A contestant in a marathon dashes through a village of ethnic Miao people in Jishou, Central China’s Hunan Province. Photo: cnsphoto

 
After the tragic marathon accident in Baiyin, Northwest China's Gansu Province took 21 lives, other Chinese cities that had previously been planning marathons and trail running tournaments decided to take a step back and focus more on safety issues. 

Organizers of at least 10 cross-country races have announced cancellation or postponement after the marathon accident in Gansu, the Global Times found on Tuesday. 

Two cities, Zouping and Linyi in East China's Shandong Province, announced on Monday that they have decided to postpone the mountain marathons to be held in late May. 

Many other events, including trail challenges and regular marathons, have also been postponed. Yuyao in East China's Zhejiang Province, Wuzhong in East China's Jiangsu Province, Huangshan in East China's Anhui Province and Yinchuan in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, have all announced that they will postpone similar local events on Monday.

On Sunday, a 100-kilometer women's trail running race in East China's Zhejiang Province was called off by the organizers. Shandong Television reported that "the roads were muddy due to the rain, and some runners had withdrawn from the race," citing event service. The service said participants who were still running on the mountain were persuaded to return at the check point.

On Saturday, a total of 21 runners died at a trail running tournament accident in Baiyin, Gansu due to unexpected extreme cold weather. It was the third off-road racing event involving casualties in China in May. 

In recent years, trail running races have become popular in China. According to data provided by the China Athletics Association, the number of marathon-related events held in China each year has been close to 2,000. Extreme events such as mountain trail running are also counted among them. However, many races are fraught with unknown risks and occasional casualties.

In 2018, a female runner in the Tianmenshan International Cross-country Race 30KM competition in Zhangjiajie, Central China's Hunan Province, slipped in the rain and died.

In 2020, the State General Administration of Sports updated the Measures for the Management of Sports Event Activities, indicating that the Administration no longer reviews sports event activities, except for international or special events, leaving most of the locally held events up to local authorities to approve.

Learning lessons from the tragic accident, industry insiders have called for cross-country marathon events to undergo stricter approval procedures before they can be held.

Global Times