Two runners died while participating in a half marathon in southern China, race organizers said.

One participant suffered a cardiac problem when he had 4.5 kilometers left to finish the race, while the other died after crossing the finish line.

China seeks to promote this type of event, due to the little social interest that exists in this sport and few races require medical evaluations, despite the large number of smokers, pollution and high-fat diet that exists in the Asian country.