Pyongyang marathon open for entries from foreign runners for second time

Amateur runners looking for a less liberating marathon experience take note: foreigners are again being invited to jog along the broad avenues of Pyongyang.

This year's Pyongyang marathon was the first to be open to foreigners, with 225 recreational runners and a number of professionals taking part. Entries opened yesterday for next year's race, to be held on April 12.

"The response has been overwhelming," said a spokesman for My Tour Agent, the only agency authorised to organise the tour. "We've already received more than 20 inquiries since we announced [the Pyongyang marathon tour] last week."

Those who take part will be following in the footsteps of four Hongkongers who joined last year's marathon, along with several others who did the half-marathon and 10km races.

Unlike most big-city marathons, which offer runners a range of scenery along the way, the Pyongyang race is confined to four laps of a city centre course, in what past runners saw as an attempt to limit what they saw.

It starts at the Kim Il-sung stadium, passing the Arch of Triumph, the Friendship Tower and the Kim Il-sung University area. Runners then cross a bridge to the east side of the city and wind their way along the riverbank before the lap ends back at the arch.