At the beginning of each May, at the vast and barren Gobi desert in the wild wide west of China, thousands from the escalating and influential middle and upper class in this country gather happily for an interesting staged team race, the Xuanzang Route Business School Gobi Challenge (XRGC), an event of running 108km in the Gobi, with a little camping and socializing problem, or vice versa.
Along the course, there are many remaining history sites, such as strongholds and temples established 1400 years ago. The His Reverence Monk Xuanzang also chose this route for his journey from the capital of the empire Tang to India to fetch the precious rolls of Buddhism sutras.
The Chinese candidates, and the graduates involved in the EMBA/MBA programs in some of the tops business schools in Greater China, U.S, and Europe, plus hand-picked teams patronaged by official sponsors of this very event take up the most of this luxurious and adventurous group. Around 60 teams like this will race with each other in 4 days.
Supported by Qinghai Minze Longyangxia Ecological Aquaculture Co, Ltd (QLEA)，the Team Longyangxia Trout (TLT) belongs to the latter. And it is its 4th time of racing in the Gobi since 2016.
The Gobi desert is notorious for its harsh and demanding environment and weather conditions. First, it is the aridest area in China. Second, it is regarded as the “Wind Zone” in China, screaming gale of 60-80m/s is common all the year round. Third, the temperature varies hugely even in a single day, between around the frozen 0C in the windy midnight to the scorching 35 in the sunny afternoon.
The participants are to cover 108km in the 4 consecutive days in a team of 6 to 10, including the first day of casual hiking and the 3 days of intensive time trial race. Although ranking is largely determined by the sum of time of the 6thfinisher in each team in each stage of the time trial. To make things more eye-catching and difficult, the organizer sets a system of complex rules, including the dynamic adjustment of results, such as the gender and age bonus of the 6thfinisher, as well as the penalty of using a rope for pulling.
The XRGC has been popular for more than 10 years among its participants and community they belong to. Each team spends lots of time, money and energy in preparation, in order to fight for the honor of their team, their school, and tries not to let their supporters down.
In 2019, theTLT changed a lot compared with the situation in 2018. The staff, from fishers to managers, rather than a bunch of experienced competitive participants, geared up to get their feet wet for the first time in their lives. Most of them had never run or walked more than 25km in a single day.
During the time trial stage, fighting the extreme heat on day 1, battling the strong headwind for hours on day 2, and struggling the homestretch in coldness on day 3, the TLTmade it to the finish with glory, joy and a little fatigue, but not the slightest injury or wound.
It happens that the motto of the class 2019 of XRGC is “Home Is the Finish Line”, which resemble the life span of the trout quite well: the fresh water is both the beginning and the ending of its life while going into the sea is optional.
The QLEA，which breeding rainbow trout and hoping to bring to everyone a healthier life，also sent samples of its product into the kitchen and canteen of the campsite. On day 2 of the time trial, participants indulged themselves in the delicious fried fish.
The 14th Gobi Challenge competition has finished. The next stop, Longyang Gorge trout will hold challenging competition in Qinghai Province in August, waiting for you to cross the wildest road together and taste the freshest trout!
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