Photo: Courtesy of organizers

A local athlete from Linyi in East China's Shandong Province won a home "marathon" event on Sunday. His victory came in a near 43-kilometer race that consisted of canoeing and running.

Local athlete Gong Chao won the event in just over five hours, while Wang Xinghua from Beijing won the combined open-water swimming and running race.

The two-sport combination events are initiatives of the Linyi government, as it aims to promote the city through sports as traditional marathon running events have swept across the county.