S-Race is a running tournament held for students since 2020. Millions of students have run since its first edition. — Photos of organisers.

HÀ NỘI — The S-Race, an annual running competition for students nationwide, will be organised later this month and is expected to lure millions of participants.

In its third edition, the tournament is also open for teachers, lecturers and parents at two events, one in Lâm Đồng Province on August 12 and Hải Phòng City on November 12.

The organisers expect to gather more than 10,000 runners taking part directly at the spots while many others would run in all other cities and provinces nationwide at the same time.

The S-Race aims to encourage students to practise sports and strengthen relationships between families and schools and the community through physical training activities.

There are two distances of 1.5km and 3km for runners who will compete in three different age categories 11 to 14 for secondary-school students, 15 to 17 for high-school students and 18 to 23 for students of colleges and universities.

The S-Race aims to encourage students to adopt better habits in sports and exercise.

In the open classes which are organised online, the S-Race Family is for primary school and sixth and seventh graders and their parents while the S-Race Teacher is for sixth and seventh graders and their teachers who run 1km races.

Each challenge will be held over 30 days through the app UpRace.

A total purse of VNĐ264 million along with 1,000 smartwatches and thousands of gifts are available for high-ranking runners.

In addition to the online and offline runs, many sideline activities will also be held during this time.

Speaking at the launch event, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Ngô Thị Minh strongly supported the tournament and hoped that students would enjoy the running.

"Physical training and sports activities play a key role in building and educating a person. During the revolutionary period, late President Hồ Chí Minh and the Party leaders always pay special attention to sports and physical education in schools," she said.

The TH Group is the main sponsor of the event. The firm also shares the mission of building a stronger Vietnamese generation with good physical and mental health.

"TH Group feels happy and proud to continue accompanying the S-Race 'For Vietnamese Stature' running tournament that has achieved a strong record of attracting the participation of the most pupils and students in Asia," said Vijay Kumar Pandey, chairman of the Board of the TH Food Chain Joint Stock Company.

"Since 2020, the S-Race has been organised with an ever-expanding scale and improvement. This has made the event more attractive and meaningful, helping to promote public awareness about health for children and students throughout the country."

He added that the benefits from the combination of healthy nutrition and physical training will help to improve the stature, physical strength and brainpower of Vietnamese future generations.

The S-Race is jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and Training, Việt Nam Television, Việt Nam Athletics Federation and the Unicomm Communication Company (Unic). — VNS