Marathon

Nguyễn Thị Oanh crosses the finish line first in the Tràng An Marathon on November 12 in Ninh Bình Province. — Photos of VRace

NINH BÌNH — Kabashima Kento and Nguyễn Thị Oanh won the first Tràng An Marathon - Footstrike from the Heritage - on November 12 in Ninh Bình Province.

Japanese Kento finished his full marathon category in 2hr 58.19. He was followed by Vietnamese Bùi Hữu Hướng (3:02.34) and Nguyễn Văn Tuyển (3:12.46).

Oanh, the multi-time SEA Games champion, crossed the finish line after 2:57.14. Specialising in middle distance categories, Oanh has recently added marathon in her repertoire. Oanh has won several events in both full and half marathon classes.

In Ninh Bình, Oanh met almost no challenge from other runners to finish in top position, leaving far behind Nguyễn Thị Trà Giang (3:26.07) and Phạm Thị Mỹ Duyên (3:27.43) who were second and third, respectively.

Nguyễn Trung Cường, another national athletic team member, won the men's 21km gold with a time of 1:13.05.

Lê Văn Thao (1:16.12) and Nguyễn Xuân Sơn (1:18.14) secured silver and bronze

Former SEA Games champion Phạm Thị Huệ topped the podium in the women's category with a time of 1:23.42.

Cẩm Anh Hà (1:36.49) and Bùi Thị Bình (1:38.07) were more than 10min after her.

The winners of the 10km were national runners. National champion and former SEA Games winner Lương Đức Phước (35.11min) won in the men's class and ASEAN University Games 2022 champion Đoàn Thu Hằng (40.35) dominated the women's.

Athletes compete at the Tràng An Marathon -- Footstrike from the Heritage -- on November 12 in Ninh Bình Province.

Tạ Duy Bằng (19.51) and Bùi Thị Nhường (25.33) secured the men's and women's 5km categories.

The first marathon of Ninh Bình, jointly organised event by the provincial Culture and Sport Department and Vũ Media (VRace), featured about 3,000 athletes at the ancient capital of Hoa Lư, the special national relic site.

Organisers said they made strong efforts to give runners best experience and memories when passing through the thousand-year-old relics such as Temple of King Đinh Tiên Hoàng and King Lê Đại Hành, Bái Đính Pagoda, Am Tiên Cave and Tràng An Wharf.

The sport event was expected to introduce Ninh Bình's culture and beauty identities to a larger community and was one of a number of activities to promote tourism. — VNS