The Competition Began
The long-distance running activities organized on campus by Yenching University are based on the principle of fitness for all, emphasizing participation and raising awareness of physical exercise among teachers and students.
The groups are divided into two categories: student group and teacher group.
The student group is the main force of the long-distance running festival, with an average age of 20.5 years old.
The average age of the teachers was 40.8 years old. They were divided into 5 groups, with 24 teachers in each group competing against each other. The total score of each group was calculated, and the teacher with the fastest time won the men's 5000-meter teachers' group championship.
The teachers' group competition was held first.
Bang!
The starting gun fired, and the first group of teachers began their match.
More than twenty middle-aged men and young people rushed to run, and they actually did quite well.
However, their good fortune didn't last long. After 2000 meters, half of the men couldn't keep up. They came from various departments, including professors, Associate Professor, and lecturers.
The student audience was in stitches. These erudite professors from Yenching University, who would have thought you'd be in this mess? How imposing you were in class, how ridiculously difficult your exams were, and yet when it came to running, you were all complete weaklings!
"Look, it's Fat Old Sun!" Shen Qi spotted a familiar figure on the track: Professor Sun Erxiong from the School of Mathematics.
"Old Sun is amazing! Leading so many people, first place? Could he be a nimble fat man weighing over 200 pounds?" Zhou Yu'an exclaimed in amazement.
"Not first place, Fatty Sun got looped three times, at least three times..." Shen Qi calculated carefully and came to a conclusion.
"This... it seems that it's not us who are embarrassing the School of Mathematics, but Professor Sun." Zhou Yu'an was worried for Professor Sun. The professors in the School of Mathematics have a very weak foundation in sports. They are simply being utterly crushed by professors from other departments.
"Go, Professor Sun!" Shen Qi shouted at the top of his lungs to cheer on Sun Erxiong.
However, the stadium was too noisy, and the teachers and athletes on the track couldn't hear anything at all.
In the end, a young Associate Professor from the School of Engineering won first place in his group with a time of 19 minutes and 50 seconds. Sun Erxiong dropped out of the race after running 8 laps because he simply couldn't run anymore.
After the competition in the five faculty groups, a lecturer from the School of Engineering won the faculty group championship, making the faculty of the School of Engineering the biggest winners, as their overall long-distance running strength was the best in the entire university.
Engineering students are practical people, and so are the teachers who teach them. They don't waste time talking; they just focus on demonstrating their abilities.
The School of Mathematics belongs to the School of Science. The teachers in the School of Mathematics have very solid theoretical knowledge, but their physical strength is poor. They sent four teachers to participate in the competition, but only one of them completed the 5000-meter race. The other three all gave up halfway and dropped out of the race.
Even worse than the math department teachers were the School of Archaeology teachers. They sent an archaeology expert to participate, but the expert fainted on the track, rendering his result invalid. Not a single School of Archaeology teacher finished the race. Perhaps the archaeology experts are used to trail running and mountain running, and they were simply not used to running on a regular city track.
Next up was the preliminary round of the men's 5000-meter race for students, which was mainly composed of strong and healthy young students from the first and second years of university, making up 80% of the participants.
The proportion of third- and fourth-year students is 18%, a testament to the aging process.
Graduate and doctoral students make up 2% of the student body. This group is already small, and they're rarely seen; reaching 2% is already considered exceeding the enrollment target. The student union's target is 1%.
There were too many applicants in the student group, so a preliminary round was held.
There are 18 student groups. The top student in each group will directly advance to the finals, and the six best second-place students in each group will also qualify for the finals. The finals will be held tomorrow.
Zhou Yu'an, Luo Ji, and Chen Yang, representing the first-year Mathematics Department, were the first to compete in the first group. All three completed the competition, ranking 18th, 16th, and 24th in the group, respectively, and were all eliminated.
"I tried my best, I really gave it my all." Zhou Yu'an lay on the ground convulsing, having cramped up from running.
Bang! A gunshot rang out, and the second group match of the student group began. Shen Qi was the one to enter the game in this group.
Everyone starts standing up. In the 5000-meter race, there are no lanes; whoever gets the front position in the inner lane wins.
After setting off, Shen Qi did not rush forward; he cut in the middle of the group and ran alongside.
The first 2000 meters were relatively smooth, with the 24 student athletes maintaining their formation and running at a steady pace.
