The 2019 International Women’s Marathon Summit Forum opened at Swisstouches Hotel Nanjing on March 23. The forum was hosted by the Nanjing Sports Bureau and the Pukou District Government and organized by the Nanjing Pukou District Sports Bureau, the organizing committee of Nanjing Pukou International Women’s Half Marathon and the Pukou District Urban Internationalization Promotion Office. The forum themed “shaping women’s running culture” invited representatives of the organizing committees of 17 women’s road running events in China, the United States, Argentina, Thailand, Sweden, Japan, South Africa and other countries and regions to participate in. At the same time, it is also the largest international women’s marathon forum with the most extensive coverage in China. Chen Weihong, Director of the Nanjing Sports Bureau, and Cao Hailian, Pukou Deputy Secretary and District Mayor, attended the forum.
Photo | Wu Guangzheng, leader of the Nanjing Pukou District People’s Government, presided over the opening ceremony
Photo | Mr. Cao Hailian, Pukou Deputy Secretary and District Mayor, delivered a speech
Photo | Mr. Chen Weihong, Director of the Nanjing Sports Bureau, made a speech
Photo | Chen Huaheng, Executive Officer of Taipei Women's Marathon Events, gave a speech
In recent years, women’s running events have seen a rapid growth in China, increasing from initially 4 national women’s road running events in 2014 to 54 in 2018. In the country, the “Kiss Run Women’s Marathon Series” and other quality events have been launched, and the number of women participating in the women’s marathon events has gradually increased. In 2018 alone, the number of female runners has hit 1.568 million. Internationally, the proportion of female runners in some European and American countries has even reached 40%, while Chinese female runners have gradually participated in international competitions. There are also increasingly frequent exchanges and cooperation between different events.
As the first leg of Kiss Run series, the Nanjing Pukou International Women’s Marathon is also the first stop of the National Women’s Half Marathon Championships, representing one of the highest level women’s events in China. Since its launch three years ago, it has grown into a “Gold Event” certified by the Chinese Athletics Association and one of the top 10 events of “Charming Jiangsu.” At the same time of the success of operations, the event also responds to the call for international development with “sports as a medium” proposed by the Nanjing Sports Bureau by hosting the International Women’s Marathon High-end Sharing Session, actively introducing international top-level events and high-quality international events in high quantity. This has contributed to the fast climbing of Nanjing on the global sports influence rankings from 36th in 2016 to 19th in 2017 and to 10th in 2018, driving the international clout of the sports industry in Nanjing.
In 2018, the Nanjing Pukou Women’s Marathon initiated and hosted the International Women’s Marathon High-end Sharing Session, and joined the IWRL: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ROAD RUNNING LEAGUE, along with the DIVAS Series in the US, the MERMAID Series in San Francisco and San Diego, the Bangkok Women’s Marathon in Thailand, the Shibuya Women's Marathon in Japan and the Taipei Women’s Marathon – all participated in the session.
As the world’s first international events organization themed women’s marathon, the league actively organizes international women’s events and activities of exchanges between runners, promotes global women’s running sports and culture, and expands the world community of women’s marathon so as to make more people recognize the positive influence of women’s marathon on the road running arena in the world.
Built and upgraded on the 2018 International Women’s Marathon High-end Sharing Session, the forum invited 26 guests from 17 event organizing committees at home and abroad to share their insights. Held in the forms of keynote and sharing, the forum invited Julia Esther Jones, a world-renowned women’s marathon trainer and a marathon road running enabler; Chen Huaheng, Executive Officer of the Taipei Women’s Marathon; Ryuji Sato, Director of the Hanamaki Marathon Affairs Bureau of Japan; and Zhang Sijie, Chairman of Beijing Zhongji Sports Management Co., Ltd. and founder of Kiss Run brand, to share their views on topics such as the passion and trends of women’s participation in road runs, the development of Japanese women’s marathon relay, and how Chinese women’s marathon races promote women’s participation in running sports, focusing on the theme of the event. In addition, they also shared and explored how to better engage women in running activities, how to better serve women in the competitions, women’s role and influence in running sports and among others.
Photo | Julia Esther Jones, a world-renowned women’s marathon trainer and an enabler of women’s marathon
Photo | Fredrik Almgren, Director of the Stockholm Women’s Marathon, shared his insight
Photo | Ryuji Sato, Director of the Hanamaki Marathon Affairs Bureau of Japan, shared his insight
Photo | Zhang Sijie, Chairman of Beijing Zhongji Sports Management Co., Ltd. and founder of Kiss Run brand, shared his insight
Through the sharing of event cultures and themes in different countries, the participating organizing committees learned from each other the practices and concepts of how to shape women's running culture in each event, which inspired Chinese women’s marathon sports in the initial stage and helped broaden its vision. The unique women’s running culture in China was also displayed to the outside world, accelerating the exchanges and integration with the international community.
Photo | Panel Discussion
Photo | Panel Discussion
The 2019 International Women’s Marathon Summit Forum successfully concluded after all the guests from the organizing committees participating in the forum expressed their welcome to the exchange of participating quotas between international events, which will further expand the international influence of the International Women’s Road Running League.
