The Tien Phong Newspaper Run and Half Marathon will be held in thebeautiful beach province of Kien Giang’s Ha Tien Town on March 24.
The event, in its 54 th year, is expected to drawthe participation of both amateur and elite athletes, with more than 230runners already registered.
Men and women will competein the half marathon (21km), and there will also be a men’s 10 km, awomen’s 5km and various other distances for children and teenagers.Their result will be counted in both individual and team rankings.
They will compete for up to 130 million VND (6,200 USD), the highest price money in domestic athletics.
The nations’ top runners are all expected to compete apart from Asianand Southeast Asian champion Truong Thanh Hang who is recovering from afoot injury.
“The Tien Phong run is an annualtournament so everyone has time to prepare for it. This year, it doesn’tclash with any other national or international athletics meetings, sothe athletes will be giving 110 percent,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, DeputyGeneral Secretary of the Vietnam Athletics Federation.
“Let’s wait and see but I believe that records will fall and new faces will be discovered in Ha Tien.”
At the first race in 1958 in Hanoi, there were 72 runners includingCzechoslovakia’s Emil Zatopek, who set world records five years in arow from 1948-1953. He also won an Olympic gold in Helsinki in 1952.
Organisers said they hope that more international athletes will take part in future events.-VNA