After 3000 meters, someone started to set the pace, and three male students from the School of Engineering and the School of Information Science collectively accelerated and broke away from the main group, forming the first echelon and leading the way.
As soon as Shen Qi saw the small group leading the way appear, he immediately switched to the outside lane, increased his stride frequency, and caught up with the leading group.
The School of Engineering and the School of Information Science belong to the School of Information and Engineering Science, while the School of Mathematics belongs to the School of Science. The leading group of four male science and engineering students gradually left the larger group of 20 people behind them.
After running 4000 meters, the four male students from the science and engineering departments lapped two male students from the history and philosophy departments.
Yenching University does have professional-level sports students admitted through special admissions programs, but these students do not participate in amateur sports competitions on campus, and they do not bully ordinary people.
Putting aside the sports students, among the various departments of Yenching University, the School of Information and Engineering Science has the strongest overall sports strength. Engineering students may not be as good as science students in theoretical research, but they excel in practice and application.
The School of Science's athletic ability is only average within Yenching University; it can't beat the School of Information and Engineering Science, but it can still dominate the School of Humanities.
The School of Medicine does have a few eccentric geniuses; these medical students can be incredibly violent when they go crazy, but incredibly weak when they're down.
With two laps left, three engineering students forcefully blocked lane 1, the innermost lane. Their tactical intention was clear: three to protect two, hoping to send two of them into the final.
Shen Qi could no longer keep a low profile; if he did, the entire Mathematics Department would be wiped out.
This is a duel between the School of Science and the Faculty of Engineering. Shen Qi represents not only the Mathematics Department and the School of Mathematics, but also the mission and responsibility of the entire School of Science.
"Charge!" Shen Qi increased his stride length and frequency, forcefully cutting off the outside path.
During the first 10 laps of the middle run, controlling the stride length between 1.8 meters and 2 meters, the stride frequency of 4 steps per second, paying attention to the range of motion of body parts such as the ankle, knee, and hip, and adjusting the breathing rhythm to allocate aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, etc., are somewhat useful technical points. Shen Qi's pace during the middle run was very reasonable. He strictly followed his own formula, "A Brief Discussion on the Mathematical Analysis of Technical Indicators for Men's Middle and Long Distance Running".
But in the final two laps of the sprint, no amount of data or Mathematical Analysis works. In the crucial moment of the final push, even the most brilliant ideas from Gauss and Euler are useless. At this point, the most efficient approach is simply: go for it!
"Damn it!" Shen Qi mustered all his strength and sprinted at high speed, cutting in on the outside lane. In the last 200 meters, he finally took the lead.
Shen Qi cut diagonally into the inner lane, suppressing the three engineering students behind him, and sprinted towards the finish line at full speed.
"Holy crap! We've been blown up!" The three engineering students were shocked. They tried to make a comeback after overtaking, but time was running out.
Shen Qi was the first to cross the finish line, winning first place in his group and directly advancing to tomorrow's men's 5000m final.
Looking at his score, 17 minutes and 58 seconds, so-so, Shen Qi didn't linger and went back to his dorm to write his thesis.
"Damn, is this guy Shen Qi from the School of Mathematics?" Three engineering students ranked 2nd to 4th in their group. Only one of them had a chance to advance to the finals, where he would have to compete against the second-place finishers from other groups.
"They ran it in under 18 minutes! Does the School of Mathematical Sciences really have such a strong player?"
"What a humiliation! The math department snatched first place in the group. Is Shen Qi really that good at running?"
"We can only hope that our senior brother will teach Shen Qi a lesson in the finals."
On his way back to the dorm, Shen Qi texted Zhou Yu'an: "You guys stay at the stadium and watch closely. Keep an eye on all the runners who finish within 18 minutes. I need that information."
Running the 5000 meters in under 18 minutes is a good result for an amateur long-distance runner.
In the military, a professional soldier who can run a 5-kilometer march in under 18 minutes is considered to have excellent military skills. Not every soldier can easily run under 18 minutes. Running it in 15 or 16 minutes is probably for special forces soldiers, and running it in under 15 minutes is for elite soldiers.
Shen Qi returned to his dormitory and worked on his thesis, "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers".
The first paper, which was originally planned to be completed in a week, has taken two weeks of intermittent work and is still not finalized.
Fortunately, it's almost done. Just write out the formulas and list the references, and we'll be all done.