On April 15, the 2014 China Wenzhou International Mountain Outdoor Challenge came to a close. This event, following the Seven Star International Cross-Country Race, was the highest-level and most prestigious international outdoor competition held in China in the past decade. After four grueling days covering 280 kilometers, three top-tier teams — the New Zealand Adventure Team, Red Bull Team, and Thule Adventure Team — secured their spots on the podium without surprise. The Red Bull Second Team, led by Uyghur athlete Pajula "Kasimu," once again defended its position as China's top team, finishing 10th overall and becoming the only domestic squad to make it onto the awards platform.
23 hours, 32 minutes, and 11 seconds — that was the finishing time of the Red Bull Second Team, about 3 hours behind the champion, New Zealand Adventure Team. But if you look further down the results sheet, you’ll find this performance carries considerable weight: out of 29 teams, 11 failed to finish or were disqualified for exceeding time limits, and the last team to cross the line took over 32 hours. The four foreign teams ranked 6th to 9th were only 15 to 50 minutes ahead of Red Bull Second Team.
“The strength of the Red Bull Second Team is already among the world’s best. Though there’s still a significant gap compared to the world’s top five teams, they’re firmly positioned within the second tier,” said Wei Jun, official from the Outdoor Department of the Chinese Mountaineering Association.
Even more notable is that three of the four team members are ethnic minorities from Xinjiang. Among them, Pajula Kasimu joined the Red Bull Outdoor Team two years ago and has since become a core member. The tall and sturdy Kazakh athlete Yersen Shiwugen joined last year and made a stunning debut at the 2013 Taining International Outdoor Sports Challenge, partnering with Pajula to win the men’s runner-up spot. The cheerful and outgoing Kazakh girl Halihan Yimaxe, who just joined this year, quickly demonstrated strong capabilities in trail running and kayaking. The team’s only Han member is Guizhou-born veteran Hu Wanze, who, like Pajula, brings over 10 years of mountain outdoor racing experience.
Xinjiang, not particularly prominent in competitive sports overall, is becoming a cradle for high-level Chinese outdoor athletes.
“Just like soccer in Brazil, Xinjiang’s unique geography and lifestyle give it natural advantages for developing outdoor sports,” said Wei Jun.
Quhui Township, Heishan County, Bayin'guoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Korla — this long string of names is Pajula’s hometown. In elementary school, he was once the shortest kid in his class. To build up his physique, Pajula ran every day until he joined the county sports meet but couldn’t secure any rankings. That’s when he started analyzing running techniques and became fascinated. When he moved up to the county middle school, Pajula had to stay at school every Sunday and return home the next Saturday, so he secretly took the family’s only bicycle and rode the 50-plus kilometers back and forth each week. At the time, communication in Quhui was underdeveloped — even CCTV-5 wasn’t available. It wasn’t until 1999, when Pajula first visited a big city like Urumqi, that he saw a cycling race on the sports channel. “Wow, I never imagined bike races could be like this,” he recalls being amazed.
Pajula studied cooking at a vocational college, but after graduation, his first choice was to join a sports team. His cycling talent was discovered by a local official who had been a professional cyclist and even competed in the Los Angeles Olympics. The official gave Pajula good news: he could work in the mornings, train in the afternoons, and keep his salary. In 2002, Pajula entered a Xinjiang mountain bike race — even though he didn’t have his own bike at the time, borrowing a higher-end one from a friend — and “accidentally” won second place. That’s when he decided to go pro.
Yersen and Halihan both hail from Hami. Halihan was Yersen’s senior at Xinjiang University. Halihan’s parents were local farmers, so she learned farm work early on. In her spare time, she loved running around the mountains and eventually trained as a middle- and long-distance runner. 2007 was a turning point for Halihan: her high school teacher first brought her to the Around Tarim Lake Challenge, and later a coach named Badar took her to the Wulong International Outdoor Challenge — where she met Pajula. Back in Xinjiang, Halihan worked as a PE teacher while continuing her training, until Pajula began forming the Red Bull Second Team and thought of her first — the girl with top-tier running and cycling skills in China.
Yersen Shiwugen is a “true blue” outdoor athlete. From a young age, his running ability was recognized, and he was always the best in the area. When he accidentally got into outdoor sports, Yersen was drawn to it but also realized his shortcomings in kayaking and cycling. Jin Yong, in his novel “White Horse Neighs in the West Wind,” vividly described the courage and resilience of the Kazakh people — and Yersen put in unimaginable effort to master these new disciplines. In 2007, he took part in a running race in the Hami Gobi, where he met Pajula and set himself a goal: to become the best outdoor competitor in China.
Xinjiang’s vast land endows its people with strong physiques, and large, multi-child families foster resilient personalities. Pajula credits his success to the support of his father and older brother. Compared to other boys who were taller and stronger, Pajula was often called “like a girl” because of his slight build. His father and brother told him: “If competing in outdoor sports can get you rankings and build a solid body, why not do it?” Yersen added, “Ethnic minorities often come from large, multi-child families, and parenting styles are generally more direct — maybe that’s why we tend to be tougher.” Halihan believes Xinjiang’s environment is ideal for raising outdoor athletes: “Xinjiang has distinct seasons — very cold winters and hot summers. Also, the altitude is over a thousand meters, and the air is a bit thin. If you can run freely there, adapting to other parts of China isn’t too hard.”
Pajula says that today, running races are still often held on Xinjiang’s deserts, and the Around Tarim Lake Cycling Race still draws decent crowds. But comprehensive outdoor competitions have been absent since 2005. Seeing this, Pajula recalls how isolated his hometown was as a child and remembers the thrill of watching his first cycling race on TV in Urumqi. Smiling, he says, “If I ever win five million in the lottery, I wouldn’t keep a penny for myself. I’d use it all to host an outdoor race back home. Let the folks back there see what an outdoor competition is really like, and how bikes can be used in ways they’ve never imagined.” Yersen adds that Xinjiang has developed rapidly — gear that used to only be seen on TV or in books is now easy to find there.
As an internationally renowned outdoor athlete, Richard from the Red Bull Team once commented on the Second Team members: “Their mountain biking isn’t weak, and they have an advantage in running — because running requires you not to be too heavy, and larger builds aren’t great for navigating narrow trails. That’s one area where slightly smaller-built Chinese athletes have an edge. But the Second Team’s paddling is a bit weak. You know, outdoor sports are about all-around ability, and a weak link can drag down the overall score quite a bit.” Pajula agrees: “Not just in Xinjiang — there are too few places in China to train for paddling. Red Bull helped us rent a training base where we can regularly train at Guanting Reservoir. I’m confident we can improve, just like our Uyghur proverb says: A skilled eagle trainer can make a young eagle catch a fox.”