# Beijing International Women's Ekiden

The Beijing International Women's Ekiden was an annual, international ekiden (marathon relay) road running competition held in Beijing, China. Formed in 1991 as the Great Wall International Ekiden Relay, the competition featured a six-stage relay race for women from 1991 to 2005, and included a men's race once, at its final edition. The race format had first, third and fifth legs at five kilometres in distance, second and fourth legs over ten kilometres, and a sixth and final leg covering the remaining 7.195 km of the classic marathon distance.
The host nation China was the most successful team, winning nine of the fifteen runnings of the women's race. The women's course record of 2:11:41 was set by the Chinese team in 1998. Kenya was the sole men's winner, in 2:04:17 hours in 2005.

## Editions

| Edition | Year | Location | Date | Men's teams |
| 1st | 1991 | Beijing, China | 17 March | 0 |
| 2nd | 1992 | Beijing, China | 15 March | 0 |
| 3rd | 1993 | Beijing, China | 14 March | 0 |
| 4th | 1994 | Beijing, China | 20 February | 0 |
| 5th | 1995 | Beijing, China | 4 March | 0 |
| 6th | 1996 | Beijing, China | 2 March | 0 |
| 7th | 1997 | Beijing, China | | 0 |
| 8th | 1998 | Beijing, China | 28 February | 0 |
| 9th | 1999 | Beijing, China | 6 March | 0 |
| 10th | 2000 | Beijing, China | 20 February | 0 |
| 11th | 2001 | Beijing, China | 18 February | 0 |
| 12th | 2002 | Beijing, China | 17 February | 0 |
| 13th | 2003 | Beijing, China | | 0 |
| 14th | 2004 | Beijing, China | 11 April | 0 |
| 15th | 2005 | Beijing, China | 10 April | |

## Medallists
### Men

| Year | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 2005 | Kenya Elisha Birgen David Keter Hillary Kipchumba Onesmus Nyerere Joseph Keino Enock Mitei | 2:04:17 | Spain Juan Carlos Higuero Carles Castillejo José Luis Blanco Iván Galán Roberto García José Ríos | 2:04:47 | Russia Oleg Kulkov Dmitriy Maksimov Oleg Marusin Mikhail Khobotov Pavel Shapovalov Sergey Yemelyanov | 2:05:57 |

### Women

| Year | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 1991 | Soviet Union | 2:19:59 | United States | 2:20:16 | China | 2:20:35 |
| 1992 | Unified Team | 2:17:01 | China | 2:17:24 | United States | 2:21:55 |
| 1993 | China | 2:14:16 | China "B" | 2:16:31 | Kenya | 2:17:20 |
| 1994 | China | 2:16:03 | Romania | 2:20:00 | Russia | 2:21:33 |
| 1995 | Japan | 2:16:32 | Romania | 2:17:10 | Russia | 2:19:16 |
| 1996 | China | 2:15:48 | Romania | ? | Japan | 2:18:27 |
| 1997 | Ethiopia | 2:15:10 | China | 2:17:17 | Japan | 2:17:23 |
| 1998 | China | 2:11:41 | Japan | 2:16:13 | Russia | 2:17:26 |
| 1999 | China | 2:17:52 | Japan | 2:18:07 | North Korea | 2:19:13 |
| 2000 | China | 2:15:49 | Mexico | 2:18:31 | Ethiopia | 2:18:57 |
| 2001 | Japan Makiko Kawashima Takako Kotorida Yamamoto Suzuki Yokota Akiko Kawashima | 2:16:43 | Ethiopia | 2:18:12 | China | 2:18:35 |
| 2002 | China | 2:14:27 | Japan | 2:18:05 | Ethiopia | 2:20:19 |
| 2003 | China | 2:17:46 | Ethiopia | 2:20:51 | Mongolia | 2:56:55 |
| 2004 | China | 2:19:52 | Japan | 2:22:31 | United States | 2:29:57 |
| 2005 | Ethiopia Sentayehu Ejigu Eyerusalem Kuma Mestawet Tufa Aheza Kiros Amane Gobena Workitu Ayanu | 2:18:08 | China Zhang Chong Sun Yingjie Bai Xue Zhu Yanmei Wang Shijuan Xing Huina | 2:19:36 | Japan Noriko Matsuoka Yuko Machida Ikumi Watanabe Marina Haga Mayumi Fujita Kanako Hori | 2:24:32 |