Runners in the 2023 Optics Valley Marathon pose with their number plates. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The 2023 Optics Valley Marathon will take place on Oct 28, with 16,400 people set to participate.

Cities often transform via huge opportunities. Zhao Zisen, the father of optical fibers in China, invented the first practical optical fiber in the place where the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China) was founded 12 years later.

Over the past 35 years, the previously ignorable dot on Wuhan city's map now becomes a 518–square-meter new city whose population has experienced exponential growth from just five to 2 million people.

Ezhou, Huangshi and Huanggang have been invited to participate in the marathon to further improve coordination between the Wuhan New City and the Wuhan-Ezhou-Huangshi-Huanggang region.

The ability to hold major sporting events demonstrates a city's comprehensive strength. OVC previously lacked such opportunities despite the fact that it has two giant pillar industries – optoelectronic information and biomedicine.

The sky rail in the Optics Valley of China. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The 2023 marathon will be livestreamed by CCTV, and its 42.2-kilometer route includes Optics Valley Square, OVC sky rails, the Optics Valley Central Ecological Corridor and other key landmarks.

A total of 35 corporate squads will be formed, representing the valley's 35 years of progress since its founding. The corporate relay race symbolizes generations of sci-tech workers and business people constantly leaving their comfort zones and entering unknown frontiers.