Genghis Khan Festival: Run & Bike in Inner Mongolia
Posted: February 6th, 2012 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: Health & Fitness, Travel, Upcoming Events | Tags: Erin Henshaw, Genghis Khan MTB Adventure, Grassland Extreme Marathon, Marathon, Mountain Biking, Nordic Ways, North Face, The North Face 100, Travel, Xilinhaote | No Comments »
The beginning of 2012 and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon brings new aspirations, new dreams, motivation for better lifestyle decisions and a drive to reach new goals.
Among the many new years goals I’ve set for myself, one is to kick myself into shape and train for the half marathon.
I had originally planned to run the Great Wall Marathon in May (which I may very well still run), but I just recently found out about the Genghis Khan MTB Adventure & Grassland Marathon in Inner Mongolia at the end of June (thanks to the adventurous and active Erin Henshaw).
So rather than risk running on a dreadfully polluted Beijing city, you can run on through the fresh and natural grasslands of Inner Mongolia!
“The Genghis Khan Festival consists of two different sports disciplines: mountainbiking and cross country running. Mountainbikers are being offered a 3-day stage competition with a total length of 200km, while runners get the chance of running a full marathon distance offroad. Both events take place in the grasslands surrounding Xiwuqi town and cater for all levels of athletes as shorter distances are also available.”
Eager to sign up? Just follow these easy-peasy steps and you’ll be good to go!
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Book Your Plane Ticket. There are round trip tickets from Beijing to Xilinhaote for only RMB 1,280. There is one flight running every day leaving Beijing 07:10AM and arriving at 08:25AM in Xilinhaote Airport. Return flights leave Xilinhaote at 9:25AM and arrive back in Beijing at 10:30AM. You will want to hurry to book your seats as there is only ONE flight per day! You can book tickets on AirChina here.
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Sign Up on the Genghis Khan Grassland Extreme Marathon website by clicking here to sign up for either the marathon or the MTB Adventure Mountain Bike Competition. Lock in early bird pre-registration prices now by signing up online. 10K and half-marathon is RMB 150, Marathon is RMB 200 and MTB Bike Adventures are RMB 200, 300, or 400 depending on how many race days you want to sign up for. Students get a 50% discount and teams of 5 or more also get a cheaper sign-up rate.
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Your Stay: You can choose various travel packages from 3-6 days and basically everything from transport to accommodation and food is all included! Transport is easy by Nordic Ways who provide daily airport transport to and from the event site. Living Arrangements are also accommodating with different travel packages. Click here for your list of options, but basically you can either stay in a 4-star hotel in the town center or you can choose to stay at Mongolia yurts in the ancient Imperial City of Kharakhorum which is 20 km away from town in the grasslands. Single yurts are first come, first serve but they also have a range of yurts that can accommodate up to 6 people. All daily meals are included including a BBQ and bonfire party. I recommend Travel Package B (4 Days, 3 Nights) so you have an extra day of rest after your marathon and you won’t have to miss the famous local lamb hot pot dinner on Sunday night!









In other news, Slow Boat Beer is now on tap at 


















































Pics from Kid Fresh’s last performance at Punk. More pics on his website 




