Sun continues to rise

Sun Yingjie is a leading force in Chinese marathon running. In her pomp, she won the Beijing International Marathon, the country's most prestigious long-distance event, three years in a row (2003 to 2005), and her 2003 winning time of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 39 seconds remains a national record.

Now, the 37-year-old participates in about 12 full races every year as an amateur, and attends a marathon event almost every weekend as an ambassador for the sport. Meanwhile, the running club she established in Beijing several years ago now has eight branches nationwide with more than 5,000 members.

"Back then, running meant extremely intensive training, great pressure and being isolated from society. I didn't enjoy running - I only ran to win," Sun said, adding that she sometimes ran 600 km a week during training.