A total of 33000 runners start off the 2019 Beverly Wuxi Marathon on March 24. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A total of 33,000 runners started off the 2019 Beverly Wuxi Marathon on March 24 beneath a blazing sun and a shower of pink flower petals. The event, now in its sixth year, was an unqualified success, with many records being broken.

The fastest Wuxi Marathon ever

Seven hundred and forty runners out of the 20,000 full marathon participants finished within three hours, beating the previous national record of 720 held by the 2018 Shanghai Marathon.

Negawo Asnake Dubre and Tsehay Gebre Getiso from Ethiopia took the title for the men's and women's full marathon with record-breaking times of 02:10:21 and 02:28:06. Jia'e Renjia from Qinghai province claimed the championship for the men's half marathon with a personal best of 01:05:05.

Runners give thumbs up to Wuxi

Ricard Vincent (57540) runs in the 2019 Beverly Wuxi Marathon in Wuxi on March 24. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"It's my sixth half marathon. It was a very good race, very nice weather. It's amazing. A lot of people cheering and singing, that was awesome. I got my best time ever, finishing in just one hour and 35 minutes," said French runner Ricard Vincent from Shanghai.