Indochina marathon’s Vietnam leg takes place with new-designed route

About 10,000 athletes from 23 countries and regions took part in the opening ceremony of the Expo Area and checked in to take their Bib and race kit at the National My Dinh Stadium.

Among them were members of the national teams of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia in the elite class, promising competitive races.

The notable faces are national champion Hoang Nguyen Thanh, senior runner Nguyen Van Lai, and military team representative Trinh Quoc Luong of Vietnam who will compete against Kenyan Edwin Kiptoo and Malaysian Muhaizar Mohamad.

The female title favourites include national record holder Nguyen Thi Oanh and national champion Hoang Ngoc Hoa. 

Different from other races, the Viettel Marathon will feature a large number of student-runners from Cambodia, Laos and other countries who are studying and living in Vietnam.

"The Vietnam leg will be a great tournament and a good opportunity not only for runners from many countries to meet, share their running passion and cultural exchanges, but also help people from the three brotherly countries of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia be more united," Cambodian PhD student Bong Pan Nha of Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports said.

"After Hanoi, the series will take place at the world-famous historical site Angkor Wat in Cambodia and I will return home to run. I want to give all marathoners a better understanding of our beautiful Angkor Wat." 

At the ceremony, runners also enjoyed many sidelined activities including mini games, sport gear trial, exhibition and meeting with players of The Cong Viettel FC and national football teams Nham Manh Dung, Dang Tuan Phong, Cong Phuong and Duc Chien.

The highlight was a talk show with German expert Gunter Lange about training methods to improve runners' endurance and establish strong physique foundation to help them run well in 10km, half marathon and full marathon. 

Lange, who is a coach of the national athletics team, also spent time answering questions from the athletes.

The run, which is the first one of this kind held in Asia, will begin with the 42km category in the early morning of December 1, followed by the 21km, 10km and 5km.

Marathoners will start and finish at the My Dinh Stadium. They will run through the totally new routes that are designed to lead them through six districts of Hanoi including Nam Tu Liem, Bac Tu Liem, Quoc Oai, Hoai Duc and Dan Phuong, instead of the centre city as many other races usually take place.

Previously, the first leg was held in Luang Prabang, Laos, with about 5,000 runners. The last leg in Siem Reap, Cambodia, will be held on December 22. 

The Viettel Marathon 2024 is jointly organised by the Asian Athletics Association, Vietnam Athletics Federation and Viettel in cooperation with the athletics federations of Cambodia and Laos.