Marathon

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese runners triumphed at the first-ever Việt Nam Jungle Marathon held in the Pù Luông Nature Reserve in the central province of Thanh Hóa over the weekend.

Cao Ngọc Hà of Long Distance Runners team beat Trần Duy Quang of Đà Nẵng Runners team to take the lead in the male 70km race. The pair were within a minute of each other for much of the course, but in the final four km Hà pulled away and took the win with a total time of 8:22.26.

Quang crossed the line just under four minutes back in  8:26.21. In third was Kent Wei Luu of the US, with a time of 9:45.55.

The female 70km race also saw two Vietnamese runners on the podium, with Lê Phương Vy taking third place and Nguyễn Thị Tiểu Phương taking second. The winner was Malaysia’s Kwan Hooi Ng in a time of 13:23:29.

Much of the race course was in Bá Thước District’s, and Bá Thước’s own Văn Liêm was second in the men’s 25km, adding to the Vietnamese medal haul.

The tournament attracted around 300 runners from 32 nations, competing with routes of 25km, 42km and 70km. Almost half of the 300 participants were Vietnamese. British Ambassador to Việt Nam Giles Lever also took part in the race.

Via the marathon, VNĐ134,000,000 was raised through the entry fees paid by every runner.

“We have always given back through our races. Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised via the Việt Nam Mountain Marathon,” explains David Lloyd, race director. “In Pù Luông we will continue this tradition. We are working with Nguyễn Xuân Hải, deputy director of Việt Nam Academy For Sustainable Tourism Development Research. Together with Hải, we will use the funds raised by Việt Nam Jungle Marathon for the sustainable development of the area.”

The race is organised by Topas Travel, the founder of Việt Nam’s longest established and hardest ultra race, Sa Pa’s Việt Nam Mountain Marathon. — VNS