Nuns, priests, seminarians in record-breaking charity marathon through Beijing

Beijing

Fifty two nuns, four priests and two seminarians from different Chinese Catholic communities, took part in the huge marathon through Beijing on Sunday, to raise funds for charity.

They were about 30,000 participants altogether. The Catholic runners raised about 550 thousand Yuan (about 60 000 euros).

After a Mass celebrated in the morning, which ended with the blessing of the runners, the sisters raised an additional 18,300 Yuan, which will go to several projects, including a nursing home for the elderly, the Orphanage of He Bei, and the Clinic and Centre for Rehabilitation of mentally and physically disabled young people.

Seven nuns and a priest completed the entire course of 42.195 km in just over five hours (five nuns are of the same Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit), 11 ran for more than 21 km, the others did nine km. During the marathon the runners were cheered on by parishioners. According to the organizer of the marathon, this was the first time such a large group of sisters had taken part and the first that a priest completed the entire course.

Source: Fides