Marathon places may be decided by lottery
Print Edition
PLACES in this year’s Shanghai International Marathon could be allocated by a lottery draw, organizers said yesterday.
This is to avoid a repeat of last year when an online first come, first served approach saw millions of runner registrations to secure 35,000 places.
“We’re studying the possibility of applying a draw system for this year,” Zhou Jin, general manager of Shanghai East Best Lansheng Event Management Co, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
“Applicants will be able to register on the website over a given period of time, which might last for days.
“After registration is closed, the system will then randomly select the lucky ones,” she said.
All marathon places for the event on November 2 were snapped up within hours of registration opening on September 15, with the website coming under considerable strain from heavy traffic.
Applicants were given waiting numbers and some noted that there were more than 3 million in the queue. There were also complaints that without a fast Internet connection they had no chance of registering.
Zhou said the random allocation system will “humanize” the application process and ease pressure on the website.
A draw system was used for this year’s New Year Run, jointly organized by Shanghai East Best Lansheng.
Slots set aside
Zhou also confirmed that 1,000 slots will again be set aside for runners who completed the previous year’s marathon within 3 hours and 45 minutes for men and 4 hours for women; or the half marathon within 1 hour 45 minutes for men or 2 hours for women.
Runners who took part in the marathon several times before will also be given priority.
“Our purpose is to build up a runner base for Shanghai’s running events,” said Zhou. “Those who have been taking part in the international marathon for years will be rewarded for this.”
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