As of this writing registration is still open for the 2008 Ironman China even though the race is less than 6 months away. Available slots to an official Ironman is not something you see very often as most races selling out quickly (in some cases the day that registration is opened). The fact that Ironman China has not sold out is certainly a factor of its newness and that people are just starting to hear about it. Other issues are its remoteness and related to that the cost of getting their and participating in the race. One last factor and the one that we will address in this post is the uncertainty of the location, where and what is Hainan Island anyway?
According to
Wikipedia from where most of this information came from, Hainan is the largest island administered by the People's Republic of
China. Note,
however, that the government will sometimes refer to it as the “second largest
island” since
Taiwan
is considered the largest. To the West of Hainan is the
Gulf
of
Tonkin which underscores its close
proximity to
Vietnam. The total
population of the island is 8.3 million with 1,700,000 of that being in Haikou, the island's capital
. Haikou is the location of the start/finish and where most people will be staying.
Like just about everywhere else in China,
Hainan
has a rich history from thousands of years ago up through today. It played a role in the Communist revolution (as a hiding place for communists escaping the bloody crackdowns) as well as in the Japanese occupation of WWII (during which over 1/3 of the male population was killed). The first writings about Hainan date back to 110 BC, when the
Han Dynasty established a military garrison there.
Hainan is also noteworthy in that in 1988 it was designated a "Special Economic Zone" in an effort to increase investment. (Special Economic Zones get to have their own economic laws that are
more liberal than a country's typical economic laws) and Hainan has been
experiencing explosive growth ever since.
Most Americans know of Hainan as the place where an
American surveillance plane crash-landed in 2001 after a confrontation with a
Chinese military aircraft. The Hainan Island
incident was the April 1, 2001, collision between a United States Navy EP-3E
signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8IIM
fighter jet that resulted in an international incident between the United States and China.
The Han Chinese of Hainan speak "Hainanese," a variant of the Min Nan
Chinese language. The Li people have their own
language, as do the Miao and Zhuang. The latter three groups would usually
speak Standard Mandarin as a second language. The national standard
Putonghua is understood and spoken by most people, and as is standard Cantonese. English is understood by some of the
younger generation, but Hainan still largely
remains a non-English speaking environment. According to one travel site
expect a dearth of tourist information in English so
finding how to get to the top tourist sites is not always easy.
Given the large influx of English speakers coming in for the
Ironman race in April 2008, it is likely that accommodations will be made to
facilitate getting what needs to be done during the race. Most participants
will also be staying at 4- and 5-star hotels that almost certainly will have
staff members trained in English.
Make no mistake about it, Ironman China will be a logistically
challenging and expensive race to participate, but everything that I've
researched makes me more and more excited about the decision I made to
race. Consider signing up and doing a race of a lifetime. It should also be a very good event for family members who come along as you couldn't pick a more interesting locale.
If you do sign up for the race, or if you have anything you would like to suggest for this blog, feel free to email me at w_hein [at] mindspring [dot] com. Over the next few posts I'm going to share with you what I've learned reading travel accounts by people who've gone to Hainan (these are far different from the official travelogues published by the government). I'll also investigate the foods available on the island (fish, fish an more fish) and what to expect from the hotels.