Marathon

Trần Duy Quang crosses the finish line of the men's 160km after 23 hours and 19 minutes in the Việt Nam Mountain Marathon 2022 on Saturday in Lào Cai Province. Photos of VMM

HÀ NỘI — Trần Duy Quang and Phương Nguyễn of Việt Nam championed the first-ever 160km category OF the Việt Nam Mountain Marathon on Saturday in Lào Cai Province.

The 160km class featured 178 athletes, including 15 female runners. The runners started at 4am on September 9 and had to be finished within 44 hours.

Quang, regarded as the best trail runner in Việt Nam, took the lead from the beginning. He ran more than 160km (his tracklog recorded 161.89km) in 23 hours 19 minutes, which according to organisers is an incredible performance.

Nguyễn Tiến Hùng (24:54.32) and Nguyễn Sĩ Hiếu (27:53.07), both of Việt Nam, came second and third, respectively.

Quang has been a regular face at the tournament, which was first organised in 2013. He first won the tournament's 100km in 2017. Three years later, he set an unbelievable time of 13:01 minutes.11 in this category.

To prepare for this competition, Quang participated in the 116km Mantra Summit Challenge in Indonesia in early July 2022, where he won.

He was the first Vietnamese athlete to complete the 247km Spartathlon super-terrain race in Greece in 2019, with a time of 31:10.37. In addition, he has participated in other super-terrain races, such as UTMB, and has won most of the major trail races in Việt Nam.

On the women's side, Phương crossed the finish line with a time of 35:37:10.

Phương Nguyễn celebrates her 160km race victory.

The runners-up were Lê Phương Vy (38:05.14) and Lê Xuân Sương (42:39.24), also Vietnamese.

The annual marathon returned after a year of delay and featured more than 5,300 athletes from 48 countries and territories around the world. The athletes participated in the distances: 10km, 15km, 21km, 42km, 70km, 100km and 160km.

After many requests from Việt Nam's most hardcore ultra runners, organisers decided to provide the next level mountain running challenge of a tough 100 miles (160km).

It included the marathon's 100km course, which was updated to provide more trail and became more challenging than previous editions.

According to the organisers, the track was extremely beautiful but also tough. Runners were on the ridge line, which was all trail and included very little flat.

To run 100 miles, athletes must previously complete at least one 70km+ ultra mountain marathon before the race.

More than 5,300 athletes took part in the Việt Nam Mountain Marathon 2022.

In other categories, Gaetan Morizur of France won the men's 100km with a time of 15:35:24. Vietnamese Hà Thị Hậu was even faster than him on the women's side. She recorded a super amazing time of 15:15:46.

German Moritz Mueller triumphed in the men's 70km (9:41.37) while Nguyễn Thị Đường of Việt Nam won the female class (11:51.28).

Trịnh Nam Hải of Việt Nam (6:16.41) and Dening Lo of Singapore (7:19.07) were men's and women's winners of the 42km race.

Nguyễn Xuân Tứ (2:32.22) and Trần Hồ Nguyên Thảo (3:06.59), both from Việt Nam, topped the men's and women's 21km challenge.

Oliver Marks of the United Kingdom (1:12.01) and Trần Thị Ánh Ngọc of Việt Nam (1:32.01) were champions of the men's and women's 15km event.

And Vietnamese Vũ Tuân (45.55) and Fushia Clayton of the UK (1:11.41) claimed titles of the men's and women's 10km classes. VNS