An increasing number of professional runners are set to compete with roughly 50 elite athletes from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Eritrea, Uganda, and Morocco arriving in the Jiangsu province city for the race.

This year's marathon, themed "You are the best", is co-organized by the Chinese Athletic Association, the Jiangsu Sports Bureau and the Wuxi government.

The event will welcome a total of 18,000 runners to compete in the full marathon and 7,000 for the half marathon.