This weekend the country is enjoying another marathon "super weekend", with nearly 30 full- and half-marathon events taking place today, including the 2026 Shijiazhuang Marathon.
This year's Shijiazhuang Marathon was truly star-studded: marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge came to the Shijiazhuang event to cheer the runners, and a number of strong competitors — Zhu Qing, Huang Xuemei, Wu Mingyao, Hong Yue — also took part in the Shijiazhuang half and full marathon races.
At 7 : 30 a.m., the race started with a gun at Liberation Square.
After the start, Wu Mingyao ran up front and asserted control, hitting the first 5 km in 15 minutes 23 seconds and heading for the 2:10 barrier. In the women's race, Shen Ni was running in first.
At 7.5 km the men's chase pack caught up, and Fang Bo, Sun Xiaoyang, Mao Huajie and Wu Mingyao formed the lead group. In today's race Fang Bo stood out, showing a resolute determination to break away and even led for more than ten kilometers at one point. At 28 km, Wu Mingyao pushed the pace, dropped the main pack and went solo.
On the women's side, Pan Hong caught up with Shen Ni at 11 km and, with steady output, began to extend her advantage, leading the women's field. At the 30 km mark, Pan Hong had used 1 hour 46 minutes 56 seconds to reach the mark, leading second-place Pan Yuancheng by 1 minute 10 seconds.
After 30 kilometers, the fight for the men's title gradually lost suspense as the race progressed。Wu Mingyao steadily extended his lead and ultimately won in 2:11:49, andset a personal best (PB) and broke the course record!
Fang Bo maintained his strong form, crossing the line in 2:13:31 to finish second, improving his personal best by four minutes and claiming the men's runner-up spot.Mao Huajie finished third.
The battle among the women changed in the final 10 kilometers, with Pan Yuancheng coming from behind to overtakePan Hong crossed the finish line first in 2:32:12, claiming the women's title and improving her personal best by more than two minutes, qualifying as an International Athlete!
Pan Hong, who took the women's runner-up, also ran sub-2:33, set a PB, and qualified as an International Athlete.Shen Ni took third place.
In the half marathon, Zhu Qing won in 1:11:52, claiming a 'back-to-back' victory after last week's Wuhan, and Huang Xuemei recorded 1:14:54 to take the women'srunner-up.
Gansu runner Liu Zongmao won the men's title in 1:06:25.
Congratulations to all the athletes!
