The 2017 Jiulong Lake (Ningbo) International Half Marathon kicks off in Zhenhai district of Ningbo, Zhejiang province on April 23. [Photo/cztv.com]

Taking “healthy, loving and green” as its tenets, this year’s Jiulong Lake Half Marathon attracted 10,000 participants, including about 70 foreign athletes from 17 countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Kenya.                                         

Half of the registration fee of each competitor is reserved for a donation to the impoverished to help them realize their dreams. More than 200,000 yuan ($29,000) has been donated to poverty-stricken students in Zhejiang province since 2015, and more than 400,000 yuan is expected to be distributed this year.