In the forest farm block of Yaolin Town, Tonglu County, Hangzhou, from a high place, there is a white and green "horse" shaped building that is particularly eye-catching. This is the Tonglu Equestrian Center, the main venue of the Hangzhou Asian Games equestrian events. Recently, the news came from the Tonglu Equestrian Project Management Committee that after more than a year of "non-stop" construction, tonglu Equestrian Center has passed the pre-acceptance of the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee event function and is optimizing and improving the relevant facilities for the official acceptance in February and the test race in May.
Equestrian is the only human-animal event in all The Olympic games, and during the Hangzhou Asian Games, about 230 athletes and participating horses from 23 countries will come to Tonglu to stage the "Peak Showdown" of equestrian competitions such as dressage, obstacle courses and triathlons, resulting in a total of 6 gold medals. What are the special features of the competition venues that host this "gentleman's sport"? With doubts, the reporter walked into the Tonglu Equestrian Center.
Picking up the steps from the central entrance, the first thing that catches the eye is the 12,000-square-meter open-air main arena, and "open" is the reporter's most intuitive feeling. According to reports, the total construction area of Tonglu Equestrian Center is about 54,000 square meters, including 100 meters * 120 meters main field, 5,000 square meters indoor training ground, more than 3,000 spectator seats, 240 high-standard stables, nearly 5,000 meters off-road track, etc., as well as horse dormitories, horse clinics, feed warehouses and hoof factories and other related functional areas.
As the core venue of the Asian Games equestrian competition, this open-air arena has been paved with off-white fiber sand. "There is a big emphasis on 'hiding' in the small gravel." Du Tingkang, the contractor of the Tonglu Equestrian Center and the project leader of the Tonglu Equestrian Center of the Third Bureau of China Construction, told reporters, "The fibers we see are imported from the Netherlands and configured according to the expert opinions designated by the International Horse Federation." ”
According to the high-standard requirements of the International Equestrian Special Project, the starting height of the horse in the race is at least 1.6 meters, and the horse itself plus the weight of the knight will cause it to have a greater impact after running and landing. "The key to the construction of the main arena is that the horses can not be too hard to cause damage when they land, nor can they be too soft to cause the horseshoe to fall into the fiber sand, so the proportion of the fiber sand and follow-up testing are particularly important." Du Tingkang said.
As a "teammate" who fights alongside the knights, the eating and living of the horses is closely related to the state of the game. At the Tonglu Equestrian Center, each participating "warhorse" has an "18-square-meter single room" with a device for feeding fine feed and drinking water. The reporter saw that the stables were also supported by the construction of a horse dormitory, and during the competition, the staff could take care of the horses 24 hours a day to ensure the competitive status of the horses. "If a horse develops a sports injury during training or competition, it can also be effectively treated at the horse clinic as soon as possible." Du Tingkang introduced.
It is worth mentioning that during the Hangzhou Asian Games, after the horse racing arrives in Hangzhou, the whole process will be "not on the ground" and transported to the Tonglu Equestrian Center through the "biosecurity channel". This stems from the second non-regulated equine animal disease area (hereinafter referred to as the epidemic-free area) built by Tonglu, which has just been assessed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China and officially announced to the outside world.
The epidemic-free area includes the administrative area of Tonglu County north of the Fuchun River, about 1300 square kilometers, and equine animals, susceptible animals and their products entering or transiting the disease-free area must take the designated channel. Tonglu has set up four highway animal health supervision and inspection stations to quarantine pigs, cattle, sheep, equine animals and their product vehicles.
"The checkpoint operates 24 hours a day, and the transport unit must provide relevant quarantine certificates to exclude infection with 19 prescribed equine animal diseases, which is equivalent to 'bright code passage'." We have also established a domestic horse isolation field, and domestic participating horses must be quarantined in the isolation field for 45 days before entering the main field to compete with foreign horses. The person in charge of the management center of the epidemic-free area introduced.
Although there are still more than half a year before the Hangzhou Asian Games, with the unveiling of tonglu equestrian center, a new landmark of domestic equestrianism, Tonglu has begun to do a good job in post-race utilization and industrial development articles, integrating equestrianism into the development of big health and tourism-led industries, and working towards the goal of "a new highland for China's horse industry".
The relevant person in charge of the Tonglu Equestrian Project Management Committee revealed that Tonglu took advantage of the unique advantages of "venue + epidemic-free area" to firmly grasp the core competitiveness of hosting the Hangzhou Asian Games, an international event, increase the attraction of equestrian-related industry projects, and actively expand the combination of equestrian "events, training, performing arts, trading, equipment" and other combination formats.
The reporter learned that in April 2021, the annual output value of 150 million yuan of harness equipment manufacturing project signed a contract, in July of that year officially put into production, to make up for the gap in the field of Hangzhou harness equipment manufacturing industry, is currently preparing for the second phase of horse food production project. At the same time, 6 reserve projects such as equestrian performing arts and horse-themed cultural tourism complex are under active negotiation, which will further amplify the siphon effect brought by the Asian Games to Tonglu in the future.