On February 28, 2026, China Procurement and Bidding Network published a notice,Red Star Media (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. was chosen as the Chengdu Marathon's operations partner for 2026-2030。

Founded in 2017, the Chengdu Marathon has been held eight times and has been operated by Wanda Sports since 2018. According to the Chinese Athletics Association's 2026 marathon calendar, this year's Chengdu Marathon is scheduled to start on October 25, and the race is also certified as an A-level marathon by the Chinese Athletics Association.

The leak of this information means the Wanda Sports era of the Chengdu Marathon has been thoroughly closed. In 2019, driven by Wanda Sports, the Chengdu Marathon announced it would become China’s first candidate event for the Abbott World Marathon Majors, but it ultimately failed to be selected.

From the published applicant qualification requirements, this tender sets a total of 11 conditions:

1. Has the ability to independently assume civil liabilities;

2. Has good commercial reputation and sound financial and accounting systems;

3. Possess the equipment and professional technical capability necessary to perform the contract;

4. Have a good record of legally paying taxes and social security contributions;

5. Have no major legal violations in business operations within the three years prior to participating in this solicitation;

6. The bidder and its legal representative/principal responsible person for this project must not have records of bribery offenses in the three years prior to participating in this solicitation;

7. Among marathons continuously operated in the past 5 years (January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2025), there must be at least one World Athletics Gold Label or higher event;

8. Among marathons operated in the past 5 years (January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2025), there must be at least one event with a scale of 30,000 participants or more;

9. Among marathons operated in the past 5 years (January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2025), there must be at least one event whose market development scale (cash portion) is no less than RMB 25 million;

10. Joint ventures are not allowed to participate in this project;

11. Purchase the solicitation document from the project's agent according to the solicitation requirements.

First, requiring operation of World Athletics Gold Label or above events within the past five years sets a high bar. Taking 2025 as an example, there are only 22 World Athletics Gold Label or above events domestically (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan); Taiyuan and Chongqing have partnered with local companies, while Zhongao Road Running, Huipao and Donghao Lansheng each hold top-tier events.

Another condition — the 25 million RMB minimum standard for market development (cash portion) — can be seen as Chengdu Marathon's determination to benchmark itself against China's top-tier races. The 25 million figure can almost be regarded as the standard for domestic super-tier marathons; in other words, the number of events truly qualified to compete can be counted on one hand.

This Red Star Media (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. tender's the bid submission deadline and the bid opening date are both on March 20, will the Chengdu Marathon rise to the top tier of domestic marathons through this tender?

Text:David / Editor:David