Shanghai Running Magazine volume 1, Q1 2014 | Page 9

Races Shanghai Running, We Run Shanghai December 31st New Year Eve Run: By Roni Kauri 8th Annual NYE Race December 31st 2013: The Suzhou New Years Eve 10k race is an annual non-profit race to get laowais (foreigners) on the move and later to get locals and laowais to join in one event. It all started as an expat only run with 36 runners (over 30 Finns and still the biggest laowai nationality..) to grow to the current event of over 100 runners with more than half being local Chinese. With the location and the manual timing restrictions, this is more or less the maximum we can take, says Roni Kauri, race Director. Reason to set up a race for me, says Roni, was to win one, but seriously, with so few races in Suzhou this was something people were crying out for. Over the years, the level of runners has increased and we have had several 34 mins finishing times already by Chinese and also one Italian guy. Last year I came up with the Masters category for oldies of 40 yrs and up to give the rest of us a fighting chance. The course is fast A to A going through the Li Gong Di with the lake on both sides of the runners. Sate and time of the races has been planned to serve the lao wai set-up of the calendar NY, to give time to people to get to their NY celebrations thereafter. As Cormac Delahunty, 3rd place 2011 put it, “The New Year’s Eve run is a well organised event that offers runners a rare chance to race around the streets of SIP. The beautiful course combined with the festive atmosphere and generous prizes makes it a perfect way to end the year!” In addition to be the oldest and best NYE run in China, we provide relaxed atmosphere, medals, refreshments, trophies and lucky draws. Plus of course. Shanghai expats are more than welcome to join. Location is in Singapore Industrial Park, so it is a quick jump of 1 hour or so by car. For more information email: [email protected] Pictures: Photo’s by Photos in Sport ©2013 Copyright Shanghai Running 2013. www.shanghai-running.com 9