In the early morning of July 5th, at Hang Cau landscape, Ly Son island district (Quang Ngai), nearly 2.000 athletes from different provinces and cities throughout the country participated in Tien Phong Newspaper’s 61st National Marathon and Long Distance Championship.

This tournament was co-hosted by the Vietnam Athletics Federation, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ngai province and Tien Phong Newspaper.

This is an important tournament, which is included in the Vietnamese athletics competition system for over 50 years and held in March every year to celebrate the founding of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26th) and Vietnam Sports Day (March 27th).

Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, this year’s tournament was held in July. Beside the participation of nearly 2.000 athletes (including 27 professional athlete teams), the tournament also attracted the participation of more than 100 referees and 300 volunteers.

It can be said that this is one of the top oldest tournaments in the Vietnamese sports industry.

Athletes competed in different distances such as: 42,195 km marathon for professional men, women and amateur athletes; 21,1 km semi-marathon for professional men, women and amateur athletes; 10 km for professional men and young men; 5 km for professional and young women; and 10 km for amateur ones.

In the end, the first prize for the whole delegation belonged to the delegation of Binh Phuong province while the second prize went to Quang Ngai’s delegation./.

VNA