Lishui Half Marathon

Festival overview

The Lishui Half Marathon is a half marathon held by Lishui District in the Wuxiang Mountain area. Its name varies from year to year: the 2024 event was called the 2024 Nanjing Lishui Strawberry Marathon, and the 2026 event was called the 2026 Nanjing Lishui Half Marathon. This entry uses "Lishui Half Marathon" as an umbrella name, and the body sets down each year's actual name as it stood, without substituting one name for the other.

It is held in March. The 2024 race ran from 8:30 to 11:40 on the morning of Sunday 3 March (General Office of the People's Government of Lishui District, Li Zheng Ban Fa [2024] No. 3); the 2026 race ran on the morning of 22 March, with the Wuxiang Weekend Lishui Marathon Fun Run on 21 March of the same weekend (Lishui District People's Government website, 17 March 2026).

Hosts and organisers (2024, according to Li Zheng Ban Fa [2024] No. 3): the host was the People's Government of Lishui District, Nanjing; the organisers were the Lishui District Sports Bureau, Nanjing, and the Lishui District Sports Federation, Nanjing; promotion was run by Youmai Sports; the guiding bodies were the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Competition Management Centre and the Nanjing Sports Competition and Mass Sports Guidance Centre; technical certification was by the Chinese Athletics Association. The organising committee list in that document writes the district culture and tourism bureau and the sports bureau together, showing that in 2024 they were one body under two names. The hosts, organisers and certifying body for 2026 are not given in the sources available, and this entry fills in none.

Events and scale: 2024 had two events, a half marathon (21.0975 km) and a mini run (about 4.3 km), with seven thousand entrants for the half marathon and five thousand for the mini run, twelve thousand in all; 2026 had a single half marathon event, with ten thousand entrants.

The course and Wuxiang Mountain: the traffic control notice issued by the traffic police with the approval of the district government for 2026 lists Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, Wuxiang Temple Reservoir and Wuxiang Temple among the roads and landmarks on the half marathon route; that notice does not use the wording "passes through Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park". The 2026 report by the district media centre, on the other hand, says the course "passes landmarks including Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, the Fujiabian Agricultural Science and Technology Park, Plum Blossom Mountain and Zhangtangjiao Village". The two wordings differ, and this entry marks each with its own source rather than substituting one for the other.

Edition number: the 2026 report calls 2026 the tenth anniversary but gives no year for the first edition; no year for the first edition has been verified by this library, so this entry neither works one out from the tenth anniversary nor fills in an edition number.

Past editions

• 2024 (according to the General Office of the People's Government of Lishui District, Li Zheng Ban Fa [2024] No. 3): the race ran from 8:30 to 11:40 on the morning of 3 March; the events were a half marathon (21.0975 km) and a mini run (about 4.3 km), twelve thousand entrants in all. Half marathon route: the junction of Zhiyuan Road and Yongquan Road (start), Zhiyuan Road, Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Shengcun Reservoir, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Zhuhai Avenue (turnaround), County Road 105 Wufu Line, the west gate of the Fujiabian Agricultural Science and Technology Park, County Road 305 Pudu Line, the strawberry fields, Zhangtangjiao, Wuxiang Temple Reservoir, the Tucunwang Line, Wuxiang Temple, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, Zhiyuan Road, the junction of Zhiyuan Road and Yongquan Road (finish). Mini run route: the junction of Zhiyuan Road and Yongquan Road (start), Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, Baligang Road, Suiyuan Road, the internal roads of Xingzhuang Park, Jinjing Road, the Wuxiang Water Town car park (finish). Prizes: in the half marathon the men's and women's groups each rewarded the first fifty finishers, with twenty thousand yuan for first place; everyone entered in the half marathon received a Lishui tourism annual pass giving access to nine scenic areas in Lishui.
• 2026 (according to Lishui District People's Government website, Lishui District Media Centre, 23 March 2026): the race started on the morning of 22 March below Wuxiang Mountain, with ten thousand runners; it had a single half marathon event, with ten thousand entrants; the course has a total elevation difference of 144 metres and passes landmarks including Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, the Fujiabian Agricultural Science and Technology Park, Plum Blossom Mountain and Zhangtangjiao Village; seven strawberry supply stations were set up along the course, with special booths along the Pudu Line and interaction and tea at Zhangtangjiao guesthouse village. The theme that year was "Ten Sweet Years of the Lishui Marathon", with a dedicated mascot, a three-dimensional strawberry medal and ten thousand customised postal items, and a stage of the Jiangsu Running Club League was added, with fifty teams competing. The men's half marathon champion was Wang Zikong in 1:08:56 and the women's champion Ni Zhiyan in 1:20:50. Race support: 1,343 volunteer shifts; thirteen medical points, ten ambulances and more than eighty medical staff across the whole course and the finish area; 1,227 police; 132 cleaner shifts; the district head Gao Junling and deputy district head Zhang Weizhen and others fired the starting gun.
• 2026 half marathon route (according to Lishui District People's Government website, 17 March 2026, the traffic control notice approved by the district government): the junction of Zhiyuan Road and Yongquan Road (start), Zhiyuan Road, Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Shengcun Reservoir, County Road 105 Wufu Line, the west gate of the Fujiabian Agricultural Science and Technology Park, County Road 305 Pudu Line, County Road 105 Wufu Line (turnaround), the strawberry fields, Zhangtangjiao, Wuxiang Temple Reservoir, the Tucunwang Line, Wuxiang Temple, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, Zhiyuan Road, the junction of Zhiyuan Road and Yongquan Road (finish). Roads including Zhiyuan Road, Jinjing Road, Wuxiang Mountain Avenue, Baligang Road, Zhenzhu South Road, Meiling Road, County Road 105 Wufu Line, Qiuhu Road, Pudu Line, Hongzhang Line, Tucunwang Line, Muxin Road and Lanhu Road were closed from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 22 March during the half marathon, with people and vehicles unconnected with the race barred.
• The route is adjusted from year to year: the 2024 half marathon route included a turnaround on Zhuhai Avenue, while the 2026 turnaround was on County Road 105 Wufu Line; the two routes differ, must not be substituted for one another, and one year's route must not be used to describe another year.
• The results, the number of supply stations and the volunteer and police figures are all figures for the single 2026 edition and must not be written as standing figures; the 2024 scale and events likewise stand only for that year.

Practical information

• Date: in past years the race has been held in March; the exact date shifts from year to year.
• Name: it varies from year to year, and each year's name is used for that year rather than substituted for another.
• Hosts and organisers: given in the district government office document for 2024 (the district culture and tourism bureau and the sports bureau then being one body under two names); the hosts, organisers and certifying body for 2026 are not given in the sources available.
• Traffic control: an annual temporary measure that lapses, and it must be cited with its year.
• Information date: this entry was checked to September 2026; entry, routes, events and traffic control are to be taken from the official notices of the organisers and of the district sports and traffic police authorities.