Race founder has grand ambitions

Zhou Jianping is one of the founders of the Urumqi Silk Road Ice and Snow Marathon, a race vying for the title of China's toughest winter marathon.

He is testament to the fact that marathoners come in all shapes and sizes. Wiry as his thin-rimmed glasses, Zhou is a restless rod of energy oscillating between different poles of importance.

Less than 48 hours before the 2017 Urumqi Silk Road Ice and Snow Marathon began, his attention flitted between runners arriving to collect race packets, a round-faced man trying to organize ambulances and a cellphone parked imperiously on the table.