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World’’s TopDistance RacesWe’’ve scoured the globe to find the world’’s best distance events — and we’’ve found the following races which you simply must run if you get the chance.

A、 SwissAlpine RacesThis is as beautiful — and tortuous — as it sounds: the SwissAlpine races take runners through verdant upland meadows and deep woods on primitive running trails. Runners travel through tunnels, over high wooden bridges, up flights of steps and through mountain villages, with only yodelling spectators to break the silence.Two of the three races (the 28-kilometre Landwasserlauf and the 67-kilometre "marathon") begin benignly enough on a stadium track inDavos( at 5,000 m). a centre for high-altitude sports training inEurope. The mid-distance Sertiglauf covers the last 39 kilometres of the marathon course, providing runners with the challenge of crossing the 3,000m Sertig Pass.Founded as recently as 1986. the races already attract more than 2,000 runners from over 20 countries to the south-eastern. Germanspeaking quadrant of SwitzerlanD、
A、training camp, held the week before the race, includes alpine running and hiking in the mountains to help runners to acclimatise to the altitude.B、 Stramilano 15km & Half-MarathonItaly‘s electrifying Stramilano breaks the pattern for road races by holding separate events in four classes of running. On the Saturday. thousands of spectators jam the streets at the heart of the city of 1.7 million people to watch 200 élite men run a four-lap half-marathon. The next day’’s citizens’’ 15-kilometre race draws a field of around 50,000 from 50 countries to trek from the PiazzaDuomo(the square in front of Milan’’s massive white marble cathedral, which dates from 1386) toArena Stadium.About 2,500 non élite runners opt for a half-marathon that begins and ends in the stadium. Finally, there’’s a 6-kilometre children’’s fun run from the PiazzaDuomo to the stadium.Founded in 1972, Stramilano is one of the best deals in international road racing. For the equivalent of ￡5, runners receive a programme, medal and T-shirt. Until recently, the race has been largely unknown outside Italy, even though Milan has long been Italy’’s centre for finance, sport and some of the greatest northern Italian cuisine.
C、Boston MarathonQualifying forBoston has become a goal for runners everywhere.Arguably the world’’s most famous marathon (now over 100 years old),Boston was known to sports fans decades before there was any such thing as a running boom. While the event has been modernised to accommodate the financial realities of big-time marathoning,Boston retains many of its charms and traditions from the old days. One is the Monday noon start (PatriotsDay in Massachusetts) at Hopkinton’’s village green.TheBoston experience includes Hopkinton’’s crowded and frantic start, the deafening cheers from the women of WellesleyCollege, the reality test of the Newton Hills (including, at 17 miles, the infamous Heartbreak Hill) and a downtownBoston finish in front of thousands of spectators. Runners take over the city the weekend before, with exhibitions, warm-up runs along theCharles River and famous-runner sightings among the leading activities. Moderately demanding qualifying standards limit the field to about 7,000 and add prestige to the event.D、 New YorkCity MarathonThe "big daddy" of the modem big-city megamarathon, the New York traces its humble origins to a four-lap run aroundCentral Park which took place in 1970, with 55 finishers. When the race went citywide in 1976, the world took notice, and the field has now ballooned to nearly 30,000.Apply early for entry — more runners are rejected man accepted through New York’’s lottery system.The race starts at the world’’s largest suspension bridge, the Verrazano Narrows, and finishes among falling autumn leaves in statelyCentral Park. The meandering point-to-point course(with some hills)passes through all fi