Marathon

Hoàng Nguyên Thanh crosses the finish line at the Run to Live 2025 on March 9 in HCM City. VNS Photos Dũng Phương

HCM CITY — Hoàng Nguyên Thanh proved his strength in defending his top spot, while Phạm Thị Hồng Lệ won her first title at the second Run To Live 2025 on Sunday in HCM City.

National marathon champion Thanh met no challenge on his route, running alone most of the time in the men's 21km category. He finished in a time of 1:12:30.

The two runners-up were Lý Nhân Tín with a time of 1:44:08 and Huỳnh Anh Khôi with 1:44:54.

On the women's side, the former SEA Games 10,000m champion easily won the race, in which defending champion Hoàng Thị Ngọc Hoa did not take part. Lệ clocked a time of 1:21:37.

Phạm Thị Hồng Lệ wins the women's title in the Run to Live 21km class.

She left strong rivals Lê Thị Kha Ly (1:26:03) and Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (1:27:48) in second and third places, respectively.

In the 10km categories, Nguyễn Anh Trí (33.56min) and Đoàn Thị Hiền (41.11min) won in the men's and women's classes.

Meanwhile Nguyễn Văn Khang (17.15min) and Trương Hồng Uyên (20.07min) took the top places in the men's and women's 5km race.

A big bonus of VNĐ400 million was also available for any runners who broke records in the men's and women's 21km categories, but no records were broken.

The current records are 1:06:40 for the men's side set by Thanh in the Việt Nam International Half Marathon 2024, and 1:15:10 by Nguyễn Thị Oanh in the same race on the women's side.

About 10,000 runners took part in the tournament, which was organised by the Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper in cooperation with the city's Department of Culture and Sports and Miracle Entertainment Group at the Metropole Thủ Thiêm area in Thủ Đức City.

About 10,000 runners take part in the second Run to Live 2025.

Run To Live was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Southern Liberation and National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975-2025).

The tournament also supports a fund for developing talented local athletes. VNS