The Wuxi International Marathon has held a lottery to qualify hopeful participants for entry in this year's event. The drawing for this year's event was held at the city’s Grand King Town Hotel on Jan 6.

This year's marathon, themed "the best", is co-organized by the Chinese Athletic Association, the Jiangsu Sports Bureau and the Wuxi government.

The event will welcome a total of 18,000 runners to compete in the full marathon and 7,000 for the half marathon. At the end of December, the number of entrants wishing to join the race had surpassed 50,000, far exceeding expectations and requiring that a lot drawing be held for the second consecutive year.

The racing route for the 2017 Wuxi International Marathon. [Photo provided to China Daily]

According to the event rules, some athletes, staff sponsors, media crews and public benefit organization members will be given direct qualifications --- 6,830 in the full marathon and 3,349 in the half marathon.

To guarantee fair, open and transparent proceedings the Wuxi Notary Office witnessed the drawing process. A total of 19,355 people were in the drawing for the remaining 11,170 positions in the full marathon, and 17,927 people competed for the remaining 3,651 positions in the half marathon.

The starting line of 2016 Wuxi International Marathon. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The event organizer has notified all the participants as of today to announce the results of the drawing. People can view the final results on the event's official website page: http://en.wuximarathon.ihuipao.com/archive/939