Chengdu has global ambitions

China is vowing to step up organizational standards of its marathon races through a bold bid to qualify a Chengdu event for the elite global series.

Inspired by growing participation in domestic road running events, organizers of the Chengdu Marathon, which was only established in 2017, on Tuesday kicked off a multiyear bidding process to join the Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York races as the seventh leg in the Abbott World Marathon Majors series.

Together with partner Wanda Group and the Chinese Athletic Association, the Abbott WMM announced in Beijing that the Chengdu race will be evaluated according to the series' stringent criteria, starting with this year's edition on Oct 27 in the capital city of Sichuan province.