The 2023 Wenzhou Marathon is held on March 19. [Photo/66wz.com]
The starting gun went off at 8 am on March 19, kicking off the 2023 Wenzhou Marathon, with 18,000 runners traveling through a number of cultural and natural landscapes in the city before finally finishing at the Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium, the venue for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
With a time of 2 hours 47 minutes and 2 seconds, Ao Pingping from Wenzhou's Yueqing city, was the first female to cross the line, winning the 2023 Wenzhou Marathon Women's Full Marathon Championship.
Ao, a 39-year-old mother of two, said after the race that she was only aiming to finish in the top three, but she felt better and better as she ran.
The Men's Full Marathon Championship was won by well-known domestic athlete Yang Le, with a time of 2 hours 14 minutes and 52 seconds.
Wenzhou runners also gave outstanding performances in the half marathon, with Ma Yinghong winning second place in the Men's Half Marathon and Zheng Zhiling winning third place in the Women's Half Marathon.
The 2023 Wenzhou Marathon was the first municipal-level marathon event in Zhejiang province this year and the first large-scale sporting event in Wenzhou.
With the Wenzhou Marathon firing up the engine of the city's sports economy, Wenzhou plans to apply for or organize more than 100 domestic and international sporting events this year.
