Inside the Great Wall of China Marathon

As it stands today, the Great Wall of China is 5,500 miles long. However, its historical length — the entirety of the structure since the first bricks were laid in 221 B.C. — is estimated at 13,170 miles, twice as long as was originally believed. At whatever length, the 26-mile course the Great Wall Marathon is a comparative drop in the bucket.

Started in 1999 with 800 Danish runners, the Great Wall Marathon is more than a test of endurance, it's an unusual quirky challenge, as much an Indiana Jones adventure as a race. It often features first-timers, not just to the marathon, but to China itself. And unlike lonely ultras, like say 144-miles across the Sahara, the Great Wall is a cramped, crowded, boisterous affair. There is nothing like it because there is nothing like the world's largest military structure, even if you can't actually see it from space. The Great Wall of China is as unique, unpredictable, and unforgiving as the country it calls home.

The 2015 marathon course, which had to be completed within eight hours, was a loop beginning with a three-mile incline, then hitting the Wall for a 2.5-mile stretch that included the infamously steep 2,296-foot drop of "Goat Track."

The Wall isn't consistent, the overlapping fortifications were built over centuries with various materials. To the unfamiliar, the terrain can't be fully approximated. Parts are smooth, parts are jagged. Steps are straight and upright, and worn to the nubs. Some places require single-file, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other steadiness; others call upon exquisite balance, lest one tumble down ancient brick, vanquished like a lowly Ming Dynasty laborer. Oh, and there's multiple garrisons — that fit maybe a half dozen people — to contest with along the way. Off the Wall, the race rocks with you along a river, through fields, farmlands, and rowdy villages where fans young and old scream "Ni Hao," before marathoners get to climb all the way back up the 2,296-feet of "Goat Track." By the finish line, runners will have triumphed over 5,164 steps of the Great Wall like no one since Genghis Khan.

"Working in China, we've learned that we'll have to adapt, like the year metal barriers were erected along the route. We hired a welder to cut them down and then weld them back up, two days later," says Steen Albrechtsen of Denmark's Albatros Travel, the official race organizer. "But in 2015, it was blue skies, lovely clean crisp morning air, later temperatures in the mid-80s, and 2,500 happy runners with dreams of conquering the Wall."

Well technically, of the 2,500 who signed up, 2,376 made it to the start and 2,225 finished the race. And the 2,225 counts those who ran the half-marathon and the 5.5-mile fun run, which is boss in its own right. The official 2015 26.2-mile marathoner total was 920, from sixty-three countries.

"No matter what nationality, or where you were from, we were all similar in that we love adventure and were crazy enough to sign up for one of the hardest events on the planet," says first-time marathoner Jordan Reynolds of Tipp City, Ohio. A chemist, Reynolds, 23, only recently began running after she gave up competitive swimming. She didn't really know what she was getting into in China. "The Great Wall is a Wonder of the World. Who wouldn't want to run a marathon on it? "

In a normal year, Henrik "Mr. Great Wall" Brandt of Denmark would know exactly what he was getting into. 2015 was his 16th Great Wall marathon — he's the only person to run them all. Brandt, 56, a self-employed auditor, considers it the world's toughest marathon and he knows from challenges, having completed 53 marathons, including three ultras. This year, however, the obstacles to his crossing the finish line were greater than any previous race he'd endured.

"I've been injured for six months. I couldn't run in the weeks leading up to it," he says. "I visited a doctor, physiotherapist, sports masseuse, acupuncturist, and a rheumatologist. There's talk of fiber blast and herniation. In July, I'll have a CAT scan, but I ran the Great Wall with tape and elastic bandage. My ambition was merely to get through it, 7:59 would've been fine."

Brandt power-walked his way to a 7-hour,13-minute finish. His long-term plan is to run the first twenty-five Great Wall marathons, which means nine more.

The important thing for Matt Cotter, 40, of Seymour, Victoria Australia, is getting to further his love of marathoning in geopolitical hotspots. In 2006, Cotter ran a 10 kilometer fun run in Dili, Timor-Leste. The route started at the Government Palace and went along the scenic coast. But what made it unique was that, due to tensions in the country, security was everywhere. In 2007, he did the Super Long run at the Pan Indo Hash in Bali. "No one knew how long it was, but the four-hour run was spectacular. We started near the monkey temples and ran through the forest valleys, rice paddies, and villages," he says.

Cotter, who handles water and sewer operations/maintenance for the local water authority, came in well under his six-hour goal at 5:36, which he had reset from 4:30 after a pre-race Great Wall inspection revealed many parts of the stairs could only be ascended at little more than a trot. In the end, like everyone else, he didn't care. "The Great Wall topped them both. The race was electric. So many kids were out along the route cheering, waving, and high-fiving. I had an iPod with me, didn't use it once. Didn't need to."

Who needs a distraction when you can gaze out upon China from atop one of the world's most significant man-made structures, soak up history in the sun, and breathe in the sheer madness of trekking where so many of our human ancestors have journeyed before?

Peons to beauty, community, and the glory of the People's Republic aside, somebody had to run them jewels fast and win the dang thing. Native countryman Jason Shenn of Shanghai, did so with a blistering/bewildering time of 3:18, not that far off his overall marathon best of 2:53. It was Shenn's first Great Wall Marathon and he made his clan proud.

"Running is a family activity. I run with my wife, seven-year-old daughter, and parents. When she was a baby, I ran a marathon pushing her in a stroller," Shenn, 38, says. "It is a truly breathtaking and rewarding experience to take part in this race. Winning is definitely inspiring because the Great Wall means a lot to every Chinese.

"There is a Chinese proverb which says, 'You cannot be called a hero if you've never been to the Great Wall.' I was proud to set the example for my daughter, to show her that Daddy's a hero."