Recently, the public welfare-themed event “First Visually Impaired Pace Squad for the Guangzhou Marathon,” organized by the Guangzhou Association for the Blind and the Rainbow Running Association of Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, hosted by the GM5 Running Group of Guangzhou, co-organized by Guangzhou People's Broadcasting Station, and sponsored by the Kailas brand, was grandly held at the Sports Center. The event fully embraced the concepts of love, respect, freedom, and equality, aiming to raise awareness among all sectors of society about vulnerable groups through the visually impaired pace squad, encouraging visually impaired and disabled individuals as well as more citizens to exercise and actively participate in barrier-free sports.
This pace squad consists of 72 members including visually impaired athletes and guides, along with approximately 30 other volunteers. Based on running group members serving as guides, the squad also recruited volunteers eager to contribute to leading visually impaired runners, providing pacing services to visually impaired sports enthusiasts. Since its launch, the event has received attention and support from all walks of life. Kailas, the leading climbing brand dedicated to philanthropy, has never forgotten its social responsibilities while growing. This time, it has joined hands with the GM5 Running Group and fellow runners to support a group of visually impaired friends eager to run, leading with love and contributing to the advancement of barrier-free sports. Cao Jun, Marketing Director of Kailas and Head of Lingpan Outdoor Sports Center, was present to present “love-themed” apparel to blind guides and people with disabilities, and called on everyone to actively participate in the event for the sake of charity and running.
Running is not only one of the favorite sports for outdoor enthusiasts but also a right for every visually impaired person who longs to run. To better enable visually impaired and disabled individuals to realize this right, it requires many pace leaders to run alongside them. If running alone is for self-improvement, then running as a guide means helping others while training oneself. In preparation forthe Guangzhou Marathon to be held this December,the squad will also team up with around 25 wheelchair marathon runners, forming a group of approximately 130 participants to compete in this event.
Kailas provided strong support and assistance to the visually impaired pace squad in their preparation for the Guangzhou Marathon, inviting 2008 Beijing Paralympic championsZhang Zhen and Jin Yubo to Guangzhou on November 15 to conduct a two-hour on-site sharing and training session focused on running for visually impaired individuals. The session covered aspects such as running posture, breathing techniques, fatigue recovery, and injury prevention, and included the creation of simple fitness or training plans for beginner runners. Throughout the training, both champion athletes were approachable, especially visually impaired runner Zhang Zhen, whose optimism, positivity, humor, and passion and perseverance for sports left a deep impression.
In supporting the first visually impaired pace squad preparing for the Guangzhou Marathon for the cause of charity running, Kailas aims, at a deeper level, to take Guangzhou as a base, deepen efforts in the Pearl River Delta region, and collaborate with surrounding counties and cities to vigorously promote the development of barrier-free sports. Using running as an entry point, the initiative will explore more activities and develop more sports programs suitable for visually impaired and disabled individuals (such as blind football, table tennis, etc.), mobilizing forces from all sectors of society to draw more attention to this public welfare need.