Liang Jing

Liang Jing was originally the favourite to win this Yellow River Stone Forest cross-country race. This is the fourth edition of this year's race, and Liang Jing has won the previous three, so it is fair to say that he is relatively familiar with the course.

To many runners, Liang Jing is a "god" in his circle. He started running marathons in 2012, and in October 2014, he won the Jinan 12 Hour Ultra Marathon with 149.51km, breaking the Chinese 12 Hour Ultra Marathon record, and in 2015, he quit his job to become a professional runner. He has won several ultra-marathons and has also become the holder of the Chinese 12-hour ultra-marathon record.

Since the epidemic, many marathons have been halted and Liang Jing, a professional runner, has been affected. His prize money from running marathons was the source of livelihood for his family. However, this year many races were resumed and in the 2021 Jiangnan 100 Mile Xuedou Mountain Cross Country Race held in April, Liang Jing won the men's 168km category with a time of 18 hours, 24 minutes and 23 seconds, breaking the course record.

During this cross-country race in Xuedou Mountain, a Wuxi runner asked Liang Jing, who had won the title, if he was in good health. Liang Jing told him not to worry, saying that he was an endurance runner, but that it was really too hot for the 100 miles in Jiangnan. The runner asked if you could run slower or choose some other race as the temperature was so high.

Liang Jing said, "As you know, my child is only three years old, and I have no other skills, so I can only run, I have to earn some milk powder for my child."

The night before the Yellow River Stone Forest cross-country race, He Fujun, who took part in the 21km race, had dinner with Liang Jing, Cao Pengfei and other friends, and we had a good chat. "Liang Jing is a gifted runner with endurance, his kind of toughness is beyond our normal people." He Fujun said, "I think Liang Jing is the first person to run 100km in China, and no one can outrun him. Because he has treated this kind of 100 kilometres as our usual training of 30 or 40 kilometres."

Liang Jing loves to use TikTok, and posted a TikTok video at 7am on the morning of the race. In the video, Liang Jing drank millet porridge and ate three eggs. The race started at 9am and was divided into 100km, 21km (marathon half) and a health run. He Fujun took part in the 21km race and he ran first place, taking 1 hour 26 minutes. "It happened to be the half (21km) when the prizes were awarded, and it was almost raining. It was about 11 o'clock at that point." As the weather began to deteriorate, He Fu Jun anxiously waited for the 100km race to progress until he waited for the bad news.

According to People magazine, Liang Jing and Cao Pengfei both live in Hefei and lived in the same room before the race. On the day of the race, their GPS tracks were highly overlapping and when they were found, the remains of Liang Jing, Cao Pengfei and Huang Yinbin were very close together.