By Liu Xuan

Last Sunday, marathon runners dedicated their legs to charity in the Beijing Marathon. Wearing T-shirts bearing the label of their cause, and calling for fundraising through their accounts at Justgiving.com, they ran their hearts out for the needy. Charity organizations encourage and organize their members to register, train and run together, bringing passion together with compassion.

Prevent Though Education (PTE), is a Beijing-based AIDS education NGO. Ten PTE supporters, five foreigners and five locals successfully finished the half-marathon.

Carl Chen, deputy executive of PTE, told the Global Times: "PTE has been organizing runs for charity for years. It's a small international NGO and is very close to its support base of mainly young professionals. We trained together for months before the marathon."

"Running the marathon is PTE's traditional activity, and we organize supporters to run the Great Wall Marathon and the Beijing Marathon. We find sponsors to support our runners, so they run for free. And we teach our runners PR and fundraising techniques such as dealing with the media and raising funds. PTE has an established runner base now, and through each marathon we attract more runners and supporters," said Wang.

For many PTE runners, their first marathon is through the organization, and this was the case with Carl Wang. "It is really exciting! I will definitely do many more in the future!" said Wang.

There are also international runners who have traveled from overseas to run and raise money for the local charities back home, like Philip and Anita Westlake. Both aged 48, this couple came from Bristol in the UK. This is the 4th stop of their "five continent, five half-marathon, one charity" tour.

"We ran Varrakech in January, Paris in March, Vancouver in May, and today Beijing! Our last stop is Auckland on November 11. We love Beijing: people here are so warm and supportive!" said Philip.

The charity the Westlakes run for is St. Peter's Hospice in Bristol. "We are both keen runners and keen charity supporters in Bristol," said Philip. "St. Peter's Hospice is a community hospice, and we think their work is very important. We never feel that we are traveling and running by ourselves: friends and supporters are watching our progress and giving out support through Justgiving!"

Mark Godfrey is a keen marathon runner from Ireland and has run marathons from London to New York, Beijing to Hangzhou. "Running for charity is very common in the West, but not so common here," said Godfrey, who added that he was glad to see the situation "improving."

"Giving support to charity causes is not uncommon for Chinese. I'm thinking about the Sichuan earthquake when everybody dropped cash in the boxes and gave clothes, books, blankets, tents," said Carl Wang.

"Local marathon runners are not so commonly engaged with charity, because charities in China are not so established and many are just beginning to develop a stable supporter pool."

PTE has been working closely with its supporters, besides the Great Wall and Beijing Marathon, organizing regular fundraising dinners and recreational activities. "Supporters of PTE are like a community, and marathons are a great opportunity to work together!" said Wang.

Survivors in their own words

Nearly 2,000 foreigners participated in the Beijing International Marathon on Sunday, October 18. Over 800 of them registered from overseas and came to China primarily to run the marathon, with another 1,200 expats coming from around China.

Marathons are exhausting, but many looked to inspiration from a good cause. Others merely come to challenge themselves. After finishing the race, several emotional runners told the Global Times how they felt.

 

Begis Jordan

Age: 60

Nationality: France, close to the Swiss border.

Time: 3h 15' 16''

Marathon record: "I started running in 1998, when I was 49. I did the New York Marathon to celebrate my 50. Since then I did one or two marathons per year. Today is my 16th marathon, and I am also running a mountain race in France soon."

How was it? "I definitely enjoyed it. I am impressed by the various drinks they provided: water, energy drinks, and fresh juice. I just hope they can provide some food too, energy bars and bananas, things like this."

Other comments: "I ran it for my birthday! This year is my 60th and also China's 60th birthday. This is why I came to Beijing to run this marathon! We started from Tiananmen Square, and ended at the Olympic center, I love the route!"

