From May 5 to 6, the 2018 China-ASEAN Mountain Outdoor Sports Tourism Conference Launch Ceremony & Rock Climbing Masters Competition was successfully held in the Sanjia Rural Tourism Area of Mashan County’s Rock Climbing Characteristic Sports Town — China's first rock climbing-themed sports town.
The conference was jointly organized by the Chinese Mountaineering Association and the Sports Bureau of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and co-hosted by the Sports Bureau of Nanning City, the Nanning Tourism Development Commission, the CPC Mashan County Committee, the People’s Government of Mashan County, and Beijing Guoao Zhongjian Sports Development Co., Ltd.
The two-day event was filled with excitement. The highlight, the Rock Climbing Masters Competition, attracted 118 elite athletes from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, and Kazakhstan. The competition was comprehensive, featuring both natural and artificial cliff challenges. After two days of top-level athletic performance, Qu Haibin from the Chinese National Climbing Team secured the men’s overall championship with a top score on the natural cliff (time: 231.00 seconds) and on the artificial cliff (time: 268.06 seconds), achieving an overwhelming total score of 1.000. Aleksandre Karolina Przybysz from Poland won the women’s overall title with a natural cliff height TOP time of 301.53 seconds and an artificial cliff height of 35 (time: 223.00 seconds), totaling a score of 1.414.
Competing couple Liu Jia and Huang Weijun pose for a photo at the artificial wall venue of the Rock Climbing Masters Competition / Photo by Lu Lihong
Rock climbing is winning the hearts of more and more people with its unique charm, and Mashan County’s Rock Climbing Characteristic Sports Town is also gaining greater public attention. With mountain outdoor competitions as the core driving force and characteristic sports leisure towns as industrial catalysts, this model will accelerate the cross-sector integration of “sports + tourism + culture + experience.” Mashan’s Rock Climbing Characteristic Sports Town belongs not only to Mashan but also to Nanning, Guangxi, China, and the world. Built to international standards, it is set to become another national brand for sports exchange.