/PRZWT/GANZHOU, Dec. 19, 2024 - At 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, the 2024 Ganzhou Marathon started at Long March Square. 20,000 runners from all over the country gathered in "Jiangnan Songcheng, Hakka Cradle, Red Capital Holy Land, World Orange Township" Ganzhou to start their own "Long March."
The firing guests of this year's Ganzhou Marathon were 3 representatives of Long March spiritual inheritors and 10 representatives of new Long March spiritual practitioners, holding hands with 13 energetic young pioneers to come to the stage together, implying the transmission of the Long March spirit from generation to generation. At the opening ceremony, the Sunflower Choir of Zhanggong District No. 2 Primary School in Ganzhou City led the singing and all the staff sang "As Wished" and "Singing the Motherland", which opened the curtain of the 2024 Ganzhou Marathon.
The 2024 Ganzhou Marathon is certified by the Chinese Athletics Association, technical guidance by Jiangxi Athletics Association, sponsored by Jiangxi Provincial Sports Bureau and Ganzhou Municipal People's Government, and undertaken by Ganzhou Municipal Sports Bureau, Zhanggong District People's Government, and Ganzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee.
The 2024 Ganzhou Marathon consists of four events: marathon, half marathon, health run, and family run, with a total size of 20,000 people. According to statistics, among the applicants for the marathon and half marathon, runners outside Ganzhou accounted for 73.4%.
In recent years, Ganzhou City is on the road of high-quality development in the old revolutionary base area, and has taken solid steps forward. As for the sports industry, as the first marathon event in Ganzhou City, the holding of Ganma is influencing and driving more citizens to participate in the wave of national fitness.
Ganzhou is a famous historical and cultural city worthy of careful taste and in-depth understanding. The first Ganzhou Marathon showcased the most "orange" characteristic track to runners across the country. With the rising sun, runners set off from Long March Square, passing through Nanhe Bridge, Donghe Bridge, Ancient City Wall, Jianchun Gate, Ancient Floating Bridge, Yongjinmen, Ba Jing Tai, Jiangnan Songcheng, Yugutai, and overlooking Cuilang Tower.
The second half of the marathon also included many city landmarks such as the Ganzhou Grand Theater, Museum, Gate of the Century, etc., which fully demonstrated the natural scenery of Ganzhou "Three Rivers Convergence", as well as the urban heritage such as Songcheng in the south of Ganzhou and the Cradle of Hakka, as well as the rapid development of urban modernization.
Running on this track where the "three rivers converge and the ancient and the modern blend", the competitors felt the intertwined fusion of modernity and history, harvested a rare horse racing experience, and also had a spiritual journey of nirvana.
Gannan navel oranges are famous. This year's Gannan horse comprehensively selects the navel oranges with the highest comprehensive scores of shape, sweetness and moisture as the track supplies for the competitors. In addition, as a "meet and greet gift" and "finish ceremony", Gannan navel oranges are also added to the pre-race and post-race material packages of the whole horse and half-horse runners, welcoming every competitor with "orange heart orange".
At the competition site, the orange visual atmosphere, the dedicated "Little Orange" volunteers, and the orange-flavored ice pack... all showed Ganzhou's complete "orange heart" to the national runners.
In order to inherit the red gene and carry forward the spirit of the Long March, the Ganma organizing committee joined forces with the scene music and dance epic "Long March Song Group" to issue coupons for "Long March Song Group" to the contestants. After watching, many contestants said that they "felt the spirit of the Long March immersively, which was really shocking and touching." At the same time, the organizing committee also joined hands with the event technical service provider Keep to jointly launch the "Long March Road" online challenge, which attracted enthusiastic participation from the contestants.
Ganzhou is rich in cultural tourism industry resources, and during the competition, it has also obtained various benefits for runners all over the country, not only for all runners and citizens to issue 2 million yuan consumption coupon benefits; from December 13th to December 16th, Ganma athletes can also visit 21 4A and above tourist attractions in the city for free with their participation vouchers, and visit 13 4A scenic spots at half price. Promote travel with the competition, boost consumption, and promote the integrated development of sports, culture and tourism industries.
Ganzhou enjoys the reputation of "a Ganzhou city, half of the history of the Song Dynasty". At the competition and the pre-competition collar scene, the "Song Dynasty Armor Warrior" tour attracts players to stop and take photos frequently, and the interactive area can also experience folk entertainment activities such as pot throwing, so that the players seem to be in the "Jiangnan Song City" a thousand years ago.
At the Ganma Carnival, which was held concurrently before the competition, wonderful performances were staged one after another. Wonderful programs such as Hakka intangible cultural heritage Nuo dance, Song Chao ancient style dance, and Young Pioneers' chorus aroused bursts of applause from runners and citizens. In addition, various booths were also set up on the scene to interact, and various intangible cultural heritage production skills such as Hakka Whoosh powder, sugar painting, amigo and incense were displayed, which made runners from all over the world feast their eyes and experience the charm of Hakka intangible cultural heritage skills firsthand.
This series of measures not only provided convenience for the contestants to participate in the competition, but also gave the contestants the opportunity to experience the cultural scenery of Ganzhou "Jiangnan Songcheng, Hakka Cradle, Red Capital Holy Land, World Orange Township". It also effectively promoted the improvement of the economic benefits of culture, tourism and other industries, and realized a virtuous circle of the integrated development of "sports + cultural tourism".
This year's Ganma Organizing Committee combined the city name card of Gannan navel orange to launch the IP image of "Little Orange" volunteers, and recruited more than 2,000 volunteers in Ganzhou universities.
During the event, the professionally trained "Little Oranges" served as gift oranges, guide oranges, ice compress oranges, supply oranges, referee oranges, storage oranges, stretch oranges, medical oranges, refueling oranges, photography oranges, and sincerity oranges. With full enthusiasm and professional service, they won the "praise" of the contestants, showing the high-spirited and upward mental state of Ganzhou young volunteers, and it is the best interpretation of the "New Long March · Re-departure" of this red city.
The safety of the athletes is the bottom line that Ganma adheres to. This year, Ganma strictly follows the requirements of the Chinese Athletics Association's certified events and does a good job in medical safety and security. The organizing committee has set up 26 medical points along the track, equipped with 30 ambulances and 46 AEDs for riding, with a total of 102 AEDs. 68 professional medical runners have been recruited to provide athletes with comprehensive and timely on-site assistance and medical protection.
At present, Ganzhou is forging ahead towards constantly creating a new situation of high-quality development in the old revolutionary base areas. In this process, Ganzhou Marathon will always strive to build the event into an important platform for telling the story of Ganzhou, spreading the voice of Ganzhou, and displaying the image of Ganzhou with the same original intention and excellence. It will add help to the struggle to write the Chinese path to modernization of Ganzhou....