Linus Holmsater

Age: 24

Nationality: Sweden

Time: 2h 31'00''

Marathon record: "I am a fan of marathons and today was my 6th. I've run the London, Boston, New York, Stockholm and Las Vegas. After the Beijing Marathon, I also have a half marathon in South Africa, and the Xiamen Marathon coming in January."

How was it? "This is my best running result so far. I came out in the first 50. I think the reason was that the road was flat. I think things are nicely organized, except for three things: first, runners have to slow down and run toward the table to get drink. I think it would be nice if the personnel standing behind the table would walk in front of the table and hand out water to runners. Also the distance signs were not precise; one said 100 m, but actually was closer to 90 m, while others were closer to 110 m. I was very confused by this, when trying to calculate my running speed. The last thing is that they let elite runners start 15 minutes earlier than non-professional runners. I have never seen this in any marathon anywhere. Normally both groups start at the same time, and so the good non-professional ones can be inspired. But overall, I think the organization was pretty good."

Other comments: "I didn't expect there would be so many good Chinese non-professional runners. When they passed me, I thought, "Heh, you guys don't know what a marathon is." Later I successfully caught up and passed several of them, but not all. Some were really good and fast. I don't often see Chinese people training outdoors, and I'm wondering how they ran it so fast and where they trained!"

Vivian Delmas

Age: 54

Nationality: France

Time: 3h 12' 20''

Marathon record: "This is my first time to run a marathon, though I have been doing long-distance running all my life. From 12 weeks before, I began to train myself to get prepared, running along the river around my house. As for after the Beijing Marathon, I don't know if I am going to do a full marathon again, but I will definitely keep running."

How was it? "I think it was pretty good. The weather was a bit chilly today when we started but now it's fine. The road is flat and thus easier."

Other comments: "I came here especially for the marathon. This was not easy for me, especially the last 2 km. I was totally tired out but I heard the spectators cheer loudly for me, so I kept on going. The second I passed the finish line I was very excited and proud!"

Stephane Delmas

Age: 35

Nationality: France

Time: 3h 24' 40''

Marathon record: "It's my first one, I have been training together with my mom. Same with my mom, I haven't thought about it until now, but I definitely would do many more in future."

How was it? "We love it. Never saw so many smiling faces. The public is really good and the ambiance is great; people cheers for us all way long.

Other comments: "I am really proud for my mom [Viviane Delmas], did you see her time? She was a lot faster than me. Don't you think it's remarkable? I love her and I'm proud of her!"

Stephan Kohl

Age: 46

Nationality: Lausanne, Switzerland

Time: 3h 17'21''

Marathon record: "This is my first marathon, and I've been training for 12 weeks. Future marathons? Haven't thought about that."

How was it? "I think it was fine. It was a pretty fresh experience for us running so long a distance on a perfectly flat road. Amazing to come to see Beijing is so modern and prosperous!"

Other comments: "We 10 Lausanners flew here to run the marathon, and for most of us it's also our first. We have been training very hard for months, and we are really excited to see Beijing! I enjoy the passion running brings to me! A funny thing we saw at the starting, in Tiananmen Square is that people find no place to use bathroom, and they peed just in the square behind some plants. Maybe next time the organizer should consider about providing sufficient bathroom at the starting line."

Lina Sofia

Age: 26

Nationality: Sweden

Time: 3h 50' 16''

Marathon record: "This is my first marathon. I have trained intensively for four months for coming to Beijing to run this! Three days a week I did a 10 km daily jogging in the forest; one day every week, I did a 30 km running. I have been looking forward to this moment."

How was it? "I liked it! It was quite a break for me, traveling here and running my first marathon!"

Other comments: "Some points of the race are difficult, I felt that my last strength was used up, but I still kept on running, never had a blink of a thought about giving up, 'cause people were cheering for me! I heard them shouting 'Jia You! Jia You!"

Sinoon Clement

Age: 41

Nationality: France

Marathon record: "This one is my 16th marathon, I have run in a lot of places before, London, Chicago, Paris, Istanbul."

