"Make rowing a way of life!"

        Fengxian New City Cup 2023 China's First International Women's Rowing Classic is the first women's regatta of its kind in China, which is unprecedented. ‍ The original purpose of the race was to honour the outstanding achievements of women in the history of Chinese rowing. After the official concept of the race was presented to the public, clubs, universities and even professional teams nationwide were ecstatic. The success of the event was made possible by one key person - Zhang Yu. We interviewed Zhang Yu, who is in charge of the operation of the event, to hear how he has spread the idea of "making rowing a way of life" in Fengxian.

　　Fengxian's water resources are very well developed, and the concept of "a river of smoky rain" and "cross water street" has been emphasised in recent years. When we came to Fengxian for the first time, we saw the most beautiful part of the 20km stretch of the Jinhui Harbour and thought that the beauty of the scenery was a perfect match for our race, so we hit it off right away.

　　For this race, I was the general manager of the operation centre and also the manager of the co-organiser, ôclub Rubik's Cube Water Sports Club From the pre-project to the execution, and then to the later stage of the preparatory sprint, led by the China Rowing Association, the venue was visited three times. At the same time, there were several online exchanges about the establishment of the project and the venue setting of the race programme. Fengxian District Sports Bureau took the lead in setting up a room and seven departments for the organisation of the event, and the executives of each department held regular meetings every week. There are also relevant committees and bureaus to approve the course and venue for the race.

　　All the teachers of the technical team arrived in Fengxian on the 21st (two days before the race). On the day of arrival, I accompanied our Chief Referee and several key referees to make a site visit to see how the venue was set up. During the process, they saw that we were very satisfied with the schedule, site layout, and build design. Even though the sky was drizzling that day, our group still walked back and forth from the start to the finish line several times.

　　The 22nd was the official check-in session for our athletes, and on that day I met a lot of athletes at the race site who had just finished the trial paddling session. I talked to our Race Director, Mr Li Jianxin, about the opinions of the athletes, and they all felt that this section of the Jinhui Harbour in Fengxian was very representative. Because the width of the water is very wide, the whole Jinhui Harbour has a width of nearly ninety metres, and each channel is set up with a width of nearly 18 metres. And the water quality is also up to Grade III. It is a very good experience for our competitors.

　　The first race was on the 23rd and we had the opening session at 10am. When I arrived at the race course at 6am that morning, the sky was drizzling and it was a bit overcast. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't nervous, but the moment the official start of the race was announced, and rose petals were sprayed out on both sides of the stage in a very colourful way, a stone finally fell from my heart.

　　The Fengxian Women's Race is mainly a sprint race in the city, and the distance is divided into 1000 metres for four-person double sculls and 500 metres for two-person double sculls. There is no big difference between the land area and the water area, so it's a good experience for both the rowers and the spectators who visit the land area to see the rowing competitions from a very close distance.

　　At the same time, the venue has a very purple element. When the competitors arrived at the venue and felt the purple atmosphere, they were also given a purple pack provided by the organising committee. There were purple socks, sleeves, hats and so on, which created a very considerate, meticulous and pampered feeling for them.

　　The landing of the Water Magic, including women's rowing, is based on the signing of a joint action agreement between the China Rowing Association and the Fengxian District People's Government on the promotion of the development of water sports, which led to the first International Women's Rowing Classic that we see today, as well as the Water Magic venue where we are located at the moment.