Chinese Marathon Runners mistake soap for energy bars

China is undergoing a bit of a marathon boom at the moment with huge numbers taking part in races. As the government seeks to promote sports tourism, the surge hasn't been without problems with many race organisers and runners being inexperienced.

At the recent Qingyuan Marathon, some 20,000 runners took part. As part of the pre-race goodie bag, participants were given some soap , supposedly for that post race shower.

All very well except that the writing on the soap was in English.....and this marathon was of course in China! Many of the participants mistook the soap for an energy bar which they tasted first hand during the race. Post race photos showed bars of soap with teeth marks discarded along the course! :o))

Besides the soap mishap, all those newbies kept the medical services busy with some 12,000 needing attention. Ambulances were called in 23 times and 17 people were hospitalised.