Trail runners race over dangerous terrain in Zhangjiajie

陈小将

Professional runners pushed their limits amid breathtaking scenery and danger by racing along cliffside plank paths on Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, over the weekend. [Photo by Guo Liliang/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Professional runners pushed their limits over the weekend amid breathtaking scenery and tempting fate by racing along perilous cliffside plank paths on Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.

The event featured elite and public divisions. The elite division included two extreme challenges. One course spanned 3.6 kilometers, integrating canyons, dense forests, waterfalls and a 75-degree slope. Eighty professional runners participated.

Unlike conventional trail runs, the course was designed not to drain physical stamina over a great distance but to test competitors' speed, explosiveness and endurance in overcoming obstacles in extreme terrain.

During the race, participants set off in pairs at intervals, climbing rapidly between cliffs shrouded in fog. In one section, runners ascended a 950-meter stepladder with 1,991 rungs zigzagging along a thousand-meter cliff face. With a vertical rock wall on one side and an abyss on the other, this segment was the ultimate test of both physical strength and courage.

On Sunday, the top 20 male and female runners — 40 competitors in total — advanced to the second challenge on the mountain's 999-step stairway. The course stretched 300 meters with an average slope of 45 degrees, a daunting 150-meter vertical drop equivalent to a 50-story building. The weather was a challenge, bringing fog that enveloped the mountain.

On the same day, nearly 800 public division participants also embarked on their climbing challenge along Tianmen Mountain's 99-bend mountain road.