How was it? "It was very well organized. The weather, the people, it was all very nice."

Other comments: "I love the massage they provided for free to every successful runner. It was very considerate. I have never seen it anywhere else."

Grant Alvin Beadles

Age: 41

Time: 3h 11'18''

Nationality: USA

Marathon record: "This is my 5th marathon, and from two months before, I trained myself every morning in running along Chengdu streets."

How was it? "We liked it."

Other comments: "Our Company, Cargill Inc., organized a 30-staff running team. We came from Chengdu to Beijing. It's a bottom-up decision making process, as the employees love marathons and suggested the idea to the managers. We have over 300 staff at the Shanghai Marathon last year!"

Kelly Fulton

Age: 27

Nationality: USA

Time: 2h 57' 27''

Marathon record: "Today is my 5th marathon. I did my first on my 21st birthday, it's like a challenge to adulthood at that time."

How was it? "It was very nice running today."

Other comments: "I would say to the organizing personnel: 'Good job, guys. We had a great time!"

Sadek

Comments: "I think it's pretty disorganized, as they separated the half marathon from the full one, and it started at a different time. I couldn't run with my friend who was running the full marathon, and this was pretty disappointing."

liuxuan@globaltimes.com.cn

 

By Liu Xuan

 Last Sunday, marathon runners dedicated their legs to charity in the Beijing Marathon. Wearing T-shirts bearing the label of their cause, and calling for fundraising through their accounts at Justgiving.com, they ran their hearts out for the needy. Charity organizations encourage and organize their members to register, train and run together, bringing passion together with compassion.

Prevent Though Education (PTE), is a Beijing-based AIDS education NGO. Ten PTE supporters, five foreigners and five locals successfully finished the half-marathon.

Carl Chen, deputy executive of PTE, told the Global Times: "PTE has been organizing runs for charity for years. It's a small international NGO and is very close to its support base of mainly young professionals. We trained together for months before the marathon."

"Running the marathon is PTE's traditional activity, and we organize supporters to run the Great Wall Marathon and the Beijing Marathon. We find sponsors to support our runners, so they run for free. And we teach our runners PR and fundraising techniques such as dealing with the media and raising funds. PTE has an established runner base now, and through each marathon we attract more runners and supporters," said Wang.

For many PTE runners, their first marathon is through the organization, and this was the case with Carl Wang. "It is really exciting! I will definitely do many more in the future!" said Wang.

There are also international runners who have traveled from overseas to run and raise money for the local charities back home, like Philip and Anita Westlake. Both aged 48, this couple came from Bristol in the UK. This is the 4th stop of their "five continent, five half-marathon, one charity" tour.

"We ran Varrakech in January, Paris in March, Vancouver in May, and today Beijing! Our last stop is Auckland on November 11. We love Beijing: people here are so warm and supportive!" said Philip.

The charity the Westlakes run for is St. Peter's Hospice in Bristol. "We are both keen runners and keen charity supporters in Bristol," said Philip. "St. Peter's Hospice is a community hospice, and we think their work is very important. We never feel that we are traveling and running by ourselves: friends and supporters are watching our progress and giving out support through Justgiving!"

Mark Godfrey is a keen marathon runner from Ireland and has run marathons from London to New York, Beijing to Hangzhou. "Running for charity is very common in the West, but not so common here," said Godfrey, who added that he was glad to see the situation "improving."

"Giving support to charity causes is not uncommon for Chinese. I'm thinking about the Sichuan earthquake when everybody dropped cash in the boxes and gave clothes, books, blankets, tents," said Carl Wang.

"Local marathon runners are not so commonly engaged with charity, because charities in China are not so established and many are just beginning to develop a stable supporter pool."

PTE has been working closely with its supporters, besides the Great Wall and Beijing Marathon, organizing regular fundraising dinners and recreational activities. "Supporters of PTE are like a community, and marathons are a great opportunity to work together!" said Wang.

 Survivors in their own words