Marathon

Huỳnh Anh Khôi celerbates his 42km win at the VnExpress Marathon Amazing Hạ Long 2024 on September 22 in Quảng Ninh Province.

QUẢNG NINH — Huỳnh Anh Khôi and Lê Minh Tuân caused an upset with their wins at the VnExpress Marathon Amazing Hạ Long 2024 on September 22 in Quảng Ninh Province.

Khôi ran from behind to beat title favourite Onesmus Maithya of Kenya in the men's 42km category.

Maithya started well, running away from the pack, but he faced some problems with the hills, especially the Bãi Cháy Bridge which was the most difficult challenge of the route.

The gap between him and the rest was narrowed and Khôi caught up with him at the 25km mark.

The 21-year-old student took the lead and maintained his position until the end, crossing the finish line after 2hr 39.26min, his first win in the VNexpress Marathon system.

Maithya was four minutes behind him and said he was really disappointed with the result, adding it was one of the worst times in his career.

Vietnamese Nguyễn Đăng Khoa was in third position, coming in at 2:46.06.

Meanwhile Tuân also enjoyed her first VnExpress Marathon win after overcoming main rival Nông Thị Chang in the women's competition.

Twenty two year old Chang, was full of energy and potential, whereas Tuân, 40, who has only been running this distance for four years, is already in the top ten best female full marathoners of 2023.

Tuân was slower over the first few kilometres, but she passed Chang after the first half of the race and her strength and determination kept everyone from catching up.

Tuân couldn't even stand steady after she crossed the finish line, but she won the tournament in a time of 3:10.53.

Chang came in three minutes later, while Lê Thị Hà was third at 3:19.51.

About 9,000 runners compete in the VnExpress Marathon Amazing Hạ Long 2024 on September 22.

In the 21km, SEA Games champion Lương Đức Phước and Doãn Thị Oanh met no challenge to win their titles,

Phước ran behind all strongest rivals for most of the race but then accelerated with 7km remaining and his rocket speed helped him be solo on the way to the finish, clocking in at 1:12.41.

"I am happy with the win because there were many strong rivals here. It is a good result as I have not totally recovered after competing at the recent national championships," he said.

Đinh Thanh Huệ and Bùi Văn Dũng were second and third, respectively.

In the women's class, Oanh took her title in the second time with the VnExpress Marathon series. Last year she was second in the full marathon category but this time she took the win at 1:25.44.

Trần Thị Ny and Lê Thị Lai were runners-up.

Organisers gave out more than VNĐ1 billion (US$40,700) to the top runners.

The annual marathon was held after a two-week delay because of the Typhoon Yagi, featuring more than 9,000 runners. VNS