Beijing's marathon will start from the city's central Tiananmen Square at 8.31am tomorrow before heading to the city's National Olympic Sports Centre. Much attention will focus on how the home-grown stars perform, especially in the women's event after Chinese runners swept the placings last year. The Beijing marathon is now 24 years old and China's highest-level race with a ranking of 10 among the world's marathons.
The day is chosen because it is traditionally a time of very good weather in the capital.
Some runners complain that it is a difficult race to run because many the large number of competitors - elite and amateur - start together, forcing the serious runners to pick their way through them.
However, most have nothing but praise for the atmosphere in the city, though a few veterans posting on race websites have complained that the pollution is a problem as traffic is only partially sealed off.
Last year's South Africa's Ian Syster clocked two hours, seven minutes and 49 seconds to win the men's race, while China's Sun Yingjie led a sweep for the hosts in claiming the women's title in 2:19:39, a race record. Zhou Chunxiu clocked 2:23:41 to finish second and Zhang Shujing completed the medal sweep in 2:27:57.
Syster, whose personal best is 2:07:06, almost broke the course record of 2:07:35 but a bus got in his way and cost him critical seconds.