[Photo via the official WeChat account "Beijing Chaoyang"]

The 2026 Chaoyang Binhe Half Marathon took place on November 1. The race route followed the Qing River Waterfront Space (Chaoyang Section), Beijing's first waterfront half-marathon course. Recently renovated, the waterfront has become another major waterfront corridor in Chaoyang District, following those of Liangma River, Ba River and Beixiao River.

The Qing River stretches 23.6 kilometers. It starts at the Jingmi Diversion Channel linked to the Summer Palace, flows east to join the Wenyu River, and finally reaches the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center. The Qing River waterfront renovation project (Chaoyang section) stretches from the Beijing-Lhasa Expressway in the west to Shaziying Sluice in the east. Plans for this section include 19.4 kilometers of waterfront greenway, within a project area of 571,900 square meters.

While ensuring the river's flood control capacity, the project has upgraded the riverbanks with ecological revetments and built a dedicated system for pedestrians and cyclists. It has also removed barriers at road crossings and beneath bridges, linking residential communities and green spaces along the corridor and connecting waterways and green spaces across different areas.

As the key feature of the project, the waterfront greenway for pedestrians and cyclists is designed as a shared route for both everyday use and sporting events. It can accommodate half marathons and 10-kilometer mini marathons. Three race routes are planned: full marathon, half marathon and mini marathon. The routes meet the requirements to host the half marathon along both banks of the River and the 10-kilometer mini marathons along the Qing River, passing two parks. The project is designed to make the waterfront greenway in Chaoyang District an integral part of everyday urban life.

(Source: The Beijing News)