Participants run through a rainbow of sprays. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
One participant takes to the course in a fat suit. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Thousands of people participated in Shanghai's first Color Run on Saturday. Promoted as the "happiest 5 kilometers on Earth," the event has no winners or prizes but runners are showered with colored sprays at stations along the route. The first Color Run was held in January 2012 in Arizona with 6,000 participants. The founder, Utah native and event producer Travis Snyder, wanted to encourage professionals and ordinary people to run together for fun. Today there are color runs in America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
One of the runners feels extra happy about the event. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
One runner arrives with a pet cockatoo. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Participants in Shanghai were divided into different groups and wore special T-shirts and race numbers. The first group set out from the Oriental Sports Center at 9:30 am, and other groups followed every few minutes after that. The last group left the center at 11 am.
"It's actually a color walk," said Gu Jieping, on her way to the finish line. For her there were too many participants. "Most people slowed down and enjoyed the moments of color," said Gu. She took part in the event with friends who had all got up at 5 am to get to the event from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.
Sunglasses and scarves are vital accessories. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
A young man springs over the colored course. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Volunteers and security guards lined the course but inevitably many also found themselves being colored as the sprays went astray.
Security guard Jiang Xingen said he had nowhere to go and no way to avoid being colored during the run. "I enjoyed it though."
At a station a runner gets sprayed. Photo: Yang Hui/GT
Another volunteer, 19-year-old Xiong Yao, was one of the many who missed out on an entry ticket - tickets went on sale on August 13 but sold out within 8 minutes.
Xiong and other volunteers arrived on the scene at 5:40 am and stayed after the run was finished to help clear and tidy the course.