A jubilant runner from Kenya wins the marathon, a key event in the 3rd China·Orgon International Forest & Mountain Sports Festival -- held on the festival's opening day in Orgon Autonomous Banner in Hulunbuir, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/nm.people.com]

Hundreds of athletes from China and across the world gathered to compete hard as the 3rd China·Orgon International Forest & Mountain Sports Festival got fully under way in Orgon Autonomous Banner in Hulunbuir, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Aug 25.

Organizers said the event has attracted hundreds of athletes from China, the United States, Ecuador, Kenya, Russia, Mongolia and other countries to compete in five events.

Meanwhile, the previous day -- in a curtain-raiser to the sports festival -- a rock-climbing challenge kicked off on Wuertehe Mountain in Orgon. Eight Chinese and international climbers successfully challenged the 80-meter-high granite boulder on the top of the mountain at speed, despite the challenging conditions.

According to local media reports, the boulder was originally formed by the motions of a glacier, and geologically it has the highest latitude and biggest relative height of this type of formation to be found in China.

On the day of the opening ceremony, a marathon and a mountain bike competition took place in the autonomous banner, attracting over 100 and 92 local and foreign athletes, respectively, to participate.

A runner from Kenya took gold in the marathon and a biker from Northeast China's Heilongjiang province won the mountain cycling competition.

In recent years, Orgon Autonomous Banner, surrounded by mountains and rivers, has focused on the development of outdoor alpine sports and its ethnic cultural traditions and other distinctive local attractions. The sports festival is the first international forest and mountain event to be held in Northeast China, the organizers said.

Local officials said that Organ plans a marketing campaign that will innovatively use the mode  "tourism + mountain / sports / ethnic groups" -- to combine tourism, sports, health and culture.

They said the aim is promote the Orgon International Forest & Mountain Sports Festival as an internationally renowned platform, to build up Orgon as an international sports venue, and to draw the world's attention to the region.