BEIJING,  (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) released a blue book of marathons in China held in 2019 here on Thursday.

It says that the total number of marathon participants in China reached 7.1256 million, climbing 22.22 percent over 2018.

The blue book showed that marathons in China have taken a leap in both quality and quantity. In the year of 2019, a total of 1828 marathons were held in the Chinese mainland, increasing 15.62 percent over 2018. The total number of participants reached 7.1256 million, increasing 22.22 percent over 2018.

According to the blue book, 24 of 1828 events were labeled by the World Athletics (WA) in 2019, with 12 golden label races, two silver labels and ten bronze labels. In the past 13 years, the number of WA label races in China has soared from two to 35.

Among all the marathons in 2019, Chinese runners' average finish time is 4:25:40. Specifically, 9,703 male runners finished 42.195 kilometers in three hours, up 67.47 percent from 2018, while 1,806 female finished in three hours and 20 minutes, up 63.44 percent from 2018.

Geographically speaking, Zhejiang province in eastern China contributed the most with 232 races, followed by Jiangsu province and Beijing with 185 and 117. ■