Marathoner who smoked through races in China banned 2 years

A man in his 50s allegedly chain-smoked as he ran an entire marathon in China, according to Chinese media reports, and apparently completed the event in three hours and 33 minutes.

For his lung-busting efforts and smoking in the competition on Jan 7 at the C&D Xiamen Marathon 2024, he is facing a two-year ban from events and races organised by Xiamen Marathon's organising committee.

The smoker, whose surname is Chen, will also be reported to the Chinese Athletics Association for additional penalties, according to a Chinese-language notice dated Jan 12 issued by the competition department of the committee.

Xiamen Marathon's statement also said its organising committee verified Chen's smoking based on "race supervision, referee reports, timing chip data, race videos, pictures and other materials".

Chen's marathon timing and ranking were not provided by the committee and were voided. But the website Canadian Running said his timing was three hours 33 minutes.

This was not the first time that Chen puffed while running a marathon. Media reports stated he smoked while taking part in the Xin'anjiang marathon at Jiande in Zhejiang province in November 2022.

He completed that race in three hours 28 minutes, and placed 574th out of more than 1,500 runners. His feat and smoking were widely reported by media outlets such as Canadian Running, HuffPost and Sky News.

Photographs of Chen smoking were circulated on social media.

Xiamen Marathon's website listed "(punishable) uncivil behaviours" such as "open defecation, smoking, littering, trampling on the flowers and grass and other behaviours that might affect other runners".

According to media publication Sixth Tone, other Chinese cities have started to act against smoking during marathons. Hangzhou and Guangzhou have rules to curb "uncivilised behaviour", but did not specifically ban smoking.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.