At 8:00 AM on May 31, the 2015 Qinhuangdao Marathon and National Marathon Championships commenced with the firing of the starting gun at Qinhuangdao Olympic Center. As the gun sounded, 22,913 professional and amateur runners took off passionately toward the finish line. Dozens of running clubs from across the country eagerly joined in, waving their club flags amid an unprecedentedly grand atmosphere.
"Whether you like it or not isn't something you can just say with your mouth—everyone signed up voluntarily and came here on their own to run the marathon," said Zhang Peng, a client manager at Dafy Finance Qinhuangdao, after crossing the finish line.
"We all signed up on our own. I've been training by myself every night for a long time just for this race," said Sun Wenjing from the Langfang branch of Dafy Finance's Marketing Department before the race.
Running is one of Dafy Finance’s most distinctive corporate cultural elements. The 23-kilometer run is part of the training for all new employees, and company staff also take part in a 7-kilometer short-distance run once a month. Employees commented, "Because we’re usually too busy with work to find time to exercise, the company-organized runs not only help us get physically fit, but more importantly, they allow each employee to achieve personal breakthroughs mentally. They also encourage everyone to make continuous breakthroughs in customer service and product innovation."