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yinchuan, september 16 (china news service) (reporter li peishan) on september 16, china's half marathon with the highest "wine" content - the 2024 ningxia helan mountain east foothills wine producing area half marathon road running double season race (golden autumn race) started. more than 6,000 athletes from beijing, fujian, guangdong, zhejiang and other provinces gathered at the foot of the helan mountains, passing through 13 scenic wineries, sweating on the track and challenging themselves.

the scene of the competition. photo by li peishan, a reporter from china news service

this event is one of the main activities of the 4th china (ningxia) international wine culture and tourism expo. the event is themed "purple double seasons for wonderful running" and includes a half marathon and a "most beautiful" winery run. among the registered runners, there are more than 2,700 runners from other provinces, accounting for about 46%, an increase of 6% year-on-year.

the biggest highlight of this event that distinguishes it from other marathon events is its unique track design. the track shuttles between haitang avenue at the foot of helan mountain, 13 wineries and vineyards. the whole race highlights the wine element, combining the smart track with the winery. while competing, the contestants will pass through the scenic wine estates along the way, enjoy the beautiful natural scenery of the eastern foot of helan mountain and feel the profound wine culture. the finish area also has wine blocks, red wine display and other areas. finishers can also get ningxia specialty souvenirs such as helan mountain eastern foot wine.

at 2 km of the race, the contestants will enter the 7-kilometer begonia avenue loop. on both sides of the begonia avenue with 19 varieties are 10,000 mu of vineyards on the eastern foot of helan mountain. it is the harvest season for wine grapes, and wherever the contestants pass, they can see the colors of harvest. at 11 km, the contestants pass by zhihui yuanshi winery, which is built on the sand pit of an abandoned mine and embodies the concept of "chinese garden-style winery". from 13 to 15 km, the contestants pass by boutique wineries such as lanbei winery, helanting winery, haixiangyuan winery, and yulu winery. at 15 km, the contestants enter the helan mountain sports park, which was transformed from an abandoned sand and gravel mining area. it is an urban resting place and eco-tourism leisure place integrating eco-tourism, sports and leisure. running on the park track, you can see pavilions, towers, lakes and mountains. at 16 km, the contestants pass by lansai winery, which has traditional chinese architectural features. from 17 to 18 km, the contestants return to begonia avenue again, and victory is just around the corner. in the finishing area, ningxia's characteristic "long table banquet for thousands of people" and wine specialty products were all on display. haoyuan village near the track has the titles of "national beautiful countryside demonstration village", "national rural tourism key village", "national ecological cultural village", and "china's beautiful leisure village". more than 20 years ago, this place was still a barren land, full of large pits left over from sand and gravel mining. today, the village has 19 wineries, 18,000 acres of wine grapes, an annual output of 6,000 tons of wine, and an output value of nearly 400 million yuan.

at the same time, this half marathon golden autumn race coincides with the mid-autumn festival holiday. in order to continuously promote the integrated development of "sports + tourism + wine", the host xixia district launched the "1+n" sports and tourism integration package, and launched 5 series of 12 supporting cultural and tourism activities such as "tasting helan mountain·exclusive road running experience for high net worth" and "exploring helan mountain·sharing winery and mountains and rivers". it has created multiple routes such as the ningxia helan mountain eastern foothill winery ecological tour to attract tourists to "travel with the event".

the competition is jointly sponsored by the ningxia sports bureau, ningxia culture and tourism department, ningxia helan mountain east foothill wine industry park management committee, and yinchuan municipal people's government, hosted by yinchuan sports bureau, yinchuan culture, tourism, radio and television bureau, yinchuan wine industry development service center, and yinchuan xixia district people's government, and supported by ningxia sports lottery management center and ningxia sports industry development service center. (end)

(china news network)