Cheer for Jinjiang Marathon, winner of the CAA Gold Label Small City, Big Event

A recent news from the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) says that the 2019 Jinjiang Culture & Tourism International Marathon has obtained the highest level of certification, and has been upgraded to be the“Gold Label Road Race”.

“Small city, big event. Being a county-level city as it is, Jinjiang is, nevertheless, capable to hold such a big event.”As in the eyes of Huang Qin, general manager of the 2019 Jinjiang Marathon, this Gold Label is a strong demonstration of Jinjiang’s strength.

Sports has been the symbol of the city ever since the 1980s when Jinjiang witnessed the birth of its first pair of sports shoes. In 2016, Jinjiang proposed to establish a“city of sports”, and won the bid in October 2017 to host the 2020 Gymnasiade. With every step taken, the city’s endeavoring to pursue its vision of“to host games benefiting the people, the industry, and the city”.

In recent years, many grand sports events find their base in Jinjiang one after another, including CBA League, CFA China League Two, the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship, CBBA Bodybuilding & Fitness Final Championship, CBSL (China Badminton Super League) Playoffs, and Jinjiang International Marathon, which fully demonstrated the city image as well as its strength of hosting games.

The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) has officially announced on its website the eval⁃ uation results of the 2019 Chinese Marathon and related sports- level events and featured events on October 9th. And the result shows that the 2019 Jinjiang Culture & Tourism Inter⁃ national Marathon was awarded the “Gold La⁃ bel Road Race”.

According to reports, the CAA Gold Label is the highest marathon certification in China, which is evaluated by experts organized by the Chinese Athletics Association every year. A to⁃ tal of 274 labeled competitions were selected by the CAA, among which 118 were gold la⁃ bels, 74 were silver labels and 82 were bronze labels. Also, 93 events won the honor of the “Featured Event”.

What makes the 2019 Jinjiang Marathon a gold label road race? Its bright performance an⁃ swers.

The 2019 Jinjiang Culture & Tourism Inter⁃ national Marathon kicked off on December 8th last year in nice and suitable weather. Starting from Jinjiang Sports Center, nearly 15,000 run⁃ ners raced along the“most beautiful track”with field poppies blooming all the way, enjoying the city’s charm. New records have been set on the 2019 Jinjiang Marathon, not only for the number of participants but also for their performance.

Liang Jianyou, a runner from Xiamen, praised that “the volunteer service was great. At each supply point, the volunteers would ask if you need any water and bread, and they of⁃ fer guidance and services along the way.”As a big fan of Jinjiang Marathon, Wang Tao gave a thumbs up and said,“feels like there are more medical points set up along the way, which makes me feel more secured.”

Ethiopian athlete Dinki Jirata Lelisa was the champion in the Men’s Half Marathon. He said,“I’ve run a lot of marathons, but Jinjiang Marathon gave me the best experience, because the scenery along the track is very beautiful, which brings such a good visual enjoyment.”

This event also got credit from the CAA Deputy Secretary- General Li Xiuhua. She said, “from the race, I felt the spirit of Jinjiang peo⁃ ple, and learned how Jinjiang endeavors to devel⁃ op as a sports city through promoting the sports industry and large-scale sports events. This spir⁃ it of persistence and fearlessness is perfectly con⁃ sistent with the core of marathon culture.”

Since its debut in 2016, Jinjiang Interna⁃ tional Marathon has constantly improved its lev⁃ el and influence, and been officially recognized and well received by the athletes. In 2017, Jin⁃ jiang marathon won the Bronze Label for its first full marathon, and in 2018, the Silver La⁃ bel and Featured Event.

Tips: Review of the Jinjiang Marathons 2016-2018

● 2016 Xtep Jinjiang International Half Marathon: As the first international marathon in Quanzhou’s history, the race started on De⁃ cember 3rd, 2016, attracting nearly 10,000 runners from more than 10 countries. The first Jinjiang Marathon has been selected into the list of “the 2016 Most Influential Mara⁃ thon”jointly released by CAA and people.cn, ranking the 49th.

● 2017 Xtep Jinjiang International Mara⁃ thon: As the first full international marathon in Quanzhou, the 2017 Jinjiang marathon started on December 10th, 2017, attracting over 10,000 runners from more than 10 coun⁃ tries. It’s worth mentioning that the 2017 Jin⁃ jiang marathon won the CAA Bronze Label for Road Race in its first year, which is rare in the history of Chinese marathons.

● 2018 Xtep Jinjiang International Mara⁃ thon: A total of 12,079 runners took part in the race of the 2018 Jinjiang marathon start⁃ ing on December 9th, 2018. Winning not only the CAA Silver Label but the award of Fea⁃ tured Event, the 2018 Jinjiang marathon was also listed in the Top100 of the“most influen⁃ tial marathons”for the third time, ranking top in Fujian in terms of public recognition.

