The 2017 China Climbing Club League Gansu Jiantou Yijian Cup Lanzhou-Anning Station came to a successful close ...

The 2017 China Climbing Club League "Gansu Jiantou Yijian Cup" Lanzhou-Anning Station concluded successfully on the evening of September 10 at Renshou Mountain in Anning District, Lanzhou City. The league was jointly organized by the Chinese Mountaineering Association, the Lanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Lanzhou Municipal Sports Bureau, and the People's Government of Anning District, Lanzhou, and was hosted by the Anning District Bureau of Culture and Sports and the Lanzhou Anning Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd., with exclusive operation by Shizhi Sports. The China Climbing Club League is the highest-level national climbing club competition in China. The climbing venue at Renshou Mountain Scenic Area, where the event was held, is the first artificial climbing wall in China built according to the latest international standards following the introduction of new competition formats and rules, making it the largest comprehensive climbing facility in the five northwestern provinces of China.

Speed Competition Professional Group Finals

The competition featured a rich variety of categories and formats, and after two days of intense competition, a total of 36 awards were presented across difficulty, speed, and bouldering events in both the professional and elite groups. In the women’s professional difficulty event, the champions were Zhang Yuetao, Chen Zhuoying, and Niu Di, while the women’s elite difficulty champions were Hu Chunhua, Fang Ke, and Xie Yue. The men’s professional difficulty champions were Ma Zida, Qu Haibin, and You Jiajun, and the men’s elite difficulty champions were Chen Yongchen, Zhang Qi, and Liu Sichao. In the women’s professional speed event, the winners were Niu Di, Pan Xuhua, and Chen Zhuoying, and in the women’s elite speed event, the winners were Zhang Lingzhi, Fang Ke, and Hu Chunhua. The men’s professional speed champions were Chen Zhihuan, Mo Shuangxi, and Wang Fengqi, and the men’s elite speed champions were Gui Shiguang, Liang Rongqi, and Wei Gongyu. For the women’s professional bouldering event, the top three were Zhang Yuetao, Niu Di, and Chen Zhuoying, while the women’s elite bouldering champions were Xie Yue, Liu Yujiao, and Zeng Dan. In the men’s professional bouldering event, the winners were Ma Zida, You Jiajun, and Ou Zhifeng, and the men’s elite bouldering champions were Liu Sichao, Zhao Zhigang, and Fu Jiahao.

Luo Shen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Mountaineering Association and Director of the Olympic Preparation Office, Xue Lei, Deputy Secretary of the Anning District Committee, Zhang Jibin, Standing Committee Member of the Anning District Committee and Executive Deputy District Chief, Hu Jihé, Chairman of Gansu First Construction Group Co., Ltd., Wang Yunru, Party Committee Secretary of Gansu First Construction Group Co., Ltd., Li Mingxin, General Manager of Gansu First Construction Group Co., Ltd., and Gao Yongbin, General Manager of Gansu Chichen Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd., attended the closing ceremony. Xue Lei, Deputy Secretary of the Anning District Committee, on behalf of the CPC Lanzhou Anning District Committee, the Lanzhou Anning District People’s Government, and the event organizing committee, extended warm congratulations to the athletes who achieved outstanding results. The 2017 China Climbing Club League "Gansu Jiantou Yijian Cup" Lanzhou-Anning Station marked three "firsts": the first time the event was held in the northwest region, the first use of a climbing wall built to the latest standards, and the largest competition venue to date. During the competition, athletes demonstrated excellent competitive form and superb technical skills, allowing every spectator to deeply appreciate the charm of climbing. It delivered a grand visual feast for local citizens, brought vitality to urban development, and added new dimensions to the growth of Anning’s sports tourism industry, opening up new opportunities and achieving breakthroughs. It accelerated the integrated development of culture, sports, and tourism in Anning, promoted the overall flourishing of these sectors in the district, and was of great significance in advancing the "national fitness movement." It also helped explore a sports-tourism integration path suited to Anning’s reality, injecting new energy into our efforts to achieve the goals of the "One Core, Four Zones" development plan.

Zhang Jibin, Standing Committee Member of the Lanzhou Anning District Committee and Executive Deputy District Chief, presided over the closing ceremony.

Xue Lei, Deputy Secretary of the Anning District Committee, delivered a speech.

Zhang Yuetao, 14, who claimed both the women’s professional difficulty and women’s professional bouldering championships, is the youngest champion in the history of the National Games climbing competition. We were fortunate to witness the young champion’s impressive performance at the event. From 2012 to 2016, Zhang Yuetao achieved remarkable results at the National Youth Climbing Championships, Guangdong Provincial Climbing Championships, Asian Youth Climbing Championships, and the National Climbing Stage Race in Leye. On August 8, 2017, at the 13th National Games mass event climbing finals held at the Huayan National Climbing Demonstration Park in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, she won the women’s difficulty championship, becoming the youngest ever national games climbing champion. With climbing now an official event at the Tokyo Olympics, Zhang Yuetao will embark on her Olympic journey in three years.

Zhang Yuetao in the Women’s Professional Bouldering Finals

Double Champion: Women’s Professional Difficulty and Bouldering

In addition to the professional and entertaining competitions, the league also prepared highly interactive carnival activities for spectators, including inflatable wall climbing experiences, slacklining madness, fingerplate kangaroo jumps, "crossing the river by feeling the stones," and tangram challenges, offering everyone the chance to experience the unique appeal of climbing firsthand. The pre-event warm-up performances brought the atmosphere to a fever pitch, with dynamic climbing baby shows, passionate band performances, energetic street dance, and cool live DJs adding a vibrant touch to the event and igniting the entire venue.

Champions’ Salon

Carnival Activities

The competition venue, Renshou Mountain Ecotourism Scenic Area, is located on the northern bank of the Yellow River in the western suburbs of Lanzhou City and is a nationally recognized key ecotourism destination. Along the main avenue of the scenic area, Shoushan Boulevard, there are tourist attractions such as fountains, rockeries, and lotus ponds. A 6.9-meter-tall, 60-ton statue of Laozi and a 36-meter-long, 2-meter-high Dao De Jing stele forest consisting of 56 stone tablets—engraved with the Dao De Jing written in the calligraphy of Yuan Dynasty master Zhao Mengfu—embody the profound heritage of Chinese Taoist culture, organically integrating historical and cultural elements with tourism and greatly enriching the visitor experience.

As a highly valuable national climbing brand event, the China Climbing Club League’s presence in Lanzhou-Anning, combined with the area’s abundant resources, integrated elements such as competition, performance, food, trade shows, and carnival activities. It fully showcased the "fashionable, energetic, and passionate" spirit of climbing, delivering a sporting extravaganza for local residents while highlighting the cultural characteristics and development prospects of Anning District. It set a new benchmark for sports tourism, laying the foundation for creating a distinctive, top-tier domestic and internationally renowned sports tourism destination, and presented a beautiful calling card for promoting Lanzhou-Anning.