China makes mark at Ironman World Championship in Hawaii
09.10.2015
At midnight of the 7th, flight HA898, carrying scores of Chinese reporters, took off from Beijing bound for Kona, Hawaii. The team will be covering the Ironman World Championship-the biggest event on the extreme endurance sports calendar.
On the same day, an opening ceremony was held in Kona, with around 2,000 Ironman triathletes from 118 countries present. 27-year-old Hu Chunxu and 24-year-old Li Pengcheng represented Mainland China, raising the Chinese national flag in the midst of a cheering crowd.
The world’s premier international Ironman Triathlon event-the 36th Ironman World Championship-will begin on 10th October, local time, in Kona, Hawaii. This is the first international Ironman World Championship since Wanda Group acquired the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), and the China stamp is obvious beginning from the event’s initial preparations.
Traditionally, a global media event is held two days prior to the main event, during which the WTC organising committee and top Ironman Triathlon athletes get a chance to mingle with international press. A special session dedicated to Chinese media has been arranged this year as part of the global media event, with both senior executives from Wanda Group and the Chairman of the World Triathlon Corporation attending the event.
The China stamp does not stop at Wanda. It is reported that delegations from cities such as Hefei in Anhui and Dalian in Liaoning will also arrive in Hawaii in the next few days to watch and learn from the event. These cities may become the first destinations to host the WTC’s international Ironman World Championship in China.
Recently, Wanda’s senior management indicated that the top events of the Ironman World Championship next year will take place in at least three major cities in China, with negotiations currently underway. At the same time, Wanda will select an influential domestic TV station to produce a reality show to promote the Ironman World Championship in China.
A strong media presence has been lined up for the event, including well-known domestic websites, newspapers, magazines, TV channels and Wechat media. CCTV9 Documentary Channel is making final preparations for the recording of the Ironman athletes’ long road to success.
Wanda Group has also dispatched its own crew to record graphic, audio, and visual at the race, while ensuring the event will be broadcast through a live feed on the Group’s official website. In addition, the Group’s WeChat and Weibo will leverage innovative new tools to showcase the event in real time.
“The following key mission for Wanda is to popularise and promote world-class extreme sports and extreme endurance programme in China”, Wanda Group Chairman, Wang Jianlin mentioned during the acquisition of the WTC.
To numerous Ironman fans, what has kept their hopes high is Wanda’s commitment to leverage its capital strength to develop the Ironman World Championship in China, driving and promoting the popularity of the event in the future.