Highlights of other sports events:

The 18th World Gymnasiade

See you next year in Jinji⁃ ang, for the 18th World Gymnasi⁃ ade!

Due to the pandemic of CO⁃ VID- 19, the 18th World Gym⁃ nasiade has been postponed to October 16th to 23rd, 2021.

There will be 18 sports games with approximate 241 matches in the 2020 Gymnasiade, including track and field, swim⁃ ming, artistic gymnastics, football, basketball, taekwondo, etc.

Sponsored by the Internation⁃ al School Sport Federation (ISF), the World Gymnasiade started in 1974. It is the largest internation⁃ al multi- sport event for middle school students with high stan⁃ dards and broad influence. In October 2017, Jinjiang won the bid to host the 18th World Gym⁃ nasiade, becoming the second city in China after Shanghai to host this Games and the first county- level city in China to host a large- scale international multi-sport event.

By far, preparations for the Gymnasiade have made impres⁃ sive progress and achieved phased results. All 30 Gymnasi⁃ ade stadiums have been complet⁃ ed as scheduled.

League Matches of CBA and WCBA

With basketball fans over 1 million, basketball is definitely the most popular sport in Jinjiang.

As a training base for Fuji⁃ an HengAn’s Xinxiangyin Wom⁃ en’s Basketball Team and the home field for WCBA League and Fujian SBS (Xunxing) Basket⁃ ball Club, Jinjiang has become the first county-level city in Chi⁃ na to own professional league teams both in men’s and women’ s categories.

In each basketball season, the city is full of sporting atmo⁃ sphere as fans across China gath⁃ er in Jinjiang to cheer for their teams.

Founded in 1999, Fujian SBS Basketball Club has celebrat⁃ ed its 21th anniversary. In 2003, the Club was promoted to CBA League, which was the only nation⁃ al A-level league in Fujian Prov⁃ ince. Excellent players such as Gong Songlin, Yang Chao, Wang Zhelin, Zhao Tailong, and Chen Linjian,were brought up there.

FISU University World Cup- Football

FISU University World Cup- Football is a world- class university football event newly in⁃ troduced by the FISU in 2017 and is held every two years.

With the approval of the FISU, Jinjiang has successfully won the bid to host four FISU University World Cup- Football games respectively in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025. Also, ac⁃ cording to the Asian University Student Federation (AUSF), Jinji⁃ ang will host another four AUSF Football Cup events in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024.

On the evening of October 31st, 2018, the AUSF Football Cup kicked off in Jinjiang, and 23 teams from South Korea, Iran, Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries and regions took part in the games. The event lasted for 12 days and some 60 games were held, with Thailand’ s Bangkok Thonburi University winning the men’s group and College of Asian Scholars also from Thailand taking home the women’s championship.

Jinjiang has successfully hosted the 2018 AUSF Football Cup and the 2019 FISU Universi⁃ ty World Cup.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is an A-level event of the International Federation de Volleyball (FIVB), and it is another impor⁃ tant international beach volleyball competition second only to the Olympic Games and the Vol⁃ leyball Club World Championships. In 2019, more than 200 players from 29 countries and re⁃ gions, including China, Australia, Brazil, Cana⁃ da, the United States, France, and Germany, took part in the game, which is the highest-pro⁃ file beach volleyball event ever held in Jinjiang

Jinjiang, as a famous historical and cultur⁃ al city, enjoys its superior natural resources and has a coastline of 121 kilometers. Jinjiang is fast becoming a popular stop of high profile sporting events, as of December 2019, Jinjiang has successfully hosted different beach volley⁃ ball events ranged from world- class to the Asian level and the national level.

CBBA Bodybuilding & Fitness Final Championship

At the end of each year, participants with physical elegance and spiritual dynamic gather in Jinjiang. Participants on the stage show the perfect combination of strength and beauty. At the end of 2019, the CBBA Bodybuilding & Fit⁃ ness Final Championship took place in Jinjiang to mark a successful ending of this annual event which is played at the highest level, with the largest scale and the most items in its cate⁃ gory.

In 2015, the CBBA Bodybuilding & Fit⁃ ness Final Championship was launched in Jinji⁃ ang, signifying the restart of this event after over 10 years of suspension. Since then, Jinji⁃ ang has been devoted to organizing the event for many consecutive years.

 策划：秦 娴  

　执行：李诗怡 刘泽宇 林小杰 董严军 秦 越 陈巧玲  

　翻译：张 蕾 黄荣足 黄雅君