The marathon goes left, while the "special steps" go right.

The controversial Beijing Half Marathon (hereinafter referred to as the "Beijing Half Marathon") has finally released the investigation results.

On April 19, 2024, the Beijing Half Marathon Organizing Committee announced its decision on the investigation and handling of the men's race (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision").

According to the Decision, the organizing company "Zhongao Road Running Company" has not only been disqualified from hosting and operating the event, but also the partnership qualification of Xtep has been revoked for this race. Additionally, the results of the men's champion He Jie and three other black athletes have been invalidated, and their prize money, medals, etc. have been withdrawn.

After the announcement of the decision, it quickly sparked heated discussions on social media platforms, especially in WeChat groups for running enthusiasts. Many netizens expressed that it was "relatively fair and just."

The North Half Marathon held on April 14th had sparked significant controversy. First, the "runner number 0001" was disqualified before the race. Then, at the moment of sprinting across the finish line, marathon national record holder He Jie won by a one-second advantage under the "guidance" of three African runners. Both of these "miracle moves" were questioned by the public.

In fact, not only the North Half Marathon, but in recent years, with the increasing popularity of marathon races, controversies surrounding marathon events have grown.

"The commercial atmosphere is becoming increasingly strong, and ordinary running enthusiasts are losing the opportunity to participate in races. The meaning of marathons as a 'national sport' has been lost," many running enthusiasts expressed. They hope that future marathon races can take this as a warning and truly give running enthusiasts a pure marathon experience.

"The essence of the marathon has become impure."

"The marathon has become too commercialized and is no longer a pure sporting event," said Wang Meng, a 90s-born individual who used to love running marathons. When asked for her opinion on the North Half Marathon by "Tingtong Tech," she expressed this sentiment and overall satisfaction with the handling of the event.

Wang Meng, who has been running for four years, was once a fervent marathon enthusiast. In her own words, "There was a year or two when I was particularly passionate about running marathons."

How passionate was she?

"I wanted to participate in any large-scale race, regardless of its location," Wang Meng revealed to "Tingtong Tech." Up to now, she has participated in dozens of marathons, including half marathons (21 kilometers) and full marathons (42 kilometers).

After completing each race, Wang Meng felt a sense of achievement. However, starting from last year, her passion for running marathons began to cool down, mainly because "the marathon has lost its original flavor, and the commercial atmosphere is too strong."

The reason for this sentiment is that as an ordinary runner, the opportunity to participate in races, especially large-scale ones, has become increasingly scarce.

According to Wang Meng, in China, races are categorized into different levels, such as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Platinum Label races, Gold Label races, and popular races like the Xiamen Marathon, Shanghai Marathon, and Beijing Marathon. Many running enthusiasts consider these races as must-attend events, leading to a large number of participants.

There are also popular city races such as the Wuxi Marathon, Wuhan Marathon, and Chengdu Marathon.

"The number of participants in these races is large, but not every enthusiast has the opportunity to participate," Wang Meng explained. These races require a "lottery system." For example, in this year's North Half Marathon, the official announced the participation scale to be 20,000 people, but nearly 100,000 people registered, requiring a lottery system to determine who can participate.

"While this is understandable, in recent years, the 'participation quota' has become increasingly distorted," Wang Meng revealed. Especially in the past two years, the phenomenon of "selling participation quotas" has become more common, which is the most important factor that has led Wang Meng to lose interest in races.

"In some competitions, there are people who didn't get selected in the registration, but there are many people selling their spots online," Wang Meng explained. "For example, in a recent event, a spot was being resold for 2000 yuan."

"Of course, there are also sponsors who bundle their products with the spots, such as Xtep. In almost every popular event, there will be situations where buying shoes comes with a spot."

"I understand the commercialization of sports events, but I don't quite agree with this excessive commercialization," Wang Meng stated frankly.

This is not just Wang Meng's opinion. More and more marathon enthusiasts find the excessive commercialization of sports events "hard to accept."

