Bryon Powell during the Ultra-Trail Gobi Race in 2015 Photo: Courtesy of XingZhi Exploring Corp Ltd

XingZhi Exploring Corp Ltd, a company that offers experiential sports competitions, training sessions and tours, recently announced its 2016 business project, adding nine sports categories to their events lineup, including cross-country running, marathon and rowing.

The company will also hold the 2016 Ultra-Trail Gobi Race in September, an event that is expected to attract strong attention worldwide.

Founded in 2005, XingZhi Exploring provides a whole range of industry services covering culture, sports and tourism. Its core competencies lie in developing, designing, planning, and implementing in-depth cultural experience products. The company emphases experience-oriented events, education and travel.

The Ultra-Trail Gobi Race was first launched in 2015 and is one of the company's signature sports competitions. It is China's first ever world-class, ultra-long, self-supported, self-navigated, nonstop cross-country running event.

In 2015, it had 30 contestants. This year, the number of participants is expected to rise to about 50. 

The 400-kilometer race will take competitors through two counties, Guazhou and Subei, and one city, Dunhuang, in Gansu Province.

About 80 percent of the tour takes place in deserts, including the world's only national hyper-arid desert reserve, which consists of varied landscapes such as yardangs, salt flats, canyons, glaciers, valleys and alpine meadows. Runners will also pass by 60 historical relics and traverse two world-class cultural heritage sites.

Bryon Powell, the co-founder of world's most influential cross-country race information website irunfar.com and a well-known cross-country enthusiast from the US, won third place in the 2015 Ultra-Trail Gobi Race.

"It was an unparalleled race, not only due to its unique characteristics and bearing profound history and cultures of China, but the track scenery was beautiful beyond description," said Powell. "It's hard but I love it. I think I'll come back again."

Qu Jingdong, the founder of XingZhi Exploring, said the race is not only the ultimate challenge of physical strength, perseverance and courage, but also an opportunity to explore ancient and modern culture through the natural environment and cultural and historical resources in Western China.

"The first race in 2015 was very successful. It was a heroic attempt not only for us but also for all the runners," said Qu. "I believe this year more braves will participate in it."

More and more Chinese travelers are requesting higher-end products and unique destinations, which pushed the company to develop TRIPOLERS, another star project which features South and North Pole tours for brave explorers.

TRIPOLERS is the first professional polar travel agency in China certificated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. It has gained wide recognition at home and abroad. To date, TRIPOLERS has taken thousands of people to the poles during more than 30 tours.