decoding codoms newbie gets praise the story behind
——From the Guiyang Marathon Organizing Committee
The 2019 Guiyang Marathon (hereinafter referred to as 'Gui Ma') was the first year that Zhongti Sports took over and also their first provincial capital event. The new Gui Ma quickly captured the hearts of countless participants, receiving widespread praise and becoming a trending topic on social media.
Regarding Gui Ma, let's see what the runners who participated have to say:
As you and I have seen, from the pre-race material collection and expo, to the race day organization, volunteer services, supplies, and atmosphere, and finally to the post-race medal distribution, finisher bags, and stretching zones, food areas, and sponsor display areas, everything was nearly perfect and impeccable.
Why is it that even with heavy rain, Zhongti Sports could still manage Gui Ma so smoothly and receive heartfelt praise from the drenched participants?
1. Rich Experience in Event Management
Although Zhongti Sports is not as well-known nationwide as other event companies like Zhongao Road Running, Zhongji, Donghao Lansheng, and Xiamen Media Group, they have nearly six years of marathon management experience, having organized over 30 large-scale city marathons. Their excellent reputation in the Guangxi and Guangdong regions includes events like the Guilin Marathon, Qingyuan Marathon, Meizhou Marathon, and Huangpu Marathon.
Over the years of managing marathons, Zhongti Sports has summarized and accumulated a wealth of experience. They even published a thick 'Marathon Management Encyclopedia' internally.
Last year's Gui Ma was under the scorching sun, causing many runners to get sunburned and exhausted. This year, the event was moved up by a month and a half, only to be hit by heavy rain, posing a challenge and test for both the runners and Zhongti Sports.
——From Gui Ma Photography · Jin Jin
However, Zhongti Sports is well-versed in handling rain battles. The Qingyuan Marathon has been held in spring rain for consecutive years, and the heavy rain at last year's Guilin Marathon still lingers in memory. Yet, both events left us with unforgettable experiences.
Zhongti Sports is not afraid of a rainy Gui Ma.
2. Strong Management Team
How strong is Zhongti Sports' marathon management team? It might be hard to believe, but they have over 20 colleagues capable of being race directors, while many event companies have only a few.
With a limited number of events, not enough for so many race directors, Zhongti Sports implements a competitive selection system for race directors. If you want to be the race director for an event, you must present a complete plan, prepare a PPT, and give a presentation in front of the entire company. The management scores to decide the 'race director.'
This internal competition mechanism gives everyone pressure but also provides many opportunities for improvement and growth, making Zhongti Sports' team stronger over time.
This time, the race director for Gui Ma was Jiadong, young, handsome, and capable. Over 20 other race directors came to support Gui Ma. Each of them could independently handle a major event, and now they are working together, each responsible for a part of Gui Ma. With the cooperation of almost all other Zhongti Sports colleagues, how could Gui Ma's management team be described as anything less than 'strong and powerful'?
With such a strong management team, how could Gui Ma not be well-organized?
3. Excellent Corporate Culture
As the event approached, Zhongti Sports' team members faced great pressure, but they maintained a very positive attitude. When encountering problems, they communicated, researched, and solved them together. Occasionally, you could hear their laughter, creating an atmosphere of 'unity, tension, seriousness, and liveliness.'
Organizing a provincial capital event with 25,000 participants is undoubtedly stressful and exhausting, but every member of Zhongti Sports was fully committed. The office was still busy late at night, and you could see team members rushing to work on the streets. No one complained. As the event approached, facing increasing pressure and difficulties, Jiadong had only one thing to say, 'These are all factors that help us grow.'
This is closely related to Zhongti Sports' usual requirements. Everyone in the company must run at least 80 kilometers per month. Even their cashier can run a half marathon.
Regular training and preparation ensure that Zhongti Sports' team members maintain good condition during the intense work of Gui Ma, without running out of energy.
I have good personal relationships with many of Zhongti Sports' team members. Each of them is kind, enthusiastic, friendly, diligent, attentive, and energetic. If one or two people have these qualities, we can say it's personal. But if everyone in the company is like this, it must be due to the company's training and corporate culture.
Zhongti Sports has won the hearts of runners who have participated in their events and gained recognition from marathon industry insiders. Everyone is happy to see Zhongti Sports grow and develop better and is willing to contribute to the success of Gui Ma.
Zhongti Sports' excellent corporate culture has nurtured and cultivated a large number of outstanding young people, helping them gain support in the industry. There is no reason for Gui Ma not to succeed.
4. Proficiency in Learning and Innovation
Zhongti Sports' ability to stand out among China's marathon management companies is closely related to their excellent learning ability and innovative spirit. They continuously apply the practices of some excellent events to their own and strive to innovate in their events.
