The day of The Great Wall Marathon being tomorrow, a Saturday, the world is not crammed with marathon races on this date. However, two races other than The Great Wall Marathon are taking place on May 19: the Fiji Bula Marathon along the coast of one of Fiji's islands and the funny-named GutsMuths Rennsteiglauf in a large forest in central Germany. - And then there's our great pride, The Great Wall Marathon on, not surprisingly, the Great Wall of China.
The Fiji race sounds like manageable fun with its appealing coastal route and the highest point being 58 m above sea level.
The cross-country race in Germany advertises romantic, wooded scenery and the historical feeling to the race. Apparently, the event goes back some 40 years and was quite a big thing in the former East Germany.
I'm sure that the paradise-like Fiji islands would make a pretty nice beach holiday for tranquilizing after the marathon. And the shade of a vast, old, German forest is no-doubt a pleasant background for a task as laborious as a marathon. But how can any of them compete with 2,500 years of eventful history of successive Chinese dynasties? 3,700 ancient, rickety stone steps ascending up to 10%, situated on an exquisite and undamaged mountain ridge in China, will beat tropical coasts and old, labyrinthine forests any time.
Mao Zedong once said, "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall". Maybe this should be changed to "you're not a real marathoner if you haven't run 42 km in burning heat on the Great Wall". I, for one, know where I'll be tiring my legs on May 19, and I hope to be followed by a swarm of enthusiastic adventure-seekers, who are as excited about the event as we are proud to present it.