Youth power drives 100 Mile Relay race

​The national final of the 2025 Universities 100 Miles Relay wraps up on Dec 7, 2025 along the Huangpu-Xuhui riverside in Shanghai, bringing together more than 1,300 young runners from 100 university teams — a record high for participation. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The national final of the 2025 Universities 100 Miles Relay wrapped up on Dec 7 along the Huangpu-Xuhui riverside in Shanghai, bringing together more than 1,300 young runners from 100 university teams — a record high for participation.

Co-hosted by the Shanghai Administration of Sports and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, and supported by the athletic lifestyle brand lululemon, the final featured a 10×16 km relay, covering 160 km, continuing the event's hallmark long-distance team format.

Three regular groups — A, B, and C — and a final Group G were set up, with the total times of the regular groups determining the starting sequence for Group G.

Shanghai University of Sport clinched the title with a time of 9:27:02. Teams from Chongqing University and Lanzhou Jiaotong University took second and third place, respectively.

Wu Zhijin from Chongqing College of International Business and Economics clocked 51:11 in his 16-km segment, while Liu Junhui from Southwest University finished hers in 55:19, marking the fastest single-leg times for men and women.

Launched 10 years ago, the race now reaches over 1,000 universities across 32 provincial-level regions in China, drawing more than 3 million young runners cumulatively. This year's edition also integrated career guidance and cultural check-ins, acting as a platform for university students to compete, connect, and grow.

Ma Jingwei, CEO of Meibu Technology (Shanghai) — the event initiator — said, "The value of sports and the race's original mission go beyond competition and the track; they lie more in the social vitality and youth spirit it sparks. We hope to make sports a classroom for education, a foundation for moral growth, and a stage for inspiring wisdom."