BEIJING, 30 May (BelTA - People's Daily) - Xing Jiawen, an 18-year-old Chinese girl, recently completed the North Pole Marathon as the youngest participant in her first ever Marathon.
Xing, a student from Shanghai Jiaotong University, spent 11 hours and 55 minutes running the World's coolest Marathon in the North Pole with a temperature of minus 35 degrees centigrade.
According to the marathon's website, competitors are required to run 10 laps of a specially created track, on top of a huge piece of floating ice with a thickness of 1.8 to 3.6 meters.
“Although it sounds hard, I believe that I can make it,” Xing said ahead of the race.
She added that the only way she could fail was if she got injured during the race; otherwise, she would make every effort to complete it.
Although Xing and her father had prepared themselves for the race, the harsh conditions of the North Pole were beyond their expectations.
Shortly after the race began, Xing's whole foot got lodged in an ice cave. She was terrified, but quickly managed to move forward.
When there were only three laps left, Xing felt great pain in her legs, and started to feel beaten. However, she was moved when her father returned to accompany her after he had finished the race, and she was able to power through the pain to complete the marathon.
Xing can now see how the marathon has changed her, and understands what her teacher once said, “As for exploring new things, there may not be a correct answer even if you work hard enough, and sometimes, we do it not even for one.”
