Nanjing’s annual New Year’s Day Run was held yesterday, 1 January, providing a perfect backdrop to introduce Cedar, the mascot for the upcoming world indoor athletic championships, to be held in the city in just over 2 months time.
Over 4,000 runners turned out on this grey start to the year, spurred on by the chance to see China’s fastest man. Top sprinter, Su Bingtian, led the pack side by side with Cedar, mascot for the games that is the first hosting of the championships in China.
The runners departed at 9am yesterday from the Nanjing Cube that is venue for the games to be held from 13 to 15 March. The 5K route took in the National Snowboard Training Jump and the newly-opened Yangtze River Boat hotel that shall house athlete teams during the Championships.
The purpose-built Nanjing Cube is the first professional indoor track and field stadium in China.
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Cedar was the winning entry in a competition to solicit designs and suggestions for the mascot launched just last month. The competition brief stated, “The concept for the mascot should conform to the spirit of the times and today’s modernity, reflect the spirit of track and field and highlight Nanjing’s regional characteristics and cultural history”.
Hence, Cedar is named after the trees that have become synonymous with Nanjing. The mascot holds an upright posture and a raised fist, intended to show that athletes fear no challenge and are always eager to try.
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The Cedar become the official tree of Nanjing in 1982, when it was named such at the Second Meeting of the Eighth People’s Conference of Nanjing.
Su was a fitting choice to lead this year’s New Year’s Day Run, being from Zhongshan in Guangdong Province, as was Sun Yat-sen who founded the Republic of China in Nanjing in 1912.
Currently co-holder of the 100-metres Asian record, Su was also the first Asian-born sprinter to run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds. Last year, he ran to a 60-metres victory at the Birmingham (UK) meet of the IAAF World Indoor Tour, with a time of 6.47 seconds.
