Opinion | First Guangzhou Marathon gets off to tragic start
Guangzhou's first city marathon needs to make participants' safety its top priority after one runner died and another fell into a coma
In the run-up to the first Guangzhou Marathon on Sunday the city leadership made no secret of their desire to use the event to showcase Guangzhou's arrival as a world-class metropolis.
"Combining professional competition and public sports, a marathon is a perfect show of a city's development," read an op-ed published by the ahead of the event. "The Guangzhou Marathon is a starting point for Guangzhou to run into a truly internationalised city."
Such aspirations are common for mainland cities, especially in the Pearl River Delta, which is understandably anxious to flex its muscles after three decades of breakneck economic growth.
But problems reported by participants of the marathon - from slow medical response times to a lack of bottled water - suggest the city may be leaving several important details behind in its race to catch up with London, New York and Shanghai.
The inaugural marathon has already recorded its first death: a 21-year-old college student who collapsed just after reaching the finish line of the 10K race. Guangdong native Chen Jia received medical treatment at the scene and was declared dead at a nearby hospital.
More troubling, however, was the case of Ding Xiqiao , 25, who remains in a coma after collapsing 300 metres from finishing the 5K competition. A colleague of Ding's, Chen Yangjie , said the runner lay on the ground untreated for 20 minutes, waiting for emergency personnel to respond.
