Since October, many events such as the Wuhan Marathon, Linyi Marathon, Zibo Marathon, and Qingdao Sea Marathon have been postponed, and many events have even postponed the holding time to 2022. The staff of the Wuhan Marathon Organizing Committee told Nandu Reporter that the qualifications for all confirmed participants will be retained, and the registration fee will be refunded for all runners who have successfully paid for the registration.
Nandu reporters investigated and found that in the past decade, China's marathon events have "leapt" and developed, and the number of races has risen from 22 in 2011 to 1828 in 2019. According to the data, in 2018, the total annual consumption of marathons and related sports-scale events held in China reached 17.8 billion, the total consumption driven by the annual events reached 28.8 billion, and the total annual industrial output was 74.6 billion. Behind this, the local government has shown its attention and support for the marathon.
Since 2020, this hilarious scene has been pressed the pause button. The head of a relevant company told Nandu reporter that the number of marathons, cross-country runs and other events in 2020 and 2021 has decreased sharply, and it is currently "very difficult" to operate. Industry insiders also revealed that the approval of cross-country races by local governments has become much more cautious, and there are more considerations for race safety.
Postponement: Major marathons postponed until 2022
On October 24, the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Marathon issued an announcement of the postponement of the event. According to the organizing committee, in order to prevent the risk of the spread of the epidemic and effectively protect the health and safety of runners, staff and citizens, after careful study and decision of the organizing committee, the 2021 Beijing Marathon originally scheduled for October 31, the Beijing Marathon Expo originally scheduled to be held from October 29 to 30 and the Beijing Marathon Parent-child Running Activity scheduled to be held on October 30 have been postponed until further notice.
Nandu reporter noted that this is not the first marathon event to be postponed recently. In October, many events such as Wuhan Marathon, Linyi Marathon, Zibo Marathon and Qingdao Sea Marathon have been postponed. According to the announcement, many events have postponed the running time to 2022.
On October 27, the staff of the Wuhan Marathon Organizing Committee told Nandu Reporter that it would retain the qualifications for all confirmed participants and refund the registration fee for all runners who successfully paid for the registration. Participants who register for the Wuhan Marathon can submit a compensation application to the Organizing Committee through the link provided by the WeChat public account, and the Organizing Committee will compensate them as appropriate.
The staff of the Beijing Marathon Organizing Committee told Nandu reporters that the postponement of the race is mainly to prevent the risk of the spread of the epidemic. The staff said that runners can log on to the official website personal center or the Maramala App to apply for a refund of the competition from 12:00 on October 25 to 12:00 on October 30, but once they choose to refund, the organizing committee will not reserve a quota for them. At the same time, north Malaysia will not subsidize the cost of air tickets and hotels. When the Nandu reporter called, he also learned that although the time of the North Malaysia was postponed, there was no change in the sponsor.
Yuyu (pseudonym), who signed up for the Wuhan Marathon, told Nandu reporters that he was "disappointed and sad" about the postponement of the Wuhan Marathon (Hanma). As an "old runner" with six or seven years of running experience, she needs to balance family, work and hobbies, and the marathons she participates in have been considered and screened. Two months before Hanma began, she also underwent special training preparations.
For her, Hanma's extension is not only a loss of money, but also a loss of the state of inability to release after the preparation, "I did not pay attention to the hotel reservation when I booked the ticket, I can't refund it, and I have lost a sum here." Then I also had work to do when I went to Wuhan, and I had to meet friends, plus my own preparations, (the postponement of the game) was quite a blow to me. ”
For her and her runners, the 2021 marathon is a lot more uncertain than last year. Yuyu said that the epidemic situation in 2020 is more severe, and everyone does not have too many expectations for the game. But this year, marathons seem to be starting to recover. October coincided with the season, many events were announced, and the runners' status has been reactivated. Many people have been looking forward to this for a long time. But these expectations were dashed after the postponement of a well-known large marathon event in China was announced.
Development: From the "niche movement" to the tens of billions of industries
Looking back at the past, marathons have developed rapidly in China, from the obscure "niche sports" to more than 1800 races a year, which took only nearly 10 years.
According to the "2019 China Marathon Big Data Analysis Report" (hereinafter referred to as the analysis report) released by the Chinese Athletics Association on May 1, 2020, from 2011 to 2019, the marathon market in China was generally in a stage of rapid growth. In 2011, there were only 22 nationally certified events or large-scale events, and since then this figure has risen sharply to 993 in 2016.
By 2019, a total of 1,828 large-scale events were held nationwide, an increase of 247 over 2018, an increase of 15.62% year-on-year; the cumulative number of participants was 7.1256 million, an increase of 1.2956 million compared with 5.83 million in 2018, an increase of 22.22% year-on-year. Among them, a total of 357 events were certified by the Chinese Athletics Association, an increase of 18 over 2018; the total number of certified events reached 4.2391 million, accounting for 59.49% of the total number of participants, an increase of 577,500 over 2018, an increase of 15.77% year-on-year.
