The city of Jiuquan in northwestern China’s Gansu Province became the site of an extremely unique event, an ultra-marathon held in the Gobi Desert, sponsored by the China Athletic Association, the Gansu sports bureau and the Qiuquan government.
Organizers of the event said that the extreme running competition, dubbed the "Changan Ford Kuga Gobi Ultra-Marathon," has a 50-kilometer track, half of it features the Gobi landscape.
The China Daily reported that the event has the support of the International Association of Ultrarunners and many professional marathon runners joined the competition.
The report said that the unique marathon has attracted a total of 158 participants from around the world, with 81 of them coming from countries abroad, including the queen of the runner's world Meghan Arbogast from the U.S. and other runners from Germany, Kenya and Egypt.
"It's a great track featuring various landforms and challenges," Souhei Kobayashi, honorary council member of the association, said.
Wang Dawei, vice chairman of the China Athletic Association, said that the marathon will help bring China closer to its goal of becoming a powerful sports country.
Jiuquan Mayor Du Wei said that he hoped the event would enhance sports and culture integration in the city and help transform its economy as it has been aiming to become a sports city in western China over the years.
At stake in the race is 500,000 yuan, but most runners were focused not only on winning the race but also in completing it, according to an article by crienglish.cn.
Chinese Bai Bing, expected by many to lead the race, was injured after he pulled a muscle in the soft sand section of the track and was forced to drop out of the race.
Dutchman Joost Van Oosterbruggen, who called the race "intense," had to walk on blistered feet at the 35-km mark.
"The first 20 K were very harsh for some people," Fred Simon, who facilitated getting a large number of participants to the race, said. Fast runners had back and leg injuries; slower runners had exhaustion and will power issues. "They just got completely burned in the beginning," he said.
Kenyan Charles Kimutai, who clocked 3.5 hours to win the race, agreed. "It was very tough," he said in a low voice. "Not easy. Because there was a lot of sand, and it was very long."