The Great Wall Marathon - China

When I read a line in the race description, “a little tougher than a usual course but no extraordinary experience is obtained ordinarily” I had anticipated this race would be a challenge but nowhere near as tough as it actually turned out to be.

In fact, I have to admit, this marathon was so difficult, I was unable to run continuously for the entire race. Due to intense heat, I had to take a breather for a while to catch my breath – of course if anyone asks I shall lie and say I was taking time out to admire the view from the great wall – which incase you are wondering is spectacular!

Entry to this race is not a cheap option. You are required to join a formal tour arranged via a tour operator – I chose a UK company called 2:09, specialists in organising marathon entries around the world. Despite my initial reluctance to part with the money required to join an organised tour, it was the only way I could gain entry to the race and, as it turned out, 2:09 did a superb job and were well worth the investment.

One of the best things about being part of an organised tour is that you get to meet others all travelling with you to do the same thing. There were about 25 of us in my group and these people turned out to be 25 of the best people you could ever hope to meet.

Having reached China and checked in to our hotel, we were taken for a pre-race inspection along key parts of the route to familiarise ourselves with the route and the challenge ahead.

The course itself doubled back, so the first part of the course was also the last – this was of course also the most difficult part. A steep incline on tarmac road lead us up to the main wall, the following day we’d be running this incline twice without the help of the coach and we began to get an idea of just how steep the incline was when the coach crawled along with difficulty in first gear.

Having arrived at the wall we continued our familiarisation on foot. This was a real eye opener and it gave us the opportunity to understand the difficulties associated with running on the wall. The wall itself is contoured to follow the shape of the mountains it follows. Underfoot is uneven, sprinkled with a few obstacles along the way such as drainage channels and guard towers. This coupled with steep increases and decreases and steps that range from just a few inches in height to over a foot, all contribute to making this one of the most difficult running courses I have ever experienced.

Called the Great Wall marathon, you may be deceived into thinking the entire 26 miles is run along the wall. It is not, simply because there are only parts of the wall that are in good enough condition to run along. By the time you’ve climbed the 1,650 steps to get onto the wall, you probably only get to run along it for approximately five miles. Leading from the wall to take you to the next part of the course is a dusty red soil path meandering down the steep side of the mountain back to the staring point of the race, otherwise known as a “goat trail”. This proved to be a challenge to several people in just walking down the path and proved more of a challenge on race day as people of differing speeds would want to pass each other on the narrow slippery path.

Even at this point I was still (quietly) relatively confident, but then at this point we had not yet seen the course in its entirety and wouldn’t actually do this until race day.

Race day arrived. The atmosphere created by the great setting in the yingyang square made it a superb venue to start and finish what ever race you had entered from 5km, 10km, half marathon through to the full marathon, which I was attempting.

As the race started and surrounded by stunning scenery I felt great and relatively confident about the course ahead. Alongside another guy (Tim running no.130) from my tour group we made the journey up the steep tarmac road in good time, although the sun was already starting to heat the temperature up.

It was at this point I realised that the only shade along the part of the route I’d seen was a 500 yard stretch just past the start line – as it turned out this was the only shade during the entire course, which is what made it so tough. 35 degrees heat, blazing sun, steep inclines, no shade and in my stupidity… no hat. These extreme conditions made this tough, tougher even than the 35 miles I’d completed in Cape Town.

Fortunately, the wall was just amazing and the miles seemed to fly by as the views distracted you. The goat trail was great in that it provided a change in the muscle groups you used and was actually quite fun (on the way down!). I then hit the main part of the distance running element of the race, the 18 plus miles along what I thought would be flat roads through the local villages. To be fair this part of the race was mainly flat with two exceptions – that is two mountains (or what seemed like mountains at this point) in the middle of the course, which no one had mentioned before! Please see the incline map shown below (Only posted on the Great Wall of China website on the day of the race as a nice surprise!).

It was this part of the run that left me with a truly memorable experience. We had been told that the people in the villages were friendly and once a year enjoyed seeing the mad tourists running through. Other than this annual event, it was explained to us that many of these people, who lived in these remote villages were unlikely to see foreigners, which is why, as we passed through, I was amazed to see so many people out cheering us.

Many school children lined the roads to practice for real the English they were being taught at school. Every child would try to say “hello” or those that were less confident would wave or put their hands out for a high five. This went on for some time and ahead in the distance I could see another set of children waiting to cheer me on. There was one boy at the end of this group, who was staring straight ahead and really concentrating. He couldn’t have been more than 7 and the concentration on his face intrigued me. I knew as I approached him that he definitely wanted to say something but he couldn’t make eye contact, he was too busy concentrating on what it was he wanted to say. He knew if he just stared straight ahead that at some point I’d have to cross his line of vision. When I finally did, as I ran by he blurted it out. It took me a few seconds to realise what he’d said “Welcome to China and have a great day”. By the time I’d realised I’d probably run about 50 yards further down the road, I don’t know what it was but I was so touched by the determination of this child that I couldn’t stop myself, I slowed down, did a 180 and ran back to him. “Thank you” I said to him and gave him a high five – I’ve never seen such an amazing smile in return. He was so happy I thought I was going to cry!

Whilst the experience of running through these villages and seeing local children was great motivation to continue running, the full strength of the midday sun was beginning to have an effect on me.

As a result, as I returned back to attempt to run up the goat track and back along the wall I had to admit defeat (I sat on one of the steps on the wall and tried to put myself as much as possible in the shade of a small bush). As a result my position of about 40th place that I had had for the last 20 miles slipped away as I watched runner after runner zoom by me – it meant I eventually came in 89th.

I have to admit to being disappointed at my placing, especially as B&Q had sent a camera crew to film my endeavours here and given the state of me at the end of the race – those guys now have enough material to blackmail me for my entire career!

However, after plenty of water and some time in the shade, I came away from this event with some amazing memories of the sites and the people I meet along the way. Of course, I’ve now made it an ambition of mine to go back and complete it in a much better time – I’m using the excuse that I’d like to take my now wife!

 

Finally it was great to experience the culture and huge amount of history in China at a time when the strong focus throughout every aspect of china is the preperation for the up and coming Olympics. Great to see so much enthusiasm and developement taking place in anticipation for the event in china and good luck to all the B&Q sponsored athletes.