HOHHOT, China, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Inner Mongolia Xanadu Guiyouchi International running race took place on Saturday morning in north China's Zhenglan Banner.
Around 500 runners took part in the event, with the winner being Han Qi from Qinghai Province, who finished the 90 kilometer race in 7 hours, 19 minutes and 19 seconds.
"It's my first time to see the grasslands, and I really enjoyed the running in the Xanadu World Heritage site," said competitor Zhou Hui, who was taking part in the event for the seventh time.
The finishing line was situated inside the UNESCO World Heritage site of Xanadu, one of the two major capitals during the Yuan dynasty around 700 years ago.
Guiyouchi is a Chinese transliteration of a Mongolian word referring to a long-distance running race organized during the Yuan dynasty, as Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, placed great importance on the physical fitness of his troops, and in 1287 began arranging daily endurance runs for them.
Back in the Yuan dynasty, the winner of the Guiyouchi event would be rewarded with a silver bar, while all other participators would receive a cloth prize. However, in the event's modern-day iteration, the top eight finishers instead have to make do with prize money, with all runners receiving a commemoratory medal as a souvenir.
