And the bulging popularity of marathon also gripped the attention of enterprises to promote their own brands and products.
The Chongqing Marathon was once on the brink of being abandoned due to lack of sponsors in 2012, nowadays a large number of well-known enterprises rushed to sponsor the event since 2014, as sportswear and equipment manufacturing enterprises have also developed their varieties of high-tech shoes, equipment and software, according to Li Wei.
Besides its sports features, marathon also becomes a promising industry. Amateur runners buy basic sportswear of clothes, shoes, socks and pants, and those experienced ones are more tech-savvy and keen on high-end devices and professional equipment, such as sports watch and heart rate monitor. Their demands provide a huge market with great potential.
"We have our research about foreign road running races, and we believe the fever of marathon in China is sooner or later," said Wu Lixin, senior brand director of Xtep, one of the biggest sportswear enterprises in China.
"We are dedicated to develop products strongly related to running. We are to build up an ecological circle for runners in product research and services, marathon sponsorship, and running social contacts, according to the demand of users," Wu added.
Apart from spending on sportswear and equipment, runners also travel to different places for other marathons, generating expenditure of transportation, catering and accommodation.
TOUGH ISSUES TO TACKLE
However, the marathon fever in China has not yet reached its peak and is still far from enough in terms of quantity and quality, comparing to the United States, Japan and other developed marathon countries and regions.
In 2015, the United States had 1,100 full marathons where 510,000 completed the course. Japan also has a total of 570,000 finishers of full marathon in 2015.
In catching up with the best in the world, local organizers and all concerned parties in China are also requested for instant measures to deal with some tough issues, which have become the hot topics among runners, fans, and even organizers themselves.
For instance, some organizers provide few toilets and drinking water along the course, and some small cities exploit public resources in transportation, security and medicines, and host large scale marathons by hindering the normal life of local residents.
And to the worst, some runners even didn't have systematical training in advance, increasing the threat of injuries and even death.
Two Chinese runners died at the 2016 Xiamen International Half Marathon in eastern China's Fujian province. One of them even took the competition number of someone else.
REGULATIONS IN NEED
The CAA released afterwards new rules to deal with cheating in marathon races - banning runners from the races they cheated in, and any second offence means a life time ban from all CAA authorized races.
In addition, the marathon culture has not yet rooted in China. Lots of runners go to the streets only to brag about their so-called running fashion.
And to most cities in China, marathon is still a fresh sport in its popularity, thus a lot of problems occurred in terms of race operation and marketing.
To deal with such issues, the CAA has in recent years put forward guidelines in terms of race management, runners training, medical treatment and emergency aid.
Experts suggest that marathon should be organized with a crystal clear orientation instead of too many functions.
And a pyramid structure of marathon - from the full marathon, half marathon, mini marathon, to the middle and short distance running, and other fun running - will not only encourage more people to rush to the streets to cherish their healthy lifestyle, but also promote the images of the Chinese cities by improving efficiency in using public resources.
