The annual Suzhou Jinji Lake International Half Marathon was held in the morning of March 10. More than 30,000 marathon runners attend the 10th anniversary "party". Let's take a look at the scene.
Before the race began, the two "rabbits" under the starting line caught everyone's attention. They are the two new foreign pace bunnies for this year's marathon. They are Markus Austria and Claude from Switzerland.
Markus has been living and working in Suzhou for more than six years. He is an absolute marathon enthusiast. He has run more than 60 marathons in many countries. The longest distance is 120 km in Italy. It was his fourth time to participate Jinji Lake International Half Marathon.
His friend Claude is also crazy about running. They often run around the lake together. It was his third time to participate Jinji Lake International Half Marathon. They had special training for this match, especially trained how to keep a steady pace.
"I am very happy to run the pace we were supposed to run,everyone in our group could finish in 1h45mins,we finished at 1h44mins. I am very honored to have been a pacer bunny!" Markus said.
"It was a nice experience. It was my first time as a pacer. We used this opportunity to have a preparation run for Seoul full marathon next Sunday. " Claude said.
The men's champion for this year is Abdu Endris from Ethiopia. His score was 1:06'08''. Abdu has participated marathons in Thailand, Morocco and other countries. This is his first time to compete in China. Abdu is a little uncomfortable with the low temperature and cloudy weather, but the beautiful environment and smooth track make Abdu get a good score. Abdu was very satisfied with the result and Suzhou left a very good impression on him.
This time there are many foreign friends in the thirty thousand runners. He is Petrut. His score is 1:27'.
And this Tomas. He is from England. His score for this year was 1:21'. His friend said that he gets faster every year. Tomas does not only love running, he is a member of WeBus, which is a running group for foreigners in Suzhou to encourages people to run.
A group of foreign friends also contribute to the marathon with another power. They are the volunteers from Tangmama Charity Center. They are from the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Germany, France and other countries.
Thank you for your love for Suzhou. This city is more wonderful because of you.
