The 2026 National Youth Outdoor Sports Competition Finals kicks off, with more than 800 teenagers embarking on outdoor challenges

China News Service, Chongqing, October 17th (Reporter Xiao Jiangchuan) On the 17th, the "Run Youth" 2026 National Youth Outdoor Sports Competition Finals kicked off at the Shuanggui Lake National Wetland Park in Liangping District, Chongqing. More than 800 young people from all over the country sweated in cross-country challenges and skill challenges, and immersed themselves in the unique charm of outdoor sports.

This event is a national youth outdoor sports brand event focused on by the Mountaineering Sports Management Center of the State Sports General Administration and the China Mountaineering Association. It builds a high-quality platform for competitive competition, exchange and display for teenagers aged 6 to 18 across the country, and guides the majority of teenagers to get close to nature, devote themselves to the outdoors, enjoy sports, enhance their physique, improve their personality, temper their will, and deeply implement the concept of integrating physical education with education.

This event is different from regular cross-country running. It not only competes in running speed, but also integrates many outdoor practical skills such as cross-country, orienteering, obstacle course, and wild avoidance. The event has three major competition sections: public group, professional group and team competition. The public group focuses on fun and experience, lowers the threshold for participation, and encourages more young people to experience the charm of outdoor sports; the professional group focuses on comprehensive outdoor ability competition, testing players' comprehensive qualities such as endurance, orientation, and field operations; the team competition emphasizes coordination and cooperation, testing team division of labor, communication, and team cohesion.

Along the professional group track, there are 16 skill challenge projects including rock climbing, walking on flat belts, self-rescue bandaging, knot use, wild fire making, wild water filtration, animal and plant identification, direction identification, camping skills, weight-bearing crossing, single-plank bridge balancing, etc., integrating physical racing, practical skills, and natural science knowledge.

As the first "International Wetland City" in Southwest China, Liangping is home to Shuanggui Lake National Wetland Park, Baili Bamboo Sea and other high-quality ecological resources. The settling of this national-level event in Liangping is a vivid practice of the deep integration of local high-quality ecological endowments and sports events.

"Liangping has very rich mountain lake and river resources, which is very suitable for the development of our youth outdoor sports competition. Shuanggui Lake National Wetland Park has very rich plant and animal resources, and we have added these resources to the competition." said Li Li, the chief referee of the competition.

Currently, Liang Ping is making every effort to build a "low-altitude city in the west", anchoring the goal of building a high-quality outdoor sports destination, and deeply exploring the four-in-one integrated development path of "sports + culture + tourism + study". It not only places the competition venue in the wetland park, but also spreads the sports track deep in the bamboo sea.