Lao Liu, a runner for over ten years, also expressed to "Listening Tech" that marathon events a few years ago were relatively "purer." "In the past, running a marathon didn't involve so many tricks, and commercialization wasn't so severe."

Since 2004, Lao Liu has participated in nearly a hundred marathons of all sizes. In his view, past marathons were "genuine marathons" in the true sense, "a sports event, unlike now, which is more like a commercial activity."

According to Lao Liu, such events involve competition between commercial endorsements. "For example, in some races, if a certain brand sponsors it, the endorsers of competing brands cannot participate."

Furthermore, because different endorsing brands sponsor different teams, this leads to teams "competing for elite runners" among each other. "Brands will go to great lengths to ensure that their runners achieve good results for better publicity."

"And in some races, in order to raise the level of the competition, the entry requirements are raised, making it harder for ordinary runners with poorer running times to participate," Lao Liu expressed helplessly. "Marathons are no longer what they used to be. I hope this lesson will have a positive impact on future races."

-02- Controversial Anta

Anta is one of the main subjects of controversy in the recent North Marathon.

After the incident, many netizens expressed their lack of understanding and inability to approve of Anta's actions. Some even posted videos burning their Anta shoes, declaring they would never buy them again.

In response to the investigation results of this incident, Anta promptly issued a public apology, stating that they accept the punishment and will handle the individuals involved seriously.

In fact, among the four major domestic sports brands, Anta has reaped the most benefits in the running category and has the highest dependence on it.

As a local sports goods company, Anta has been focusing on the running business for many years. Ding Shuibo, Chairman and CEO of Anta Group, has repeatedly emphasized Anta's focus on the running industry in various occasions. "We believe that an industry and a brand must have its own core competitiveness, and Anta's unique label is 'Love running, love Anta.'"

Especially since September 2022, Anta has announced a new strategic positioning of "world-class Chinese running shoes" and declared that the group will invest 5 billion RMB over the next 10 years to support the Chinese running industry.

On the occasion of Anta's 15th anniversary of going public in 2023, Ding Shuibo even stated, "Running shoes will definitely be Anta's absolute core product. If we have to choose a category to represent Anta, it must be running."

In recent years, Anta has also been a sponsor for many marathon events.

According to Anta's latest ESG report, starting from 2007, Anta has sponsored over 1,000 marathon events and activities in the past decade, making it the sports brand with the most marathon event sponsorships in China. In 2023 alone, Anta sponsored 24 marathon events, including the Xiamen Marathon, a world athletics platinum event that it has sponsored for 16 consecutive years.

"Anta holds a certain position in the hearts of running enthusiasts." Both Wang Meng and Lao Liu are loyal fans of Anta running shoes. "Among ten average runners, at least eight will buy Anta running shoes."

As a female running enthusiast, Wang Meng is also a "shopaholic." "Anta's shoes have a high aesthetic value. When I see others taking pictures in them and looking good, I can't help but want to buy them."

Wang Meng revealed that she has purchased at least three pairs of Anta running shoes, including the Anta 260 and Anta 160. "The most expensive pair I recently bought is the 160x5.0 Champion Edition, which I bought for over 1,000 RMB after the discount."

Unlike Wang Meng, Lao Liu pays more attention to the performance of running shoes. In Lao Liu's view, "The performance of Xtep's running shoes has indeed been improved, and it can meet the needs of most running enthusiasts, including speed and appearance."

Focusing on performance running shoes has indeed paid off for Xtep.

Financial report data shows that Xtep has achieved significant revenue growth in the past three years, especially in 2022, when both revenue and net profit reached historic highs. In addition, Xtep's main brand accounts for the majority of the company's total revenue and continues to show a growing trend.

In 2023, Xtep achieved a revenue of 14.346 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%; and a net profit of 1.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%, setting new records for both revenue and net profit.

After being embroiled in controversy, Xtep has been somewhat affected, which was first reflected in the capital market. On April 15th, Xtep International (01368.HK) stock price fell by 5.47%, closing at 4.46 Hong Kong dollars per share.

