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The First One to Speak Out the Truth(May 16,2009)
Today we happened to read an article saying about the Great
Wall of China Marathon,we found that the writer is the only one and
the first in this world today who really know the real Great Wall of
China Marathon:
After reading Ginger's awesome Tokyo Marathon writeup, I saw in
the replies a mentioning of people aiming to do the GWM marathon and
I thought I would pipe in with something for people
considering/dreaming of doing the GWM....
Last year I did the GWM and it was absolutely awesome (as I wrote in
the race report on this board), however the mandatory $1300 USD
package for just entry and 3 nights of 2star hotel stay did leave a
little bad taste in my mouth about the whole experience....but I
wasn't going to let it ruin the event for me totally, it was and IS
still a great great memory!
Less than 10 days before I ran the GREAT WALL MARATHON (GWM), I
stumbled upon a blog post about the GREAT WALL OF CHINA MARATHON (GWCM)....after
reading about it, I began looking for more and more information and
finding anything, even just the official page, was quite difficult
as the internet is filled with news reports and links to the GWM....but
after some digging I found the GWCM and am now preparing for running
it as my next race....and this one only costs 98USD (for early bird
rego), 188USD for late rego....
For anyone who is trying to figure out a way to run the Great Wall,
I wanted to post a few thoughts about each so as to help people who
want to run the great wall do it....a $1100USD price difference is
really considerable (especially after you tack on the price of
airfare from the states!)
While I will have to wait and see how the GWCM marathon experience
is....I hope to have a great race to report on!
GWM ( http://www.great-wall-marathon.com
)
----------------------------
-Runs every year in the 2nd half of May (around May 18th or so)
-Has a 42,21,10k
-Can only register as part of a package that is sold by a Travel
Agent, I chose the cheapest one at ~1200 USD
-this includes 3 night hotel stay at a 2 star hotel
-Is put on by Adventure Marathons** ( http://www.adventure-marathon.com/
)
-Is well marketed and well known
-The MAJORITY of the race is NOT on the Great Wall....only about 12k
of the course is on the wall itself, the same section of wall you
run once at the beginning and again at the end, but the majority of
the race is on paved roads and up and around through some really
amazing mountain villages and through some fields....again, see my
race report, but I loved this part, but it caught some unaware that:
~1.5k of the trail is downhill on mud/grass uneven...I loved this
part as I was able to really gain ground as it was just like
hashing! 
-and also that some of the biggest hill climbs are no where near the
wall (so don't use up all your gusto on the wall!
)
-that section of the wall is a closed course on race day
-Is a great experience with strong race day support and top notch
marathon management
-The part of the wall you run on is actually in Tianjin (Huangyaguan
Pass) (not that really matters to the casual tourist, but you won't
be running in Beijing)
-The wall is 100% restored/not the original wall (well on that note,
almost none of the accessible wall is original, but this part of the
wall, is built for tourists and has safety lines painted on it,
swept daily, and all the brickwork seemed flawless to me
-The race attracts a large entry crowd, which is great, but even for
me at a ~18th percentile of the pack in this race, caused me to have
to stop and stand and wait as there were too many people to navigate
some of the single file areas....as evidenced by others race
reports, this was an even larger problem further back in the pack
** = side note, my perception of Adventure Marathons is that they
put on highly well organized tourist packaged marathons...very
professional put on events, but at a price....if you look at their
other advertised races, they are the same price if not more, and my
impression is they are a very much for profit company (as most
companies tend to be, and that's okay!)...also their advertising can
be misleading...for example their Great Tibetian Marathon? It's
100% in India, in an elevated geological region known as the "Tibetian
Plane", it's miles from Tibet....but I guess, the great
northern Indian marathon doesn't have the same ring to it....There
are other cheaper (and while possibly less pampering/western tourist
engaging...certainly more cultural experiencing)
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
MARATHON
( http://www.greatwallmarathon.com.cn/
)
----------------------------
-Runs every year on May 1
-Has a 42,21,10k, 10kwalk, 5k (although apparently, 2009
is the first year with the 42k)
-Far more grassroots/locally organized
-tends to attract smaller entry packs, this year's est total for all
events appears to be in the 200-400 range, last years was ~150
--cool side note, they capitalize on the small pack size, including
for the finish line, everyone gets to "break the tape" for
completing the marathon
-Event itself has been around longer than the GWM
-Registration ranges from 98USD to 188USD depending on time of
registration and includes 1 night at 3 star hotel
-Runs 100% on the Great Wall (Jinshanling and Simatai parts)
-purported similar support logisitics in place (water stations every
2k, etc...)
-looking at results, tends to attract more walkers, but at the same
time, looking at the course, I think everyone is going to be
walking/staggering at some point....the upside is less crowds to
have to navigate
-However the wall is not a closed course, still have possible
tourists/hikers, but seems to only be a potential problem at the
entry gates where the numbers are heavier...
-That sections of the wall are more left to the elements, my
observation is that while of course the wall has some maintenance,
it is not compeletly revamped like the GWM section of wall (see
photos below!)
-Course looks like it is much much harder than the GWM course,
largely due to the mountainous region and condition of the
wall....ladder usage and ledge navigation are a must....gotta be
careful!
--Finally I think the biggest difference to me is seeing the
pictures from each....if you google more you'll be able to find much
more photos of the GWM to compare, but check out the below shots of
the GWM compared to some shots from last year's GWCM!
Anyways, hope this info might be helpful to anyone wanting to
come marathon the Great Wall....either race I think will be an
adventure and wonderful experience...I just wanted people to know of
the two marathons and maybe entice more people to realize that it
doesnt require thousands of US dollars to run a marathon on the
Great Wall
If you want to see the photos in his article and the comments
by other world runners,be sure to visit the webpage:
http://lvm.createmybb.com/showthread.php?tid=4234
And tomorrow we will publish more photos about the Great Wall
of China Marathon on May 1,2009.
(To be continued on May 17,2009!)
¡¡
---The
Previous News---
Please Contact for the details:
greatwallmarathon@yahoo.com
greatwallmarathon_japan@yahoo.co.jp
market@beijingglobalmarathon.com
Our Official websites in Beijing:
http://www.greatwallmarathon.com.cn/
http://www.beijingglobalmarathon.com/greatwallmarathon/jp/index.html
Our supporting website in
Tokyo
Japan
http://www.greatwallmarathon.jp/
¡¡
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