Shanghai Running Magazine Shanghai Running Q2 2014. Volume 2 | Page 20

Racing for Free in Inner Mongolia
By Peter Jolicoeur

“Welcome to Ordos, hope you had
a nice flight!” The guide greeted
our group of four, and led across
the sparkling new terminal to an
area where a group of Ethiopian
and Kenyan runners were already
waiting. “Now that you’re all here,”
the guide announced, “we will take
you to the VIP hotel where you can
have some lunch. Wish all of you
elite runners a great race tomorrow!”
As a 40-year old amateur runner
who has never broken a 4-hour
marathon, it’s laughable to be
addressed as an “elite runner”.
However, I was one of several
international guests invited to run
the 2013 Yijinhuoluo International
Marathon in western Inner Mongolia. Elite or not, the local government picked up the tab for my
flight from Shanghai, hotel, meals,
and entry fee. The only require-

20

long, I had a small delegation.

ments are to have a non-Chinese
passport and the ability to run
a marathon within the 6 hours
allotted. With a free weekend
available, it was impossible to turn
down.
As running becomes increasingly
popular in China, more and more
cities are holding marathons and
adventure races. For smaller cities,
there is a certain cachet to labeling
the race as “international”. The
only problem is that there are few
foreigners nearby to participate.
Therefore, in addition to inviting
professional runners who are on
the Chinese race circuit, the international numbers are padded by
inviting foreigners living elsewhere
in China.
I first tapped into this group after
running the Yangzhou International Half-Marathon in April
2013. At the expo, I gave my

© Shanghai Running 2014

After arriving in Ordos, were
brought directly to the hotel giving
us the first chance to see the city.
Ordos is famous in some circles
as arguably the best example of a
“ghost city” in China. Because of
water supply problems, the local
government decided to build an
entirely new city 25 kilometers
away, designed to house a million
residents. To date very few people
have moved in to the “Kangbaishi
New Area”, making it feel like a
ghost town. Besides being free,
most of us were attracted to this
race to run through the heart of
this deserted city.
contact information to a large
Chinese running organization
known as Running8 (跑吧). About
a month after the race, I received a
text message asking me if I wanted
to run in a marathon for free. This
is how I came to be introduced to
Mr. Gu from Running8, who acts
as a recruiter for several races a
year, maintaining a list of international runners who may be up for
a marathon.
The instructions were quite simple. I just had to fill out the entry
form and send Running8 a copy of
my passport page. Once accepted,
I was told to book my own flight
and everything else (hotels and
meals) would be taken care of.
He also asked if I had any other
friends who might be interested. It
was not very difficult to find others
interested in a free race, so before

Staff were waiting at the hotel to
check us in and get us settled,
many of them very eager to try out
their English on real foreigners.
Our race packets were already at
the hotel with Mr. Gu, so there was
no need to attend an expo. Staff
told us to get some lunch in the
hotel and to relax. While at the
buffet lunch, we had a chance to
meet the other invited foreigners.
There were essentially two groups
of runners: The elites and the
foreign amateurs. All together
there were 30 professional runners,
and approximately 40 sponsored
amateurs. Most of the amateur
runners came from Shanghai, and
among this group of expats, over a
third were Japanese. Other countries represented include the US,
Canada, Great Britain, Germany,
Russia, and Ukraine.

All of us were directed on race day
to meet in front of the hotel for the
VIP bus, which would take us to
the start. Despite the early hour,
spirits were high, and we quickly arrived at the starting corrals.
Here is where the elites were finally
separated from us amateurs, as
they were brought to their own
waiting area. The rest of us were
directed to a VIP bag check area
and to the first corral for the marathoners.
The Yijinhuoluo Marathon has
two other distances: a 9 km race
and a “fun run”. According to the
race report, there were 20,000 total
runners at this race, including
2,500 marathoners; 6,500 in the 9
km race, and 11,000 fun runners.
It was clear a number of schools,
work units, and government departments were represented in the
fun run, as many had matching
shirts, flags and banners.

As foreigners, many of us had our
photos taken by local media, and
were interviewed by TV and radio
stations.
Before long, the starting gun went
off and as we were standing near
the very start, all of us did our
best to avoid getting crushed by
over-enthusiastic “fun runners”
willing to push everyone over for
some slight advantage in their
untimed race. Fortunately, the
race course was designed to turn
the non-marathoners off early, so
that soon we could enjoy an open
course with lots of running room.