The 11th Gobi Challenge (Gobi-11) had concluded on May 25. The Gobi Challenge this year was at least 4 kilometers longer than that of Gobi-10. This year the NTU EMBA’s Gobi-11 included the Super Marathon superstar, Lin Yi-Jie and members who were entrepreneurs and top managers in hi-tech, IT, laws, bio-tech, and financial sectors. These business elites’ average age was 46; most of them had never received professional running training. However, driven by their dreams of conquering their own extreme, they have transformed from amateurs to Marathon contenders over a short period of time by sheer will power, and will meet the “800-miles of floating sands”, as history called, of the Gobi Desert that has no mercy for any one lacking of stamina and combat readiness.

NTU’s record this year, 10:23:45, was 40 minutes faster. It is the best ever record achieved among NTU’s 7 years of record, and we were voted on Facebook the winner of the Gobi Best Video, the Best Team Award, and the Shackleton Prize for full completion of the race. With the grand slam on all 4 honors, our leader, Dean Guo Ruei-Xiang, of College of Management, Honorary Professor Ke Cheng-En, Coach Jian Kun-Zhong, and all team members, were exhilarated.