Beijing, 19 April – Participants of the Beijing 2008 IAAF International Marathon Race slated for Sunday will try the newly announced course for the 2008 Olympic Games marathon race.

As the two-day Beijing IAAF Race Walking Challenge closing here on Saturday, the marathon race is one of the Good Luck series test events of the Beijing Games, to check the overall planning and various functional operations for the Games in the coming summer.

The 42.195 km course starts at the giant Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing and finishes at the National Stadium, or “Bird's Nest”, in the Olympic Green in the northern part of the city.

Covering an area of 440,000 square meters, Tian'anmen Square is believed to be the largest square in the world, and, as the main stadium for this summer's Games, the National Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as athletics events and men's football finals.

While running along the flat streets of the Chinese capital, athletes will get a close glimpse of various aspects of the 800-year-old city – the history, culture, business and high-tech industry.

To the north of Tiananmen Square is Tiananmen Gate, the southern and main entrance of the famed Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City. It was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties dating more than 600 years back into ancient China. With a vast area of 74 hectares, it is the world's largest palace complex. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is highly ranked in tourist attractions worldwide.

After the start, marathoners will run eastward along Beijing's main thoroughfare Chang'an Avenue, for about 1.5 km. They will then turn south into the commercial sector of old Beijing city. South of this area is the Temple of Heaven Park. The temple, built in 1420 A.D. to offer sacrifice to Heaven, is one of China's most elegant ancient buildings.

Out of the park, athletes will turn northward and, after passing Beijing's First Gate Yongdingmen, will be back to Tiananmen Square. To the west of the square stands the Great Hall of the People, an immense building housing the country's highest legislative body National People's Congress.

Once back on Chang'an Avenue, runners will turn to the west to pass by Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the central government's State Council. Leaving the red walled compound, the race course continues northwest to pass many more of Beijing's ancient and modern architectures, including traditional Chinese courtyards and narrow lanes called Hutong in Chinese.

Athletes may be impressed by the modern parts of the city when running through several financial and high-tech industrial districts, like Chang'an Avenue Shopping Area, Financial Street and Zhongguancun, an area featuring high-tech industries.

On their way to the finish line in the National Stadium, which is near the site of the Asian Games Village build for the 1990 event here, athletes will also meet two of China's most distinguished universities, Peking University and Tsinghua University. Like in the Temple of Heaven Park, these universities have attracted more and more tourists at home and abroad.