Saturday morning’s Xiwuqi Grassland Run – a brand new 23,5km race that goes for almost 80% offroad, reminiscent of the old Grassland Marathon, was held in superb running conditions. Mild temperatures at the start and hardly any wind. This year’s grassland run was characterised by three significant hill climbs, too. The great weather inspired several to go all in and we saw some amazing performances in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Two Inner Mongolian teammates, Wang Xinhai and Hu Mujile arrived first at the finish together, they did not sprint. While that may sound boring, their finish time was not: 1h30 for nearly 24km with almost 400 elevation gain and three steep hill sections! Jia Shuang Qiang finished in third place. He was the strongest hill climber and actually led the race after the third climb (Nadamu Hill), but on the more runable and flatter final 8,5 km he could not match the pace of two Inner Mongolians ahead of him.
In the women’s race, it was also tight between the top runners. Gao Lixia emerged victorious in 1h47, another very quick time on this course. She was a minute faster than the second placed runner.
