From March 28 to 30, 2025, the "2025 Panda Shudao Mountain Ultra Trail Race" was grandly held in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province. According to the arrangements made by the leadership of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) Secretariat, and at the invitation of the Longmenshan Mountain Tourism Resort Management Committee of Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province, a member unit of the IMTA, Deng Shijie from the Comprehensive Business Department and Yang Chongbin from the Liaison Department of the Secretariat visited the Longmen Mountain Tourist Area in Pengzhou, Sichuan, to inspect the event and the development of mountain outdoor sports tourism.
Themed "Born Wild, Surging All the Way," this year's event featured four race categories: 160 kilometers, 105 kilometers, 60 kilometers, and 25 kilometers. The routes traversed three national 4A-level tourist attractions—Bailu Music Town, Danjingshan Scenic Area, and Baoshan Tourist Area—and passed through seven townships, including Longmenshan Town and Danjingshan Town, allowing runners to immerse themselves in the "Hundred-Mile Gallery" and experience the three-dimensional landscapes and the vibrant city of Pengzhou. It attracted approximately 3,500 professional runners from across the country. The event fully incorporated Sichuan elements, accompanied by symphony orchestra performances and drone light shows, creating an ultimate experience with a strong sense of ceremony and emotional value. It formed a unique cultural expression with Pengzhou characteristics, showcasing the deep integration of culture, sports, and tourism in Pengzhou. The event received favorable coverage from official media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, China News Service, People's Daily Online, Xinhuanet, as well as provincial and municipal media in Sichuan, sparking enthusiastic responses from the industry and society.
Through inspection and understanding, the event organizer, TSAIGU, strictly adhered to the ITRA (International Trail Running Association) points system certification. Relying on market-oriented operations such as registration fees and commercial sponsorships, the organizer provided the main funds and resources for the event. It also formed a cross-industry cooperation matrix by collaborating with leading brands such as KAILAS, Maisheng, Xiaohongshu, and Shokz. The local government provided strong support and guarantees for the event in terms of public resources such as transportation, security, market regulation, and policy implementation, forming a collaborative operation mechanism of "professional operation + government support" with the event organizer. This achieved efficient implementation of the event and synergy of regional resources, activating surrounding catering, accommodation, entertainment, and other consumption scenarios during the off-season. It provided the industry with a highly practical operational paradigm for the integration of sports and tourism.
The inspectors were invited to attend the elite athlete meet-and-greet and the race kickoff ceremony at Bailu Music Tourism Town in the Longmen Mountain Tourist Area. Subsequently, they visited Haiwozi Ancient Town, Panda Sports Park, Jianjiang River Valley, and other locations for on-site inspections to understand the development and planning of regional mountain tourism resources. They also visited some of the trail running routes and event service supply stations along the way. During this period, they had friendly exchanges with the event organizing committee members, learned about the local development trends of mountain outdoor sports tourism, studied their event-organizing experience and cooperation models, promoted the Alliance's concepts and objectives for sustainable mountain tourism development, and conveyed the IMTA's vision and emphasis on promoting the development of international mountain outdoor sports. At the supporting event of the Mountain Outdoor Sports Expo held concurrently with the race, the IMTA Secretariat staffs actively networked with well-known domestic and international outdoor brands such as KAILAS, Decathlon, and Garmin that were exhibiting at the event, as well as with the TSAIGU trail running event brand and the event brand image IP design team. This enhanced mutual understanding, expanded the IMTA's network of contacts, and laid the foundation for future partnerships, business expansion, and membership development.
As an important driving force for the development of global mountain tourism, the IMTA continues to pay close attention to the development and market potential of mountain outdoor sports such as trail running, actively exploring innovative development paths for the integration of international mountain sports and tourism. At the "International Mountain Tourism Day" themed event last May, the IMTA exchanged a memorandum of cooperation with the SAS Maxi Event's FRANCE, reaching a consensus on international trail running event cooperation. The flagship brand Maxi-Race trail running event founded by SAS Maxi Event's FRANCE is one of the top three largest 50-mile trail running events in the world and the most prestigious in Europe. This year's "2025 Panda Shudao Mountain Ultra Trail Race," with the event as the leader, culture as the core, and effective practice closing the loop to tourism, provides important insights for the Alliance's strategic layout in promoting the development of mountain outdoor sports tourism. As the IMTA's international influence continues to grow and mountain outdoor sports tourism resources continue to accumulate, it is expected to leverage its platform effectiveness, integrate high-quality resources, lead industry trends, cultivate a cluster of international mountain outdoor event activity brand IPs under the "Mountain Tourism +" concept, stimulate the economic value transformation of mountain resources and the improvement of people's livelihood, and inject new momentum into boosting the energy level of the mountain tourism industry.
Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen
Editor Ⅱ: Bao Gang
Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong
