[Southeast University News Network, November 9] (Reporter: TangTang; photographer: LiuLi) On November 9, the ceremony for the establishment of the commemorative logo of the birthplace of the Chinese Marathon was held at Dingjiaqiao Campus of Southeast University. Zheng Jiamao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Southeast University, Fei Jiawei, Undersecretary of Nanjing Municipal Sports Bureau, responsible comrades of Nanjing Sports Bureau and relevant departments of Southeast University, representatives of athletes of Nanjing Marathon from Southeast University and teachers and students from Southeast University attended the ceremony.
Zheng Jiamao reviewed the history of sports development in SEU for more than 100 years. He introduced that after the founding of New China, the sports work of SEU has always been carried in adherence to the tradition of “Striving forPerfection” while absorbing the essence of the school’s sports culture for more than 100 years to continuously deepened the reform of sports. The school has played an active role in fostering leading talents with devotion to family and country and international vision for the benefit of mankind. He also introduced the development of the marathon activities of SEU in recent years. He said that China’s first marathon is of great significance, which not only enhances the Chinese people's self-confidence in sports, and encourages more Chinese young people to participate in sports and exercise, but also cultivates a group of important talents for China’s sports. He emphasized that generations of SEUers had been advocating sportsmanship and loving sports over the past 100 years, and the first Chinese marathon runners, including Xu Fulin, the sports teacher from Liangjiang Normal School, the predecessor of SEU, had shown that the Chinese are determined to rise up to integrate into modern international sports with their own efforts. The contemporary young SEUers, who loves sports, makes SEU full of vitality. It is the hope of the country’s prosperity and national rejuvenation.
As a student representative, Hu Ying, a 2018 postgraduate student of the Nanjing Marathon Competition from the School of Life Science and Technology of Southeast University, spoke and sent an initiative to all the SEUers to call on everyone to enjoy the joy of life, express their youth and excitement in strength, and show openness and vitality with speed.
Zheng Jiamao and Fei Jiawei jointly unveiled the commemorative logo of the birthplace of the Chinese marathon. After the joint shots of them, a team of 109 SEU Marathon runners and alumni ran two laps to pay tribute to the “Marathon” campus running.
The current historical data indicates that the first marathon in Chinese history was held in Nanjing in November 1910. The terminal was the memorial tower at the Nanyang Persuasion Conference Hall at that time, which was located in the sports field of Dingjiaqiao Campus of SEU. Recently, Prof. Zhou Qi, the designer of Dingjiaqiao Campus Planning and Renovation Project from the School of Architecture of SEU specially designed the commemorative logo for the “1910 Nanjing, China Marathon”, which symbolized the energetic body and running steps in the marathon with a leaping dynamic shape. It represented the moment of the end of the sprint, and highlighted the marathon’s tenacious spirit. The opening ceremony of the commemorative logo of the birthplace of the Chinese marathon was strongly supported by the Nanjing Municipal Sports Bureau, and 109 commemorative bags of the 2019 Nanjing Marathon were presented to SEU.
(Editor-in-charge: Wu Hanyu, reviewed by: Song Xiaoyan)
