BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- IAAF Global Running Conference 2019 will be held in Lanzhou with hundreds of representatives from the worldwide running industry to congregate in the northwest Chinese city from May 30 to June 3, the world athletics governing body announced here on Wednesday.

"Choosing China as venue for this event is particularly meaningful for the IAAF. In no other place has the sport achieving such a massive growth as here," said IAAF road running manager Alessio Punzi at a press conference as he described the running conference as "what promises to be the year's largest and most international forum around the world's biggest sport."

Positive impacts of road races on urban development will be the main theme of the conference, which will be co-hosted by the IAAF, the Chinese Athletics Association and the Lanzhou municipal government, while economic, social and environmental benefits that road races can bring to host cities will be among the key topics discussed. More than 600 people representing much of the global road race industry are expected to attend the two-day event, including representatives from all the IAAF label races around the world.

"What we know is that in the past few decades, hundreds of millions of people have taken up running as a life-affirming activity - and many of them participate in organized events. The sport has indeed the potential to offer so much more to communities than just the spectacle of a fast elites' competition. Mass road races today help cities in a number of ways,"Punzi said.

Despite of its long popularity around the world, marathon had its fever across China only during the recent years, but in a slapping pace, especially among the affluent Chinese people as China has been boasting of its rapid economic development over the decades.

According to the CAA, China only hosted 22 running events nationwide in 2011, that number soared to 1,102 in 2017 and is estimated to reach 1,300 for 2018.