One hell of a challenge

Teams brave brutal 180-km marathon relay in hilly Hebei

To hell and back.

That was the essence of the punishing 180-kilometer itinerary that hardy souls put themselves through in the wilds of Hebei province on the weekend.

For the uninitiated it's a perplexing prospect, but for the race's seasoned marathoners in search of ever more challenging ways to push their limits, there's pleasure in the pain.

On Saturday, the second edition of the BMW Hood to Coast China Relay took off from Genting Resort, a skiing venue near 2022 Winter Olympics co-host city Zhangjiakou, featuring over 1,500 runners from 258 teams.

They ran day and night over stunning but grueling mountain terrain en route to the picturesque Xiaoertai reservoir in Zhangbei county.

A 15-km stretch of muddy ground and hilly sections, described as "hell mode" by event organizer Starz Sports, proved particularly tough.

"This is definitely harder than the Hood to Coast in the US," said Annika Pounds, an American with experience of the original US edition of the race, which was first staged in 1992 in Oregon.

"We have done the Hood to Coast in the US before, so we decided to do the one in China. It's great fun because everyone in China is so supportive and the country is beautiful.

"The 'hell mode' leg is very hard, but the view of the countryside is great. I've never experienced anything like this and I have never been to China before.

"I think I should train a little more. It's hard, really hard here."

Team Adidas Terrex finished first in an impressive 11 hours, 40 minutes, 21.98 seconds to book its members a ticket to this year's Oregon race.

Unlike traditional marathon, the Hood to Coast relay, which debuted in China last year, requires the joint efforts of all five team members.

The Chinese course is separated into 19 sections, and each must be finished by one runner while the other four travel by car to the end of the section to await the arrival of their teammate.

Surprisingly, the field spanned the generations.

"I really enjoy the feeling of running together with young people," said 60-year-old Shang Xiumin.

"I improved a lot since last year when I joined the relay for the first time. It's different from traditional marathon. Hood to Coast requires teamwork, which allowed me to be surrounded by a group of energetic young people."

One of those was Shang's son, Li Yinan, a PR director.

"My mother finished four full marathons while I just did three last year," Li told China Daily. "She has more time than me as she's retired, and she's turning 60 next month. She's amazing because she decided not to stay at home after her retirement.

"You have to understand that last year when we participated in the Hood to Coast for the first time, only two runners on my team had experience of running full marathons. My mom and I were not on the list. However, this year, we all can run a full marathon within or around the four-hour barrier.

"Also, one of my teammates flew thousands of kilometers from Shenzhen in Guangdong province to Beijing to join the relay. We are all just passionate."

The race also attracted a dream team featuring three Chinese Olympic champions: Wang Junxia, who claimed the women's 5,000 meters gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Chen Ding, who won gold in the men's 20-kilometer race walk at London 2012 and Liu Hong, who became women's 20-km race walk champion at the 2016 Rio Games.

"I'm so glad that as three Olympic gold medalists we could join this relay," said Wang.

"Although we did not actually finish the whole 180-km course as we only had three members in our team, we still felt the relay was no easy task based on the legs we ran."

Chen concurred, saying: "It's a really difficult race, and every runner was using their own ways to cope with the course. More importantly, this is a great showcase of sporting and Olympic spirit. Everyone who finished the race deserves our most sincere respect."

Among the amateurs, teams of students, lawyers and doctors highlighted the social attraction of the event, even making for something of a party vibe.

"We established our running group in 2015 and we have been the regular participants of all sorts of long-distance running events in China," said Huang Kun, a senior member of Run 100871, comprised of around 1,000 alumni and students from prestigious Peking University.

"We also organized events ourselves. For example, we organized a 1500km marathon event to celebrate PKU's 120th birthday.

"In this year's Hood to Coast, we had six groups and over 40 runners. The race is not easy. There are some extremely hard legs. Our priority was to finish the race safely."

The race was also another feather in the cap of Zhangjiakou as it prepares for the Winter Olympics.

"As the co-host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics, we welcome all sports brand in all seasons to help develop the national fitness program in our city," said Wu Xiangyang, deputy mayor of Zhangjiakou.

"As a famous sports brand, the Hood to Coast relay will receive comprehensive support from our local government to let the runners experience an amazing and unforgettable relay race."

shifutian@chinadaily.com.cn