Last year's Guangzhou Marathon drew about 20,000 people. Xu Kangping / Xinhua

Yu Jia, a well-basketball commentator at China Central Television and a dedicated runner, predicted that the marathon will become China's No 1 sporting event within five years, despite the current overwhelming popularity of basketball and soccer.

"It's easy access, low-cost and facility free. All these factors make running a leisure pursuit with huge public appeal," says Yu, who has completed six major marathons, including Tokyo, Boston, London and Berlin, in the past two years.

The number of running events has surged in China as a result of growing public awareness of healthy lifestyles and local governments' desire for publicity that will attract tourists.

By Aug 20, 102 events, including full and half-marathons plus mini-runs, had been arranged for this year's calendar, and the scope of activity had widened from major urban centers to remoter areas, such as Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, according to a recent update released by the Chinese Athletics Association. In 2013, there were just 36 events.

It's still not enough, though, according to CCA officials, such as Wang Dawei, the vice-president, who says about 800 full marathons were held in the United States last year, and an estimated 550,000 runners finished the races, whereas the figure in China was only 80,000.

"(Marathons) have great momentum, but the potential remains largely untapped, given China's huge population," he says.

Ren, of Wisdom, which arranges and markets marathons in five cities, echoed Wang's opinion, saying the scale of investment from profit-hungry sponsors and advertisers could be "phenomenal".

"The opening-up policy in the sports market will definitely give it another boost, and will result in a rise in the number of marathons being founded," she says.

In October, the State Council, the country's highest executive body, issued a blueprint to boost the national sports industry. It ordered the State General Administration of Sport, the national governing body, to reform the current approval procedure for commercial and mass sporting events to allow a larger number of companies and private investors to operate and market events that were previously dominated by government departments and state-run enterprises.

Opening the door

The loosening of the State's grip has opened the door to a number of new players, including private companies, sporting goods manufacturers and NGOs, who want to organize or co-host marathons and related races.

To some extent, the process started in 2010, when China Olympic Road Running Co, an affiliated venture of the state-run China Sports Industry Group, began to assist the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in organizing China's oldest marathon, the Beijing Marathon, first run in 1981.

Meanwhile, Shanghai East Best & Lansheng Event Management Co, a service industry business, assumed responsibility for running last year's Shanghai International Marathon.

Adam Zhang, founder of Key-Solution, a sports marketing and consulting agency, says new operators face a number of challenges. "With so many players entering the field, the emphasis is on how to provide high-quality services for runners, media and sponsors, and how to make the race a special one that highlights local attractions through course design and activities. These factors matter a lot to organizers who want to stay at the top of a highly competitive field," he says.