According to the analysis report, among the 357 certified events, there were 318 marathons and half marathons, accounting for 89.08% of all certified events, showing a significant increase.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the "China Marathon Annual Main Report" released in 2019 shows that the scale of China's marathon events continued to increase in 2018, and the industry-driven effect began to appear, and the influence was further enlarged. In 2018, China held 1,581 marathons and related sports scale events (road running events with more than 800 people and cross-country events with more than 300 people), with a total annual consumption of 17.8 billion, the total consumption driven by the annual events reached 28.8 billion, and the total annual industrial output was 74.6 billion, an increase of 7% over last year.
Behind this, many local governments have shown their attention and support for the marathon.
Taking Zhejiang as an example, in 2013, the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau held a summary meeting of the "Hangzhou International Marathon", and Zhai Xiaoxiang, then a member of the party group and deputy department-level leader of the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau, said at the meeting, "The input and output of the Hangzhou Marathon should be said to be very cost-effective."
In 2016, the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau announced in the "13th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development in Zhejiang Province" that it is necessary to "form a Zhejiang sports brand event with social popularity and market influence represented by the Hangzhou Marathon, the Taihu Lake International Road Bicycle Race, the Beilun International Women's Volleyball Open, the "Quzhou • Rotten Ke Cup" Chinese Go Championship, and the Longyou Asia-Pacific Automobile Rally." ”
The Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau said in its "2021 Provincial Sports Industry Work Points" that it is necessary to issue three special development plans for aviation sports, water sports and marathon sports; to accelerate the construction of national sports industry bases, to further promote the construction of National Sports Industry Demonstration Bases in Fuyang, Chun'an, Ninghai, Yongkang, Deqing, Beilun, Keqiao, Wuyi, Jiangshan, and vigorously support the development of national sports industry demonstration units such as Dafeng Industry, and pay attention to cultivating national sports industry demonstration project brands such as hangzhou marathon. Encourage qualified regions (units, projects) to strive to create national sports industry bases.
Why is there so much emphasis on the sport of marathon? The Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau said in a report published on its official website in December 2020 that the benefits of brand sports events such as the Hangzhou Marathon are obvious, which not only stimulates mass sports consumption, enhances the fitness awareness of the masses, but also improves the popularity, reputation and comprehensive competitiveness of the cities hosting the games.
"Brand events mean that awareness, professionalism and contribution can reach a certain level, which can attract more social forces to participate and stimulate market vitality." In Zhejiang Province, cultivating brand sports events is an important measure of this work, and it is also an important starting point for promoting the leapfrog development of the sports competition performance industry in Zhejiang Province and realizing the transformation from a 'big province of events' to a 'strong province of events'. The relevant person in charge of the Sports Industry Research Center of Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Sports sciences once said.
According to the "China Marathon Crowd and Consumption Insight Report" released by Nielsen, in 2019, the average cost of Chinese runners was 11,418 yuan. Running equipment can account for half of the cost, the cost of the event can reach 28%, and the proportion of training expenditure can reach 21%.
Runners are willing to spend money on the event, and the organizers of the event can naturally get a lot of income. According to the "2019 Shanghai Sports Event Impact Assessment Report" jointly released by the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau and the Shanghai University of Sport, the 12 representative major sports events held in Shanghai in 2019 brought a total of 3.09 billion yuan of direct consumption, and the pull effect of related industries exceeded 10.2 billion yuan. Among them, the contribution of direct economic benefits of the Shanghai ATP1000 Tennis Masters, F1 Chinese Grand Prix and Shanghai International Marathon accounted for more than 70%.
According to the assessment report, the Shanghai International Marathon brought about 328 million yuan of direct economic benefits, as well as about 1.145 billion yuan of indirect economic benefits, and added nearly 68 million yuan of tax revenue.
Zhimei Sports, known as the "first stock of marathon events", showed that its performance report for the first half of the year disclosed in 2016 showed that the revenue from the operation of the event was 194 million yuan, an increase of 81.9% compared with the same period in 2015.
In 2017, Zhimei's annual report showed that it operated 16 "Run China", 2017 Changchun International Marathon, 2017 Changde International Marathon and other events, and the gross profit of marathon-based event operation and marketing reached 78.3 million yuan.
Stagnation: The number of marathon events has plummeted
Affected by the new crown epidemic and other factors, from 2020 to 2021, the hosting of marathon events, especially cross-country races, has stagnated to varying degrees.
The 2020 Chengdu Shuangwei Marathon Health Run held in March 2020 has attracted much attention because of the "first offline running activity after the outbreak of the epidemic", and many people have seen the hope that the marathon event will return to normal. But the requirements of epidemic prevention and control measures are destined to have an impact on marathons. In this year, well-known competitions such as the Beijing Marathon, Wuhan Marathon, Shenzhen Marathon, and Dalian Marathon were cancelled or postponed.
Tang Sheng, head of Jiangsu Liran Sports Development Co., Ltd., told Nandu reporters that the industry basically did not hold a marathon in the first half of 2020. By the second half of the year, his company had hosted only one marathon, one triathlon and two cross-country races.
