Hard work makes a successful event in China

 

In 2017, WOD in Hunan, China, was held on the beautiful campus of Hunan University again. It was successful in attracting 3000 participants including about 500 families with 1000 parents and children. These families are highlight of the competition. The woman in charge was Brandy Tang. This is her story:

 

The opening ceremony was spectacular. Chinese soldiers first entered the field holding the national flag of China and the flags of the IOF, WOD, and COF, followed by all contestants. The youngest contestant was only four years old and the oldest over 70 years old. The competition set up Family Group, Teenage Group, Young adult Group, University student Group, Adult Group. There were over 10 mass media covering the competition. Contestants all agreed that orienteering is a very interesting sport that not only exercises the body but also promotes communications among families and friends. They also expressed their wish to involve more friends or colleagues and to have this type of competition and event to be held in China more often.

 

This year’s competition was very difficult, because the original host, Government of Zhangjiajie City, suddenly announced their withdrawal of the competition after I finished almost all the preparation work and left us less than 20 days prior to the competition. I made every effort to save the situation but in no avail. I then had to change the location to Hunan University, with all the preparation work repeated without any financial support.

 

 

I used 15 days to prepare for the competition, for the technicalities, and for the registration and at the same time, to find sponsors. In the end, I successfully had uniforms ready for all contestants and found drinking water sponsors. In order to promote the competition, I did not charge any registration fee and provided free uniforms and beverages. Each person also received a certificate for completing the competition. For 15 days, I restarted the preparation work for the competition of 3000 participants, with only 3 hours sleep per day I felt I would be finished but now I am happy that the competition was successful and I have more people involved in the sport and understand it. After the competition, I almost lost my voice and slept 24 hours to recover from exhaustion. But I slept with a smile on my face…

 

 

 

//Brandy Tang

WOD organiser Hunan University