Runners kick up their heels and hit the road at the starting line of a quarter marathon in Shibei High-Tech Park in Gangzha district, in Nantong city, on May 19. [Photo/ntgz.gov.cn] 

Over 1,000 runners participated in a quarter marathon in Shibei High-Tech Park in Gangzha district, in Nantong city, on May 19.

It was the first marathon event jointly hosted by Nantong and Shanghai government departments and was a curtain raiser for the coming China Forest Tour Festival in Nantong in October. 

The event – which took place on a 10.5 kilometer track -- attracted competitors from Italy, the United Kingdom, Libya, Indonesia, Japan, and Bangladesh, apart from runners from other provinces and municipalities in China. 

While fully demonstrating the development achievements and natural scenery of Shibei High-Tech Park, the competition itself has become a platform for businesspeople and companies from the Yangtze River Delta region, Beijing and Shenzhen to communicate and trade. 

Shibei High-Tech Park, supported by Nantong government and Shanghai Jing'an district government, is a major project promoting economic communications and cooperation between the two cities based on the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. 

Since it went into operation in 2010 the park has focused on boosting integrated circuits, automotive electronics, big data and cloud computing, the internet of things, as well as 5G communications industries so as to serve regional economic growth. 

So far, it has attracted more than 190 companies of various types with the total investment of industrial projects reaching 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion).