Ningxia's He Jie took gold on Saturday in the men's marathon at the National Games. It's the first time the National Games marathon has been in a cross-boundary format. Runners started and finished in Shenzhen, while the middle section of the race was in Hong Kong.

He completed the 42 km race in two hours, 12 minutes and seven seconds, and was visibly emotional after crossing the finish line.

Yunnan's Gao Peng was seven seconds behind, with Wu Xiangdong from Anhui coming third.

In the women's race, Zhang Deshun topped the podium by finishing the race in two hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds.

Ciren Cuomu crossed the finish line five seconds later, with Lu Ying from Henan coming third.

Five Hong Kong runners: Vincent Lam, Cheung Yiu-leung, Crystal Vut, Virginia Lo and Leanne Szeto also took part in the race.

The men's race set off from the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre at 7 am, followed by the women's 30 minutes later.

Runners headed to Shenzhen Bay Port before crossing into Hong Kong.

Athletes then ran along the Shenzhen Bay Bridge and Kong Sham Western Highway Viaduct, before doubling back to finish where they started.