100-day relay race held to greet Asian Games

Details

Category: Ningbo District

Published: Monday, 14 August 2023 14:48

On the morning of August 7, Xu Jianyi, a senior marathon racer, came to the Green Axis Sports Park in Zhuangshi Sub-district of Zhenhai District to take the baton of a relay as the 54th runner.

What is the relay about? As it turns out, Zhenhai District launched a public welfare relay running in mid-June: involving 100 runners for 100 days, and the relay will cover the whole district. So far, more than half of the relay race has been completed.

Xu was not “lonely” for his part of running, as members of the “Zhenhai veteran  running team”, the district Marathon and Road Running Association, and the Crazy Running Team of Zhuangshi Sub-district, accompanied him all the way, cheering each other and successfully completing a 21.33 kilometer run together with him.

Huang Yafen, who has been engaged in running for 15 years, is one of the accompanying runners and has participated in over 100 marathon races. “The exercise venues and facilities in Zhenhai District are very good now, and there are also beautiful scenery to enjoy along the way, making our running even more enjoyable”, she said.

Among the relay runners in the first half of the race, there are many runners who are passionate about running on the road. For example, the 76-year-old Shen Qihao runs 15 kilometers every morning and has kept the practice for over 20 years, making him the oldest runner in this relay race; Wang Chao, the captain of the Yellow Backpack Little Angel Charity Team, led more than 20 children to collect garbage from the West River Sports Park and surrounding areas during the relay

“The 100-person and 100-day relay race event has received warm support from runners. Most of them are from Zhenhai District, Cixi County, Yuyao County, and the High-tech Zone, and there are also internet celebrity runners from Kunshan County, Suzhou”, said Li Menglin, director of the Publicity Department of Zhenhai Marathon and Road Running Association.

As one of the organizers, Li Menglin also participated in the relay. “It rained on the day of my relay, but it didn’'t affect my running plan. I started running on time at 3am and ended at 7am, covering 42.21 kilometers in the rain.” This is also the longest relay distance of this event so far.

Reportedly, for every kilometer of the race completed by runners, the organizers, in conjunction with the charity, will donate one yuan as a special fund for the “Care for Retired Soldiers” of Zhenhai Charity Association. Currently, they have received over 1,000 yuan for the fund.

In addition, on the opening day of the Asian Games on September 23, the running teams in Zhenhai District will also run relay races and carry out torch relay activities in the district