VietNamNet Bridge – Bui The Anh of the Military team unseated defending champion Vu Van Son of Ninh Binh to win the men’s marathon event at the National Marathon Tournament, organised by the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, yesterday in Dak Lak Province.

Bui The Anh of the Military team crosses the finish line of the men’s marathon event at the Tien Phong newspaper Marathon Tournament on Sunday in Dak Lak Province. — Photo tienphong.vn

Anh finished the 42,192km race with a time of 2hr 31.35min. His time was not as good as last year, but it was good enough to for him to win, as Son also ran slower than expected. He came in second at 2:32.56. Last year he ran a time of 2:26.39.

Nguyen Quoc Dung of Khanh Hoa came in third, with a time of 2:35.51.

In the women’s competition, Le Thi Thoa of the Military took the top podium after running 2:57.35

Thoa met almost no difficulty in winning the gold medal, as her main rival, and the reigning winne,r Hoang Thi Thanh, also of the Military, did not compete this year.

Pham Thi Hong Le from Binh Dinh and Nguyen Thuy Y Tien of Khanh Hoa came in second and third, respectively.

In the men’s 10km category, the top three winners were from the national team. Do Quoc Luat of the Military was on top, with club teammate Trinh Quoc Luong in second and Pham Tien San from Bac Giang coming in third.

Two-time Southeast Asian Games winner Nguyen Thi Oanh of Bac Giang won the women’s 5km discipline, running 17.31min to complete the route. Pham Thi Hue of Quang Ninh, also a national team runner, finished four seconds later, and Lo Thi Thanh of Son La claimed third place at 17.58min.

Apart from events for professional athletes, organisers also set up pools for young talents and amateur runners, as well as local residents.

Military team’s Le Thi Thoa finishes her marathon at the top position in Dak Lak Province on Sunday. — Photo tienphong.vn

About 470 athletes took part in the 59th Tien Phong newspaper run, which is the oldest athletic competition in Vietnam.

They ran in 14 different races, ranging from 2.5km to 42.19km, while wearing timing microchips for the first time, to ensure accurate results. The Tien Phong Marathon is the event with the largest number of categories in the national running tournament system.

Organisers presented awards to both individual champions and winning teams, with a total cash prize of VND230 million (US$100,000).

Source: VNS