The 2025 Guangzhou Marathon kicked off in Guangzhou on December 21, gathering 26,000 athletes to compete in the City of Rams. With rigorous organizational command, focused prevention and control priorities and optimized service measures, Guangzhou Police mobilized over 16,000 security personnel to strengthen the security work for the marathon. During the event, public security and traffic conditions along the race route and in the surrounding areas remained sound, and the overall public security situation across the city was stable. The marathon successfully concluded at around 13:00 on the same day.
Building on the successful experience of the security work for the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China, Guangzhou Police has established a security command system featuring seamless coordination between the front and rear command posts with a clearly-defined accountability chain. Relevant police units and local sub-bureaus along the race route set up corresponding security command sub-centers simultaneously. Command organs at all levels conducted real-time coordinated duty and joint operations, efficiently coordinating on-site security, traffic diversion, social security prevention and control and other work to ensure unimpeded transmission of instructions and rapid response to emergencies.
Focusing on the prevention and control of the core areas of the marathon, Guangzhou Police designated the assembly area, starting area, ceremony area and the full-course finish line as core prevention and control zones. Scientific planning was carried out for the functional zoning and personnel flow lines on site, with sufficient guide signs installed to ensure the orderly passage of vehicles. In strict compliance with the principle of assigning specific personnel to specific posts with defined responsibilities and concrete measures, security personnel implemented zonal and sectional prevention and control on the race sections along the “Two Sides of the Pearl River”, fully safeguarding public security and traffic order along the route.
In terms of traffic and airspace control, Guangzhou Police set up a double-layer protective barrier composed of anti-collision water barriers and police cars on one side of 5 one-way closed race sections including Xiancun Road, the northern end of Liede Bridge and Yanjiang West Road, and imposed two-way traffic control on key roads. One police car was deployed at the rear of the athlete procession, together with three police cars and motorcycles behind the motorcade parade, to strengthen tail control, phased road reopening and dynamic prevention and control, thus building a solid three-dimensional security defense line.
During the event, a total of more than 5,800 traffic facilities were placed, and 217 signal lamp intersections along the race route were inspected and rectified. Anti-UAV equipment was deployed at key locations such as the starting and finishing lines and major road intersections, forming a tight traffic protection network and a solid airspace security defense line in an all-round way.
To minimize the impact of the marathon on citizens’ daily travel to the greatest extent, Guangzhou Police launched the convenient measure of “Island-style Crossing” for the first time. In response to the heavy pedestrian flow and acute traffic pressure under Haiyin Bridge, a temporary “safety island” was set up at the bridge bottom, where SWAT officers conducted on-site command and dispatch. Precise guidance for athletes’ advancing directions was provided via guide signs and lines, and the race track was temporarily divided with retractable metal crowd control barriers. This measure not only guaranteed the security of the marathon, but also standardized the safe passage of pedestrians across the road, achieving the dual goal of smooth race operation and unimpeded citizen travel. Meanwhile, in strict accordance with the race section control requirements of the organizing committee, a dynamic control mode of “rolling traffic closure + phased reopening” was implemented. The refined control measures effectively shortened the duration of road closures.
In addition, during the preparation and holding of the marathon, Guangzhou Police released rolling updates on the event schedule, control regulations on low, slow and small aerial vehicles, traffic control sections, control time and detour routes via official platforms including the Weibo accounts of “Guangzhou Public Security Bureau” and “Guangzhou Traffic Police”. These efforts guided citizens to rationally plan their travel routes and fostered a sound social atmosphere for the smooth holding of the marathon.