This time, Gui Ma participants could print their material collection tickets with their ID cards, without needing to print a confirmation letter in advance, saving participants a lot of trouble and reducing paper usage.
They gradually replaced paper race manuals with event mini-programs, but participants who needed them could still get paper manuals, promoting environmental protection while accommodating those unfamiliar with mini-programs.
Full and half marathon participants were grouped together, starting with runners of similar paces, making the start more orderly and relaxed. There was no situation where slower runners blocked faster ones. Even if you could fly, no one would stop you.
To encourage participants to achieve good results on Gui Ma's hilly course, Zhongti Sports introduced the 'Sub-3 Wine.' Participants who finished the full marathon in under three hours could get it. However, it is said that only 45 participants received the 'Sub-3 Wine,' indicating the challenging course, not to mention the torrential rain.
——From the Guiyang Marathon Organizing Committee
Zhongti Sports' excellent learning ability keeps them in step with the development of Chinese marathons, continuously providing better experiences for runners. Their good innovation ability allows them to lead the progress of Chinese marathons while bringing unexpected surprises and joy to runners.
5. Determination to Do Well in Gui Ma
Gui Ma is the first provincial capital event that Zhongti Sports has taken on, holding significant strategic importance for them. They must do their best to make Gui Ma successful, laying a good foundation for entering more provincial capitals.
With this determination, we have seen visible changes and progress in Gui Ma. The expo was moved from the outdoor Olympic Center to the indoor Convention Center.
The course was supplied with 88,000 bottles of drinking water, 69,600 bottles of sports drinks, 2.6 tons of bananas, 1.35 tons of cherry tomatoes, 13,000 energy gels, 13,000 salt pills, and 5,500 steamed cakes.
There were 255 trash bins and 333 mobile toilets along the course, possibly the most in any Chinese marathon.
The post-race finisher bag collection area, stretching area, ice pack area, and baggage collection area were all moved indoors to the Convention Center.
Large towels provided motherly warmth to the soaked runners.
The richness of the finisher bags was astonishing, with food, drinks, and essentials all included.
The food area offered buns, meatballs, and sour soup noodles, leaving a lingering taste that lasted for days.
——From the Guiyang Marathon Organizing Committee
Zhongti Sports has the determination to do well in Gui Ma and has defended this determination with actions. The perfect presentation of Gui Ma is a natural result.
6. Support from the Entire Guiyang
In this Gui Ma, we also saw the determination of the Guiyang municipal government to do well in Gui Ma.
In previous years, Gui Ma was operated by the Guiyang Sports Bureau. This year, it began market-oriented operations, recruiting excellent event companies nationwide. Zhongti Sports won the management rights for this year's Gui Ma with an excellent bidding proposal.
To do well in Gui Ma, the Guiyang municipal government provided a lot of support to the organizing committee and many conveniences for the runners. To facilitate the travel of Gui Ma participants, Metro Line 1 started early at 5:30 AM, with increased frequency and reduced intervals. Participants could ride the metro for free with their bib numbers. Participants could also ride city buses for free with their bib numbers from June 13 to 16, which was incredibly considerate.
Before the race, a piece of news went viral in the running community: Guiyang's 'Wu Ming Nostalgic Hotpot' offered free food for all dishes with a finisher's medal. While everyone appreciated the generosity of the hotpot restaurant owner, we also felt the love and support of Guiyang citizens for Gui Ma.
Before the race started, it was drizzling, and I thought there wouldn't be many spectators. But when I ran past the arch, there were still many citizens cheering us on, making us feel the fiery enthusiasm in the cool Guiyang.
There were many companies and citizens providing food along the course. I grabbed an old popsicle and quickly ate it. Although the weather was already quite cold, I couldn't refuse Guiyang's enthusiasm.
Guiyang and its citizens need an excellent international marathon to make Guiyang's name known worldwide and let the world feel the enthusiasm of Guiyang's citizens. The new Gui Ma, nearly perfect, is worthy of Guiyang, a world-renowned summer resort and 'China's Data Valley.' Guiyang and Gui Ma complement each other, shining together, moving towards a better future.
In the first year that Zhongti Sports took over Gui Ma, it already has the qualities of a top domestic marathon. The future is promising. Zhongti Sports has applied their years of accumulated experience and skills to Gui Ma, already possessing the foundation of a top domestic marathon management company. Congratulations are in order.
We have reason to believe that the future of Gui Ma will be even better, and Zhongti Sports will create more marathons with better experiences for Chinese runners. Let's look forward to it together.