This year's situation is even worse than last year's. Tang Sheng said that since 2021, they have only been responsible for operating three events, which are not large in scale and "incomparable" with the 11 events operated in 2019.
Tang Sheng said that at present, the number of marathon events in the whole marathon has decreased a lot, and the event operation company needs to rely on word of mouth to survive. But the size of the overall event has not been greatly reduced, "after all, the competition is held, maybe ten thousand people and five thousand people, he needs a lot of preparation."
According to the Compilation of China's Marathon Management Documents (2021), marathon-related sports also include trail running. In contrast to marathon events, trail running events suffered a heavy blow after the Silver Cross-Country Accident in May 2021.
According to the official notification, on May 22, 2021, the 2021 (fourth) Yellow River Stone Forest Mountain Marathon 100 km cross-country race and rural revitalization health run was held in the Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area in Baiyin Chengtai County, and in the 100 km cross-country race, it encountered high-impact weather with strong winds, precipitation and cooling, resulting in the death of 21 participants and the injury of 8 people.
Gansu Jingtai Mountain cross-country race search and rescue scene. Xinhua News Agency
On July 5, the official website of the State General Administration of Sport released the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Safety Supervision and Service of Sports Events" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") jointly issued by the General Administration of Sport and other eleven departments, which mentioned that large-scale sports events involve a wide range, a large number of participants, complex external influencing factors, and high social concerns, such as neglect of safety issues, it is very easy to cause safety accidents. The recent public safety incident of the 2021 (fourth) Yellow River Stone Forest 100-kilometer Cross-country Race caused major casualties and learned very painful lessons, fully exposing many weak links and loopholes in the management of sports events. The "Opinions" pointed out that sports departments at all levels are required to focus on supervision of sports events with a large number of participants, high personal danger or strong professional and technical characteristics.
Sporting events, including cross-country races and marathons, are under regulatory pressure. Tang Sheng said that the enthusiasm of runners for cross-country races has not decreased, but the local government is much more cautious about the approval of cross-country races, and there are more considerations for race safety. In his opinion, overall, "cross-country racing is in a state of stagnation, and it may take several years to slow down." ”
Transformation: There are companies that profit from investment trust schemes
The 2021 Wuhan Marathon, which the running roe fish is preparing to participate in, was finally postponed. On October 25, she told Nandu reporters that she had already booked a flight ticket and a hotel with full expectations, and even set a goal, "to want PB (personal best running performance)"! Unexpectedly, with the postponement of Hanma, everything became a bubble.
Looking back on the past two years, Yuyu said that his enthusiasm for competition and exercise has decreased a lot. "My total amount of exercise this year is probably just the amount of exercise I have exercised in the past month, which is still when I start practicing again for Hanma."
Where will the paused marathon go?
The decline in revenue is an important issue for the operating companies involved. Tang Sheng helplessly told Nandu reporter that the company's employees have been reduced by about 30%, but the ratio of expenditure to income is larger than before 2020, and the overall efficiency has also become worse, and the company's operation is currently "very difficult".
In March, the 2020 financial report disclosed by Zhimei Sports showed that as of December 31, 2020, zhimei sports revenue was 8.942 million yuan, a decrease of 94.37% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to zhimei sports owners was 43.985 million yuan, compared with the loss of 455 million yuan in 2019, a year-on-year narrowing of 90.34%.
Zhimei Sports said in the announcement that the decrease in revenue was mainly due to the impact of the new crown epidemic on sports events that could not be held as scheduled.
As a pioneer in China's sports industry, Zhimei Sports, which has entered the Chinese road running market since 2012, is the pioneer of China's marathon industry. So far, Zhimei Road Running Industry Company, a subsidiary of Zhimei Sports, has successfully operated more than 200 large-scale city marathons. Today, Chi mei sports seeks to transform and profit from investment trust schemes. Zhimei Sports also said in the 2020 annual report that "the company's annual goal is to decisively reduce the cost of all aspects and increase the return on investment and financial funds."
Zhang Sijie, chairman of Zhongji Sports, pointed out to the media that the normalization of epidemic prevention and control has caused many marathon sponsors to suffer economic losses, and the enthusiasm for sponsorship has also been hit. In the case of the inability to hold offline events, how to maintain the contact between sponsors and events is an urgent problem for marathon operators to think about at present.
At the same time, he believes that the normalization of epidemic prevention and control has also purified the marathon market to a certain extent, "In the past, some events over-pampered runners, or gimmicks to create non-running core content." The racers and runners who can stick to it today are all 'true love fans' of running, which also makes the event operation company feel happy. ”
The suspension of a series of events has indeed not reduced the enthusiasm of running sports "true love fans". "Racing is an attitude, and sticking to training is the right way," said one runner, "practice well and come back next year."
Producer: Nandu New Format Rule of Law Research Center
Written by: Nandu reporter Yang Tianzhi Wu Jialing