Heavyweights join 2016 Soochow Ultramarathon

With 42 ultramarathon runners from all over the world gathered on Soochow University campus, the 16^th Soochow International 24-Hour Ultramarathon officially kicked off in the morning of 3 December 2016 under the theme of “Faith, Hope & Compassion.”

Attending in the opening ceremony to show their support to this event were Secretary General of Taipei City Government and Chief Executive Officer of 2017 Summer Universiade Li-Chiung Su, Universiade mascot Bravo, Deputy Head of Sports Administration International and Cross-Strait Sports Division Huei-Jiuan Yeh-Liu, Vice President of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation Chia-Yuan Chen, Taipei City Councilor Huai-Zong Pan, Chairman of Soochow University Alumni Association Chi-Jen Liu. Baseball stars Sheng-Wei Wang and Chih-Hao Chang from the Chinatrust Brothers were also present to participate in the charity run for ALS patients.

Soochow University President Wei-Ta Pan, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration as well as numerous alumni and businesses for their generous sponsorships that made this event possible. He also conveyed his deep respect to the runners who as he said would be able to keep up the spirit of perseverance till the very end.

Former President Ma Ying-Jeou who participated in the 1999 inaugural event seventeen years ago was a special guest in this year’s Soochow International Ultramarathon since. Ma said he was very glad to be a participant in the celebrity race event once again and jokingly added that those who ran faster than he would get a ticket for speeding, while those who ran slower would cause traffic jam. His witty words caused much laughter among the runners and helped to alleviate their prerace jitters.

The second special mystery guest was the legendary Sekiya Ryoichi, who in seven straight years won championship in the Soochow International Ultramarathon. Mr. Sekiya was unable to participate this year due to back injury, but he left his heart with the Soochow, and made special trip to take part in the 30 minute celebrity race event.

President Pan and Former President Ma, along with the special guests, started off the official beginning of the race. In addition to Ma, visually impaired student Bo-Hung Shen stood out among all the participants. Shen was born without vision in both eyes, but never lessened his passion and wish to run on Soochow tracks. With the help of Chun-Han Yao, captain of the triathlon club, Shen participated in the thirty minutes race.

Yet another extraordinary individual at this year’s event was Cheng Zhee Long of Malaysia. Cheng is one of the very few ultra-marathoners with cerebral palsy in the entire world, and he is also the first runner with cerebral palsy to take part in a 24 hour race. An invitation from the Soochow Ultramarathon committee four years ago changed his running career and this was the fifth consecutive year that Cheng has taken part in the Soochow Ultramarathon.

The Soochow International Ultramarathon received the IAU (International Association of Ultra-runners) Gold Label in 2012 and 2014, and is the only race in Taiwan to have achieved such honor. Among the more than one hundred 24 hour races held around the world, only two have received this special recognition. With the runners, staff, and student volunteers working hard together we will reach the goal of receiving the Gold Label once again soon.