30,000 runners participate in Beijing marathon despite heavy smog

World Today

In spite of the heavy layer of smog blanketing China’s capital city, the 2014 Beijing International Marathon went ahead as planned on Sunday. Runners came from around the world, equipped with face masks and sponges.

CCTV America’s Wu Haojun reports.

Beijing woke up on Sunday buried beneath a dense blanket of smog. But that didn’t seem to dampen the mood of the 30,000 runners taking part in the 34th Beijing International Marathon.

Meanwhile, China’s microblog sphere was awash with comments about the marathon and satire about the smoggy weather under which it was held.

One runner posted a picture of the darkened face mask he used for the marathon. Another microblogger captioned the photo of a wealthy corporate manager as ‘the most expensive human air purifier at the marathon.’