During 27 to 30 April, Sleemon Cup the 8^th Asia-Pacific Business School Desert Adventure (Yashasai) was held in Tengger Desert of Inner Mongolia. Nearly 3000 participants from 109 business schools around the world, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, UK and Australia attended the competition, making it the largest desert hiking challenge in the world. The LUSM team won the top award, Sand Gull Award.

The Asian-Pacific Business Schools Desert Adventure is an athletic and cultural event of top business schools in the Asian-Pacific region. The first game was held in 2012. As the leading event among business groups, it sets the outdoors sports trend of business elites, attracts more and more attention and participation of global business schools and helps participants to develop good exercise habit. The event is not only a competition but a second classroom for business schools. The challenge requires all participants to finish 70km with a backpack in the desert for three days, carrying out the idea of environmental protection, cooperation, persistence and responsibility, and achieving group and personal goals by competing with the strongest, with the spirit of self-challenging and transcending the limits.

In 2015, LUSM participated in the race for the first time and it has been three years since our team won the trophy in 2016. Over the past 1095 days, 95 LUSMers have involved into the competition with more than 50,000km preparation, 300,000 minutes running and 5770km hiking. What behind the honor were tears and sweat. The 2019 team is composed of 48 MBA and EMBA students.

Many people said with certainty that they would never come again, but once again returned to the game. They ran day and night, hanging in, just to stand on the track, looking forward to, preparing, for the moment of starter’s order.

Tengger does not believe in tears. In the endless desert, there is raging wind and scorching sun; there are golden sands and twinkling stars. Standing in the wind and sand, the mood changed from excitement to collapse, from collapse to despair, and from despair to forgetting despair, and finally after forgetting all, they still kept going, for being with the strongest is more than just a slogan.

Tengger believes in miracle. Yashasai is a competition which collective honor is above all else. Competing with more than 100 business schools in the Asia-Pacific region, the participants supported each other, followed each other’s steps and encouraged each other. They were teammates and competitors worthy making friends for a lifetime. The event is held once a year but the people you met will become lifetime friends.

The challenge has a perfect ending. It takes only a second to make the decision, but a year to prepare for the competition; the game only lasts for three days, but the friendship a lifetime. We look forward for the 9^th competition and we will secure the trophy.