President Zhang Jie attended the opening ceremony of the second SJTU Campus Race Invitational Tournament

It was the Beginning of Summer (lì xià in Chinese) and "runners" greeted the second SJTU Campus Race Invitational Tournament with growing verve on the afternoon of May 6. Altogether 180 runners constituted 36 teams as representatives of colleges and universities and running clubs in Shanghai. Present at the opening ceremony were SJTU President Zhang Jie, Vice President Xu Fei, Director of President Office Wang Houji, Party Secretary-General of PE Department Yu Zhaoyang, Director of PE Department Mao Lijuan and other staff concerned.

The Race was organized by SJTU Runner Club and attended by renowned running teams in Shanghai including Running8, Lepao Club, International Running Federation, Freemarathon, TARC (Japan) SJTU Friends' Running Paradise, SJTU Runner Club Team and Fudan Running Team.

At 13:30, President Zhang Jie appeared on the scene with a membership T-shirt of SJTU Runner Club and he greeted everyone present "Hi. Today I have another identity and I'm No. 001 of SJTU Runner Club", which pushed the race into a climax.  

In his speech, President Zhang Jie introduced the importance SJTU has laid on students' physical education and health promotion ever since 1898 when its first sports meeting was held. SJTU has inherited the fine tradition with good performance in football, basketball, martial arts, tennis and table tennis. He hoped the race could enrich the sports activities on campus and upgrade the enthusiasm of all faculty and students, so they can work and study with a sound body and full spirit.

Afterwards, President Zhang Jie led the runners to do warm-up jogging around the New Gymnasium and gave orders to start the race. After fierce competition, Team of Freemarathon, Team of International Running Federation, TARC, Team of Fudan University and Team of SJTU ranked the top five.

It is said the invitational tournament is the prelude of the 44th SJTU Sports Meeting and the launching ceremony of the recreation and sports match-up to be held in Oriental Oasis on May 19-20. The series of activities will effectively create a great atmosphere for fitness and enrich sports and culture life on campus.