The explosion in women’s racing in China, on road and trail, and the female-only clubs and events that cater to them

Yunnan province strikes a good balance for visitors between modern comforts and a frontier feel of what were once China’s wild borderlands. Yunnan is still considered a backwater, but the capital, Kunming, has already seen its crumbling old town devoured by a forest of skyscrapers and shopping malls, and the city is served by a cavernous, brand new airport, now China’s fifth-busiest. Soon it will have another attraction, aimed at women athletes.

Running took off in Kunming about five years ago. First, there was a road half marathon, then a trail race, an ultra race, then road and trail races sprang up across the province.

Now the market is seen as mature enough to host a women’s half marathon, and the Kunming government is keen. After all, most major cities in China – including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou – have their own.

Zhao Qing, who is helping organise the women’s half marathon for next spring, says Kunming women are ready to embrace the forms of recreation befitting a sophisticated modern urban female.

The numbers certainly seem to back this up: from its first edition in 2013, the number of women running the Kunming Half Marathon has grown 17-fold, with almost 1,700 taking part last year – and without compromising traditional moral virtues, says Zhao.