Beijing Beckons Both Olympic Marathoners and Mere Mortals

by Terence Baker

 

When the world tunes in to watch the women’s and men’s marathons at the Beijing Olympic Games, it’s safe to say that at least as much attention will be focused on the athletes’ health and safety as on their performances. That’s primarily because of the questions surrounding China’s ability to manage Beijing’s notorious air pollution, as well as concerns about the heat and humidity that typically blanket the city in August.

 

How bad will it be for the marathoners on August 17 (women) and August 24 (men)? When business took me to Beijing last fall, I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could about what the athletes—and on-site spectators—can expect on race day.

 

On the Ground, In the Air

 

The first thing I noticed in Beijing was the cloying, sickly-sweet smell of pollution. In two weeks, I saw the majestic hills to Beijing’s north—on which sits the Great Wall, China’s greatest tourist attraction—only once, following a night’s rainfall. The next morning, they were gone.

Sprinters and middle-distance runners competing in the beautiful new 91,000-seat National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest for its intricate design of curved steel girders, will probably enjoy filtered air, but the marathoners and racewalkers will have no such luxury.

 

Beijing reportedly spent billions to eradicate smog, a figure that speaks volumes about what the Olympics mean to the Chinese government, which plans to limit or ban traffic and industrial production before and during the duration of the Games. Beijing’s Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has said it would clear out the smog by cutting back severely on heavy industry and construction as the opening approaches. Many gas stations have been closed down, and there is a from-the-airport, athletes-only car lane to make sure that competitors get to their events. Spray painting and all use and manufacture of concrete and the products of quarries have been banned during the Games.

 

Despite all these measures, some athletes are staying in South Korea, Macao, or Japan for the run-up to the Games and flying to Beijing only for their events. In Athens in 2004, problems related to pollution were expected but did not materialize. So far, the International Olympic Committee expresses confidence that pollution levels in Beijing have been reduced and will be reduced further. The athletes themselves aren’t so sure. The men’s marathon world record-holder, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who suffers from asthma, famously withdrew from the Olympic marathon, citing concerns about Beijing’s pollution.

 

The Marathons

 

The intention of the Olympic marathon course designers was to show off Beijing’s wealth of internationally recognized and historically important landmarks. It is a beautiful course, although the marathoners won’t be doing much sightseeing during the race. But what Martin Lel and Deena Kastor might miss, the world’s television cameras will not. The 26.2 miles will start at Tiananmen Square, which sits in front of the Forbidden City, and will end inside the National Stadium. Beijing sits on a large plain and is relatively flat. The route will avoid the hills to the north, going instead past such sights as the Temple of Heaven, Yongding Gate, Yan Garden in Peking University, the Drum and Bell towers, the Summer Palace, and Tsinghua University.

 

The Olympic marathons will follow the course of the increasingly successful Beijing International Marathon, held each October. Nephat Kimyanjui from Kenya won the 2007 event in 2:08:09. In second place was Chinese runner Ren Longyun, who ran 2:08:15, a personal best by nearly seven minutes. Third was China’s Han Gang, who finished in 2:08:56. Chinese women took the top four positions; Chen Rong won in 2:27:05. In Athens, the top Chinese woman, Zhang Shujing, finished 12th; however, Zhou Chunxiu, who was 33rd, has since finished fifth at the 2005 IAAF World Championships (won by world record-holder Paula Radcliffe) and won the 2007 Flora London Marathon in 2:20:38. Zhou also earned silver at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, behind only Catherine “the Great” Ndereba.

 

The American men’s marathon team for Beijing is Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell. They qualified at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Central Park last November. Hall, the Trials champion, ran 2:06:17 in April in London, making him the second-fastest American ever.

 

Deena Kastor won the women’s U.S. Olympics Team Trials – Women’s Marathon in Boston in April, after trailing eventual runner-up Magdalena Lewy-Boulet for much of the race. Blake Russell finished third. Kastor should feel confident in Beijing. Few of us will forget her magnificent finish in Athens, where she won the bronze medal.

 

Running in Beijing

 

Despite my own concerns about air quality and the fact that relatively few natives run for health and fitness, I found running in Beijing to be a pleasant adventure—though one best accomplished early in the morning, before the heat, smells, and crowds build up. One run took me around the four-mile perimeter of the Forbidden City. People looked at me a little oddly, but during and perhaps after the Olympics I suspect that such staring will lessen. A run around Tiananmen Square is shorter but very impressive. A huge painting of Chairman Mao looks down on the vast open space from the Gate of Heavenly Peace (the Forbidden City’s main entrance). It felt to me as though Mao’s eyes never left me. Was he appraising my bad running form?

 

Other must-see sites are the Summer Palace, where the scheming Empress Cixi held court and built a huge ship made of stone; the Temple of Heaven; and the Yonghe Gong (a.k.a. Lama) Temple, the city’s largest center of Tibetan Buddhism. Spend time in the hutongs, Beijing’s traditional neighborhoods, which are fast disappearing in the name of modernity; some are already buried beneath Olympic facilities. And go to the Great Wall. Most visitors go to Badaling, which is therefore crowded; other, more distant sections afford more peace. My favorite section was near Huanghuacheng, which was practically deserted but allows no access to the wall itself. What it does have is a beautiful lake (bring your running gear), wonderful views of the wall, and the Chestnut Garden, which dates from the Ming Dynasty. Actually, I did climb a steep bank there (I could not read the Chinese sign, honest!) and, with the sun behind me, sat on the wall in a place where perhaps no one had been for many, many years.

 

Terence Baker is the travel editor of Car & Travel and a longtime member of New York Road Runners.

 

 

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(posted on nyrr.org since Feb 2008)