"Of course, rational running enthusiasts, as long as the product quality is guaranteed, will not be greatly affected by this incident." This is the viewpoint of Wang Meng and Lao Liu.

-03- Returning the Essence of Marathons

"In fact, it's not just Xtep that deserves criticism. I hope this incident can bring back the 'purity' of marathons," Lao Liu said frankly.

For running enthusiasts like Lao Liu, "participating in marathons has become increasingly difficult."

"I registered for 10 races this year, and didn't get into any major races, which was unheard of in the past. The chance of participating in races is getting smaller and smaller," Lao Liu expressed helplessness.

But Lao Liu also admitted that he understands the commercial needs of races. "We hope that while meeting commercial needs, ordinary running enthusiasts can have more opportunities, truly making marathons a 'mass sport.'"

As Lao Liu said, in recent years, with the popularity of races, the overall number of sponsorship partners for marathon events has been increasing year by year.

"Every sports event is essentially a commercial activity," said Li Qiang, a marathon event organizer, who told "Listening Tech" that because marathons are becoming more popular, more and more businesses are realizing the commercial effects of races.

Data confirms the enthusiasm of the public for marathon events.

The "Chinese Athletics Association Road Running Work Report" released on March 22 this year showed that in 2023, a total of 699 road running events with more than 800 participants were held nationwide, with a total of 6.0519 million participants. By the end of 2023, at least 2.5 million people in the country had completed a half marathon or full marathon event.

The Chinese Athletics Association estimates that by 2025, the number of domestic road running and related sports events is expected to increase to 2,500, and the number of participants in mass marathons will increase to 10 million.

"The public's enthusiasm has made businesses see opportunities," Li Qiang said, noting that in recent years, businesses' enthusiasm for sponsoring marathons has also increased.

Taking the Beijing Marathon (referred to as "Beijing Marathon") as an example, the partners are now divided into: title sponsors, top partners, official sponsors, event support partners, and online race official cooperation platforms. Looking at past data, the number of partner brands for the Beijing Marathon has increased from 6 in 2010 to 13 in 2014, and exceeded 20 in 2018.

"Different sponsors have different sponsorship amounts," Li Qiang revealed, such as title sponsors, whose sponsorship amount may reach tens of millions of yuan.

For the 2024 Beijing Half Marathon, the title sponsor is "Mengniu," and the event partners are "Xtep," "China UnionPay," and "Kohler," while "Huaxia Fund" and "Jiakang" are event sponsors. In terms of event support partners, 16 companies including Baishui, Beijing United Family Hospital, Jia Wo, Shaoyin, Likke, Kangbit, JD Logistics, and Jihoo Automobile are providing support.

"With more brand sponsorships, there are more problems," Li Qiang said, expressing that he is not surprised by some of the marathon controversies that have appeared on the internet, "many of them are competition between brands."

Li Qiang frankly stated that under the current model of "local governments leading the organization, and operating companies for commercial development," marathon events in various regions have gradually formed a distribution chain of interests. "Local governments have gained visibility, organizers have received advertising sponsorship fees, and sponsors have achieved their marketing goals."

However, these actions have harmed ordinary running enthusiasts, and "getting into 9 out of 10 races" has become the norm for ordinary running enthusiasts.

Wang Meng and Lao Liu both expressed a "Zen" attitude towards the current situation, "If we get in, we participate; if not, we run on our own."

But they still hope that the marathon industry can become better, "hoping that organizers can distribute quotas more fairly, reduce unnecessary commercial operations, and make it possible for more people to afford marathon races."

Returning the essence of marathons is the demand of consumers and the industry.

(Note: The names Wang Meng, Lao Liu, and Li Qiang are pseudonyms.)

References:

1. "Xtep, deeply embroiled in the 'fake race' cloud of marathons: Behind the heavy investment in running shoes is growth anxiety," from "Southern Metropolis Daily";

2. "Along the long marathon track, more and more consumer brands are pouring in," from "Titanium Media APP."

(Disclaimer: This article is for information exchange only and does not constitute any investment reference advice.)