The 2024 Shanghai Suzhou Creek Half Marathon will fire its starting pistol at 7 am on March 24 in Putuo district, according to a news conference held on Tuesday.

Sponsored by the Agricultural Bank of China Shanghai branch and hosted by Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Event Management, nearly 7,000 runners will begin their 21-kilometer journey from Moganshan Road to the Suzhou Creek Half Marathon Park.

According to the organizing committee, the event has attracted 23,269 applicants and the male-to-female ratio of the runners is close to 7:3.

To get more runners involved to enjoy the beautiful scenery along Suzhou Creek, both the scale and the awards of the event have been upgraded this year.

"Compared with the first competition last year, the number of participants this year has been increased from 4,000 to 7,000. At the same time, six specially invited athletes by World Athletics will join the event," said Zhu Junwei, general manager of Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Event Management.

Zhu said apart from prize money for the top six male and female finishers ranging from 2,000 ($277.8) to 15,000 yuan, the top 150 male runners and top 100 female runners will be awarded quotas for the 2024 Shanghai Marathon.

"Although it is the second edition, we hope to make the competition a label event of the Chinese Athletics Association and even the World Athletics through annual improvements," said Zhu, adding that water and beverage supplies will be arranged every 5 kilometers along the route with water spray facilities to help runners cool down.

"Through the sports+gaming mode, we hope that more and more young people can participate in marathon events," said Zhu.