“A New Year Begins, Everything is Renewed.” On January 1, 2017, the “Karry Auto Cup” Huangshan Leg and Annual Finals of the China Orienteering Open were held at the Chery Camping Site in Huangshan. The event was co-hosted by the Aviation Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese Orienteering Association, and the People’s Government of Huangshan City, Anhui Province, and jointly organized by the Huangshan Sports Bureau, the People’s Government of Huangshan District, the Chery Camping Site, and Lejia Sports. A total of 1,263 sports enthusiasts from over 20 provinces and cities participated in the event, actively practicing the national policy of “national fitness.”
The Huangshan leg featured five competitive events held over two days, including the “Sprint Orienteering” and “100m Orienteering” for the competitive group, and the “Family Parent-Child Orienteering,” “Fun Orienteering,” and “Car Orienteering” for the fitness group. The “Family Parent-Child Orienteering” provided parents and children with more topics for communication and helped strengthen family bonds. In collaboration with the “Karry Auto” brand, the Car Orienteering event offered a promotional platform for the partner brand. Car orienteering is a novel orienteering activity where participants use maps, task sheets, compasses, or in-car GPS to search for mysterious “treasure points” (checkpoints) in the order marked on the map. This car orienteering event adopted a team competition format, with 30 teams participating. Each team member had specific roles while also cooperating with others, and the diverse offline activities tested the team’s collaborative abilities. Car orienteering is an emerging sport that comprehensively tests physical strength, intelligence, and driving skills. Participants need a cool head, keen observation, excellent driving skills, and strong teamwork, making it fun, challenging, and entertaining.
Nearly 200 competitors from the competitive group took part in the races. After two days of intense competition, the mystery of the 2016 China Orienteering Open Annual Overall Ranking was unveiled. Liang Xiyuan and Zheng Jiayi from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics won the annual finals and overall ranking championships in the adult men’s and women’s elite groups, respectively. Tang Jianda from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics and Ouyang Qi from Capital Normal University claimed the annual overall ranking championships in the youth men’s and women’s elite groups of the 2016 China Orienteering Open. The top-ranked participants in the annual standings also received generous year-end bonuses and event prizes.
Alongside the onsite competition, online orienteering events were held in Hebei and Shenzhen, allowing more orienteering enthusiasts to participate in the China Orienteering Open and earn finisher medals and certificates by completing the online races.
To better promote and develop orienteering, two weeks before the event, the organizing committee staff gave fun and engaging orienteering classes to teachers and students at two schools in Huangshan District, explaining orienteering knowledge and leading everyone to experience the sport.
Over the past two years, against the backdrop of the State Council’s “Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption,” national fitness has been elevated to a national strategy, and healthy living has become a fashionable pursuit for the public. Orienteering, as a sport with low barriers to entry that emphasizes both physical and mental abilities, has garnered significant attention in recent years and is gradually becoming a popular fitness trend. Recently, the State Council issued the “Healthy China 2030” Outline and the “Guidelines on Accelerating the Development of the Fitness and Leisure Industry,” bringing another wave of policy benefits to the fitness and leisure sector. A few days ago, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Further Expanding Consumption in Tourism, Culture, Sports, Health, Elderly Care, Education, and Training,” outlining tasks to further boost domestic consumption, with sports and tourism prominently featured. The hosting of the China Orienteering Open not only offers sports enthusiasts opportunities for fitness competitions but also builds a platform for host locations to showcase their local culture, folk customs, and tourism features. The “competition + fitness” and “orienteering + tourism” formats have gradually gained broad recognition from all sectors of society. The 2016 China Orienteering Open tailored unique brand orienteering activities for each leg based on local characteristics. The hosting of this event is a perfect example of the integration of sports and tourism and a commendable interpretation and practice of relevant policies.
The main venue for the Huangshan leg is the Chery Camping Site in Huangshan, the first self-drive camping site in the Huangshan Scenic Area that integrates high-end reception, specialty dining, wellness vacationing, and leisure entertainment. Tujv Camping Site Co., Ltd., affiliated with Chery Holding, is a wholly-owned company established by Chery Holding in response to market changes and future industrial upgrades. It is committed to becoming a leader in domestic auto camping site construction and the RV camping consumer market, primarily engaged in tourism industry development, camping site development, construction, and operation management.