The recent first-ever Holingol International Marathon attracted more than 10,000 local and foreign marathoners from countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

Sammy Kiprono Kurui, from Kenya, won the men’s half marathon with a time of one hour and seven minutes. Kurui joined the HIM to improve his running skills. He takes failures as lessons. "When I lose, I train harder for the next competition," he said. "I feel happy when I win."

The 1981 Beijing marathon was China’s first, and has been held every year since. It was the first international sports event ever held in China in a move to open up the country and its culture to foreign innovations.

The Holingol event, the first ever, inherits that tradition, but with some changes: it was subdivided into a half marathon (21 km), a fit marathon (10 km) and a mini-marathon (3 km).

Kimoi Andrew, a professional runner from Kenya who has been competing for the last five years around China, said that he started running almost 10 years ago and has not visited a hospital for health-related issues ever since. "Running is fun; I enjoy it especially when I win. I feel so good, it is like scoring a goal in the World Cup for my country," Andrew said.

He added that if you don’t train well you will not win the race. A week before Andrew joined the HIM, he raced in the Shenyang full Marathon (42km) where he placed fifth. "I wasn’t fully recovered from my previous race when I raced in the HIM; that's why I did not run as well as I would have liked to," Andrew said. Yet, he took third in the male half marathon division in Holingol with a time of one hour and eight minutes.

He uses the bonuses and money earned from marathons to support his family. Andrew’s next race will be in Weifang city in mid-October.

The boom in marathons continues expeditiously. The Chinese Athletics Association said that nearly 5 million people took part in 1,102 registered running events in the country last year, almost 20 times the 2014 number. China has held 161 marathons around its cities so far.

Jakub Sevcovic, 32, from The Czech Republic, is a PE teacher who was invited by the Chinese Temple Running Club to the Holingol International Marathon as an elite runner, but usually for other marathons he has to cover all the expenses himself.

"I am a common person who loves sports and likes to join races around China, also because I like to travel,” Sevcovic said. “But compared to Africans my ambitions are purely to challenge myself."

He said it is difficult to compare every marathon, because every marathon has its own atmosphere -- the smaller the race the more memorable. "For me, it is about the time I spent and how pleased I am with my performance. I like every race," Sevcovic said.

Upcoming marathons include the Ordos International Marathon on August 20 and the Shanghai International Marathon on November 11.

Caroline Pimentel contributed to the story.