Multiple screens near the COEX exhibition hall in southern Seoul show marathon runners simultaneously competing in the Ontact International Peace Marathon in their own countries on Oct. 24, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — As social distancing becomes a part of everyday life following the coronavirus outbreak, the landscape of various competitions and championships is changing.
The 2020 Chuncheon Marathon, hosted by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper every autumn, was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, a contact-free, virtual marathon took place, inviting members of various marathon clubs.
Each participant competed in a ‘run-alone’ race using the GPS on a smartphone app. Participants captured a screenshot of their record from the app and sent it to the host organization online to compete.
Contact-free cycling competitions have also taken place, in which members of various cycling clubs use a virtual program to cycle at home, and compete through a virtual screen.
An unusual swimming contest was also held, in which referees measured the time lapse for each contestant one after another, and compared the records to find a winner.
Match competitions, as opposed to record-based competitions, are also taking place in a contact-free environment.
The Korea Boxing Agency held an online boxing championship to avoid infections. The competition scored videos of each participant engaged in shadow boxing, sandbag training, and meat boxing to choose the winner.
Arts competitions, too, have been carried out online.
Woori Bank, the host of a youth arts competition since 1995, held the event online this year. Participants appeared on the video screen with name tags on their chest to compete.
The bank prevented the risk of illegal substitution of a participant by monitoring each and every contestant through a video conference.
“It was refreshing to engage with others sharing the same hobby, although remotely, since all I could do recently was to stay at home,” said a 29-year-old surnamed Park, who ran in a contact-free marathon.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
