Great Wall Marathon

Anton wrote about the new 7 Wonders of The World on his blog and, not surprisingly, the Great Wall of China is still on that list. I haven’t been there myself, but if and when I do it will be sometime in May. Nope, not because it’s my birthday month nor is there any other special occassion to celebrate. It’s for a much more sublime and meaningful reason: The Great Wall Marathon! (What else did you think? This is a running blog remember?!)

The Great Wall Marathon is held every year on the 3rd Saturday of May. Runners can choose from a 5k, 10k, half or full marathon. Whatever one selects, this is by no means an easy course. The first half (9k) of the course takes runners through a portion of the wall’s 3,700 stone steps with frequent steep (uhm…very steep) ascents. (Ooh, I can almost feel the stinging pain in my legs!) After this, the course takes runners through the scenic local villages and rice fields of Tianjin province.

For the average human being, the Great Wall is a must see before they die. For runners, it is said that this is a MUST run. Runner’s World (Jan 2007 issue) included it in their top 10 list of marathons you should run in your lifetime. Lucky for us Filipinos, China is a hop, skip, and a run away. See you there one of these years! hah!

The next Great Wall Marathon is on May 17, 2008. Click here for more information.

More articles on the Great Wall Marathon:

Great Wall Marathon by John Lindsay
The Great Wall Marathon by Sean Fishpool (2001)

Video courtesy of Spreeker