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Out of Breath? Thousands Complete Beijing Marathon Wearing Face Masks Because of the City's Unbearable Smog

• Beijing International Marathon organisers also made 140,000 sponges available so runners could clean their skin
• The real-time monitoring by Beijing's environmental centre classed the air as severely polluted
• The U.S. Embassy, which tracks the Beijing air from a monitoring station on its roof, said it was hazardous
• Ethiopian runners took gold in both the men's and the women's races

By Daily Mail UK, 19 October 2014


Thousands of runners coughed and spluttered their way around the Beijing marathon today, despite heavy pollution blanketing the city and a warning that air quality was 'hazardous'.
The 34th Beijing International Marathon began at Tiananmen Square with many of the tens of thousands of participants wearing face masks and wet sponges on hand to mop off grime.
The 26-mile course ended at the Chinese capital's Olympic Park, on a day when buildings across the city disappeared into the thick, grey smog.

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Pollution mask selfie? A woman peers at her phone while running the Beijing Marathon in heavy pollution earlier today



Thumbs up! Many of the runners started the race wearing pollution masks of various kinds of smog warnings in the Chinese capital



Gizza kiss? A member of a curiously named Chinese running club indicates his approval as he runs past a photographer



Fancy dress: Like its equivalent in London Beijing's marathon boasts plenty of fancy dress, like this chap in vintage women's underwear


'Actually, on a normal day, nobody would run in such conditions,' said runner Liu Zhenyu, a computer engineer. 'But the event is happening today, so what can we do?'

About 30,000 runners were expected to start the marathon and half-marathon. Organisers made 140,000 sponges available along the route so runners could 'clean their skin that is exposed to the air,' Beijing News reported.
Ethiopian runners took gold in both the men's and the women's races. Girmay Birhanu Gebru won the men's race in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 42 seconds, while Fatuma Sado Dergo won the women's in 2:30:3.
China's Gong Lihua, who came in third in the women's race, downplayed the impact of the pollution. 'Today the smog did have a little impact on my performance, but not a major one,' she said.

An update Saturday night on the official microblog of the marathon, which was hosted by the Chinese Athletic Association and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, said 'there might be slight or moderate smog.' It asked competitors to take measures according to their own health, and advised the elderly and people with respiratory diseases to carefully consider whether to participate.
But by today the real-time monitoring by Beijing's environmental centre classed the air as severely polluted. It was the most serious level on China's air quality index, and came with a warning for children, the elderly and the sick to stay indoors, and for everyone to avoid outdoor activities.







Racing time: About 30,000 runners were expected to start the marathon and half-marathon, on a day when nobody would normally run




And they're off: Runners wearing masks to protect themselves from pollutants jog past Tiananmen Gate at the start of the race




Airborne grime: Organisers made 140,000 sponges available along the route so runners could 'clean skin that is exposed to the air'




Serious: The real-time monitoring by Beijing's environmental centre classed the air in the city today as severely polluted




Don't do this: There was a warning for children, the elderly and the sick to stay indoors, and for everyone to avoid outdoor activities




Or just try not to breathe: The U.S. Embassy, which tracks the Beijing air and uses a different quality index, said the air was hazardous



'Hey, my lungs are hurting': The marathon's organising committee said late Saturday that postponing the event would be difficult


It gave a reading of 344 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5 particulate matter. The World Health Organisation considers 25 micrograms within a 24-hour period a safe level.

The marathon's organising committee said late Saturday that postponing the event would be difficult because of all the planning that had gone into it, and asked competitors to understand, the Beijing News reported.
It said 46 per cent of the competitors had traveled from abroad and other parts of China to take part.

China's pollution is notorious following years of rapid economic development. Combating the problem has shot up the agenda of the ruling Communist Party, which is under pressure from citizens who are tired of breathing in smog.

Beijing Marathon Goes Ahead Despite Immense Smog Cover:

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