Nguyen Thi Oanh wins the women's 21.1km elite category of the first Vietnam International Half Marathon in Hanoi on January 1. Photo of organisers) Hanoi (VNA) — National athletes Nguyen Thi Oanh and Do QuocLuat met no difficulty in winning the first Vietnam InternationalHalf Marathon, the first sporting event of the year on January 1 in Hanoi.
The tournament was divided into two disciplines for almost 5,000elite and amateur runners who ran in half marathon, 10km and 5km distances.
Oanh, the multi-time SEA Games champion, led from the startto the end of the women's 21.1km event, finishing first with a time of 1hr15.23min.
Veteran Chinese Taipei runner Chien-Ho Hsieh and famed Thaimarathoner Linda Janthachit were expected to challenge Oanh, butthey failed to complete their mission.
Hsieh came second at 1:19.35, and Linda Janthachitthird at 1:20.52.
In the men's side, Nguyen Van Lai and Luật of Vietnam and SanchaiNamkhet from Thailand quickly separated from the group to leadmost of the race.
Former SEA Games champion Luat overcame his senior national teamteammate Lai in the last meters to claim the top podium with a time of1:07 Lai was one second behind and took second place while Namkhetwas third at 1:08.02.
The organisers also held a category for people withdisabilities, mainly visually impaired runners. They were escorted by a guideand ran 1.5km./.
