Marathon

Robert Hudson crosses the finish line of the men's 42km class at the HCM City Marathon on January 14. Photos courtesy of Pulse Active

HCM CITY — Robert Hudson and Phạm Thị Hồng Lệ won the 11th HCM City Marathon which was the first large sporting event of the year held in the city on January 14.

Britain Robert finished the men's 42km category in a time of 2hr 33.33min, leaving former national runner Lê Văn Tuấn (2:36.31) and Huỳnh Anh Khôi (2:43.45), both of Việt Nam far behind.

Former SEA Games gold medallist Phạm Thị Hồng Lệ who retired from the national team earlier this month, crossed the women's 42km finish line in first place with a time of 2:57.55.

Nguyễn Thị Thúy Vân (3:03.28) and Ethiopian Birehan Marta Tinsae (3:09.12) were second and third, respectively.

The winners of the 21km categories were Phạm Ngọc Phan (1:12.13) in the men's race and Lê Thị Yến Như (1:24.41) in the women's.

Lý Phi Hải (34.59min) and Lê Thị Kim Phượng (39.48) topped the men's and women's 10km while Nguyễn Chí Kiên (16.11) and Fushia Emily Clayton (20.07) secured men's and women's 5km titles.

More than 11,000 runners took part in the 11th edition of the HCM City Marathon.

A total of VNĐ800 million (US$32,800) was presented to the high-ranking runners, in which the overall winners walked away with VNĐ60 million. 

The marathon attracted more than 11,000 runners taking part in four routes from 5km to 42km and the 900m children's run.

Nguyễn Trung Hinh, general secretary of the HCM City Athletics Federation said the tournament has strongly developed since its first edition in 1992. It grew remarkably from 120 runners to 11,000.

Veteran runner Nguyễn Tiểu Phương wears a cosplay outfit in the women's 42km class.

It showed the strong development of marathon and people's awareness of the importance of exercising.

He hoped that the tournament would inspire more people to practise sports and run in the coming seasons.

The marathon, with the support of the municipal People's Committee, was first organised in 2013 by the HCM City Athletics Federation and Pulse Active Company. VNS