When the cold air rolls up the rain and falls, Lishui City is immersed in the warm and hilarious ocean.

Practicing etiquette, arranging supply (medical) stations, and polishing performance details... At 4 a.m. on March 30, “Little Water Drops” volunteers broke the tranquility of the night and prepared for the 2025 Lishui Marathon. At 6:30, the competition preparation area was already full of people, jogging, stretching and checking equipment, and the players made the final preparations before the competition.

At 7 o’clock in the morning, the starting gun went off, and on the south side of Chuzhou Park in the urban area, 20,000 runners surged like a tide, cheering and stirring people’s hearts. The 2025 Lishui Marathon officially started.

This A1 event certified by China Athletics Association, with the theme of “Spring Breeze, Lishui Has You”, weaves competition, ecology and culture into a dynamic urban symphony.

Professional runners who sprint ahead, long-distance runners who challenge themselves, disabled running groups who are warm and sunny... With different identities and the same direction, the runners run through the wind and rain, and run with an enterprising style.

Extending from Chuzhou Park, Lishui Marathon Track connects landmark landscapes such as Oujiang Greenway, Nanming Lake and Lishui Water Sports Center in series, with trees and gurgling streams along the way. A runner from Hangzhou lamented: “Every step is like running in a painting, and the air is full of sweetness of negative oxygen ions!”

Despite the low temperature and non-stop rain, the half marathon ushered in a sprint line in only 1 hour, 9 minutes and 31 seconds after the start of the race. Mao Ningkang from Yunhe, Lishui won the men’s championship. “The audience was very enthusiastic and made me feel empowered! Welcome friends from other places to visit Lishui, and welcome everyone to continue to sign up for Lishui Marathon next year, so as to make the sports atmosphere in Lishui better and better together!” Mao Ningkang said.

One hour, 22 minutes and 10 seconds after the start of the race, the women’s half marathon team ushered in the first line-Wu Yanli, a runner from Qingyuan, Lishui. Runners Samuel Kalalei and GARBA EMABET SHIBIRU won the men’s and women’s full marathon championships respectively, with times of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 32 seconds and 2 hours, 46 minutes and 59 seconds respectively.

Thirty-seven music gas stations, such as hip-hop dance skewers, Zen dance performances, and guzheng performances, cover the whole process. The contestants run on a beautiful track integrating the city, mountains, water, and scenery. In the dynamic and energetic music, they experience the ecological charm outlined by green mountains and green hills, and appreciate the beauty of Xiushan Lishui with their footsteps.

Beside the track, the citizens cheered, cheered and shouted one after another, showing the infinite enthusiasm of Lishui people.

The success of the event is inseparable from the precise layout behind it. Lishui has set up a special preparatory group, which consists of competition, security, medical and other groups. From traffic control to competition treatment, there is no omission. Along the track, 23 medical stations, 26 ambulances and helicopters are ready for rescue. 222 medical staff and 690 medical observation volunteers weave a life guardian net to escort the contestants in the low-temperature and rainy environment.

The finishing medal is a highlight of this year’s event. Adopting the world’s intangible cultural heritage Longquan celadon craft, the medal takes “green waters and green hills” as the image, draws lessons from the shape of the Year of the Snake, and highlights the elements of 2025. The glaze color is like the blue waves of Oujiang River, which not only carries the marathon spirit, but also condenses the ecological genes of Lishui.

In addition, Lishui Marathon also takes the event as a window to present cultural tourism resources in three dimensions. In high-speed railway station, the girls of She nationality picked up the station with a welcome dance with jingling silver ornaments, which made the contestants fascinated by local customs before starting running. “The charm of culture is unforgettable!” Many contestants raised their mobile phones to record this first cultural encounter. During the period from March 29th to April 29th, all contestants can visit 23 core scenic spots such as Guyan Painting Township and Baishanzu for free with their number cloth, so as to better walk into Lishui and approach Lishui.

Carnival of the whole city, carnival of the whole people. The Lishui Marathon, which has been held for seven times, has already surpassed the meaning of the event itself, but if it is to be described in one sentence, what should it be?

At 2: 30 pm, when the reporter came to the track again to look for inspiration, a sanitation elder sister on the roadside caught the reporter’s attention. She looked at her forties with some white hair on her temples. She said, “I’m just an ordinary person. I can't say what I feel. I just feel very happy to see a lively marathon in cold weather.”

From volunteers to runners, to onlookers cheering, every step of the Lishui Marathon is a carnival belonging to the public.

The “city” is built for people, the “city” thrives for people, and the “small fortune” of “people → follow → people” converges into the dream-chasing road of urban development. When the contestants ran through the wind and rain and “saw” the rainbow of their dreams, Lishui gained “vitality” for development. This vitality is reflected in the marathon, and at the same time hidden in the daily fireworks of the masses pursuing a better life.

In this sense, Lishui Marathon, running forward through the wind and rain, is always on the road of dreaming.