A Carnival of 4000 Baturu Warriors

click the picture to see more pictures about

the course, the checkpoints, the runners and so forth

The 2025 Baturu Trail Mt. Guanmenshan Hundred 巴图鲁越野关门山壹佰 (unofficially a.k.a Chokepoint 100) was held on May 23rd-24th in the Guanmenshan Forest Park in Benxi, Liaoning province (本溪，辽宁省), a mountainous area covered by dense plants and numerous ground obstacles like fallen trees, steep slippery black soil, and piles of large rocks.

4000 runners took part in this game of both delight and pain.

The event includes 4 categories for adults:

“100” – 100km loop course, 5400m total ascent, 200-1200m altitude. 66% Unpaved.

“50” - 55km, loop course, 3100m total ascent, 200-1200m altitude. 66% Unpaved.

“30” – 32km, loop course, 5400m total ascent, 200-800m altitude. 60% Unpaved.

“10”, 10km, loop course, 500m total ascent, 200-400m altitude. 45% Unpaved.

Due to the local landscape, the courses are quite gruelling. The unpaved route traversed along the rugged ridgelines, thick forests, dry riverbeds, etc. Runners had to go prone to squeeze through some very confined natural obstacles like branches, trunks and huge rocks.

To slow the runners down and test their stamina, there weren’t necessarily exaggerated numbers of total ascent.

However, there were some beautiful and runnable parts, like the unpaved downhill meadow in the forest in the first half of the 100km and 50km. A couple of cows roamed randomly, eating grass and yellow flowers.

Shenyang-based Daniel（GER）ranked the 3rd in the “50”

He is good at both running and photographing

The paved parts offered the runners good chances to make up the time wasted in the technical terrains, if their legs were still fresh with plenty of strength.

After getting through those challenges, the last 4km home stretch to the finish was not easy. Thousands of steep, narrow and hard stairs were waiting. For the petite female elites, it would be a little bit easier, but others had to spend a long time climbing up and walking down. Tall male runners with big feet suffered the most.

*The organiser offered a variety of real food to runners in need, to enhance their physical strength and emotional value, such as hot mutton soup 羊肉汤, BBQ strings 烤串儿, steamed rolls 花卷, rice porridge and instant noodles.

*The souvenirs originate from traditional Manchurian culture, for example, the certificates for the top 3 finishers of each category are inspired by the imperial written order in the Qing Dynasty or 圣旨.

Some podium results for reference:

100km, 650+ runners in all

Male – 13 hours

Female – 17 hours

50km, 950+ runners in all

Male – 7 hours

Female – 9 hours

Text/Xiaozhao

Pictures/WT Sports