KOREAN NET

The sixth Jangsu Trail Race was held from Sept. 25-28 in Jangsu-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province.

By Charles Audouin

Photos = Jangsu-gun County Office

"Jangsu is a great place for trail running because of its many mountains and great places to run."

Lee Gwan-sik said this on Sept. 26 while standing at the starting line of the 100-mile (170 km) course of the sixth Jangsu Trail Race in Jangsu-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province, the first event of its kind in Korea.

Mountains cover approximately 77% of the county's area. From Sindeoksan (height 900 m) in the east to Palgongsan (1,151 m) in the west and Bonghwasan (919 m) and Jangansan (1,237 m) at the southern foot of Deogyusan (1,614), Jangsu-gun is surrounded on all sides by peaks.

As a result, the average temperature is some five degrees Celsius lower than in other regions.

Because of its natural environment, the county is heavily invested in mountain sports, earning the nickname "Chamonix of Korea." Located at the foot of Mont Blanc in France, Chamonix is a globally famous spot for such sports and hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and the 1960 Winter Universiade.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety in 2023 picked Jangsu-gun for a project to stimulate regional branding as part of a national strategy to combat depopulation in the provinces. This led to efforts to improve surrounding mountain trails, promote trail running, and boost entrepreneurship and tourism.

The county set up a "trail village" surrounding the town of Jangsu-eup and expanded and advanced the youth-led Jangsu Trail Race into a regular competition in spring and fall.

"We will use the trail race as a stepping stone to make Jangsu a mountain leisure mecca," Jangsu-gun Gov. Choi Hunsig said. "We will build a brand linking our county to trails just like Imsil-gun County (Jeollabuk-do Province) to cheese and Yangyang-gun County (Gangwon-do Province) to surfing."

Jangsu-gun's brisk investment in mountain tourism over the past three years has boosted annual tourist arrivals over 300% from 240,000 in 2021 to 840,000 last year. The number of race competitors also surged from just 150 in 2022 to 2,000 this year.

Kang Min Chae, head of the county office's Tourism Industry Division, said, "The expansion of the Dalbit (Moonlight) High-speed Railroad (connecting Gwangju and Daegu) will improve accessibility to the Seoul metropolitan area and major cities and raise the number of trail runners visiting Jangsu-gun."

The 100-mile (171 km) course, the country's first of its kind and Korea's longest for trail running, starts at Jangsu Public Stadium and connects major mountain ranges in Jangsu-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province, like those of Palgongsan, Bonghwasan, Namdeokyusan and Jangansan.

caudouin@korea.kr