one, attracting more than 265,000 runners from around the world to register, with the final total number of participants reaching 32,000.

In the men's category, the top three were taken by Ethiopian players. Tola, the men's marathon champion of the Paris Olympic Games, showed good competitive form from the start and finally finished the race in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds. While winning the championship, he broke the competition record of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 6 seconds set by Kenyan athlete Chissorio in 2019. According to statistics, this is also the best marathon result in China.

In the women's group, Ethiopian player Gennach successfully defended her title with a time of 2 hours, 20 minutes and 36 seconds. Chinese player Tsering Tsomo came second in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 48 seconds. Lu Ying ranked third in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 24 seconds.

Tsering Tsomo and Lu Ying also became the top two in the women's group of the National Marathon Championships, with Xia Yuyu finishing third. After the game, Tsering Tsomo said that the pace was relatively fast in the first half of the game and he also encountered a situation where he was out of breath, but he eventually adjusted. She was especially grateful to Lu Ying for working with her to stabilize the rhythm in the second half of the race, and both of them achieved good results in the end.

The top three in the men's group of the National Marathon Championships are Chen Tianyu, Jiang Fakun and Xie Yunce. Chen Tianyu was choked up when he revealed his true feelings in the post-match interview. He said that this competition was crowded with domestic experts, and he was under great pressure before the competition. He hoped to get good results to prove himself. "I also lost my breath and felt a little upset in my stomach during the process. In the end, I still admire myself for my result."

It is understood that the competition standards of the 2026 Beijing Marathon and National Marathon Championships will be raised again, and the cut-off time for the full marathon will be shortened from the previous 6 hours and 15 minutes to 6 hours.

In addition, this year's event also focuses on participation experience and safety guarantees, and continues to optimize and refine service measures around core links such as access packages, medical security, and competition refereeing. With a more professional and comprehensive event organization, it strives to provide athletes with safe, orderly, and efficient participation guarantees.

For bag access, the starting point adopts a mixed bag storage mode, optimizing the bag storage area settings, effectively expanding the passage space, and improving bag storage efficiency; setting up dedicated channels for non-bag storage to meet the needs of different athletes; optimizing the arrangement of the bag collection area at the end point, further expanding the bag collection area, and reducing the queuing time.

In terms of medical support, the event has a total of 26 fixed medical points, 35 ambulances, 100 AED equipment, 610 medical observers, and a 200-square-meter medical service center at the finish line. At the same time, 160 first-aid runners are deployed at a ratio of 1:200, striving to provide all participating athletes and staff with comprehensive medical support services.

This event has established a referee team composed of 433 professional referees, covering 20 positions including inspection, starting and finishing points, along the track, distribution of completion items, and deposit and withdrawal packages. The total number of volunteers reached 7,341, an increase of 441 from last year.

In terms of the supply system, there are 8 supply stations, 7 drinking water stations, and 7 food supply stations along the track. This year, the organizing committee innovatively developed a reusable "environmentally friendly water cup" and arranged multi-faucet self-service water buckets and backpack-type water supply equipment at functional stations to meet the needs of different participating athletes while actively practicing the concept of green and sustainable competition.

A good event organization gives players a good participation experience. Xia Yuyu said after the game that this event is large in scale, with domestic elites gathered, and the level of competition is very high. During the competition, the audience and volunteers at the scene gave me a lot of encouragement: "Let everyone feel the enthusiasm of the city of Beijing, which will help everyone strive for more opportunities to come to Beijing in the future." (End)