SCU EMBA Team Win Two Awards at 14th Gobi Desert Challenge

On May 5^th 2019, Soochow University’s EMBA students and alumni completed the 14^th Gobi Desert Challenge, and returned home on May 7^th with two outstanding achievements: Shackleton Award and Endeavor Award. They competed among a total of more than 3300 participants from 62 schools, who composed 76 teams, in this four-day event, the largest and most difficult road race for Chinese business schools around the world.

Soochow’s 14^th Gobi Desert Challenge team was led by the chair of the Department of Accounting, Kuen-Chang Lee, some seniors with the experience of the 11^th Gobi Challenge, Shi-Sheng Liu from the Alumni Service and Resource Development Center, and Yuan-Xiang Lin, the senior of business school EMBA as the captain.

On the afternoon of April 20th, the 14^th Gobi Desert Challenge team gathered at the school’s You-Yi Plaza. The Vice President, Bau-Tscheng Dung presented the University’s flag to the team and led a vow to pass on the glory and to demonstrate the spirit of "ideal, action, perseverance and transcendence".

The event started at 10 o’clock on May 2^nd in Guazhou County. The team traversed through many difficult terrains and braved severe weather conditions during the four-day, three-night race. Despite the adversities, Soochow’s 14^th Gobi Desert Challenge team persisted with their determined willpower and teamwork, and reached the end before noon on May 5^th, shouting "Start together! Arrive together!" to show their spirit of never giving up. With all members finishing the challenge, the team once again won Shackleton Award.

The Gobi Desert Challenge is held annually on the border between Gansu and Xinjiang in mainland China, the route that the celebrated Chinese Buddhist Xuang Zang passed through to the West 1,300 years ago. During the 116-kilometer race, the temperature changes drastically from day to night in the desert, posing a real challenge to competitor’s physical strength. Many EMBA elites take part in the event with the goal to test their own limits.