Danish runner races to victory in Sapa mountain marathon

Simon Grimstrup of Denmark won the second Vietnam Mountain Marathon's 70-km category which wrapped up at this magnificent town in Lao Cai province on September 21.
Simon Grimstrup of Denmark won the second Vietnam Mountain Marathon's70-km category which wrapped up at this magnificent town in Lao Caiprovince on September 21.

The Dane finished the super challengewith a time of eight hours and 30 minutes while Nora Senn, a Swissfemale runner, came in second with a time of 10 hours and 12.55 minutes.

"This is the toughest and most beautiful route in the world,"he said. Simon, an experienced trail runner, took part in a 168-km runin France just three weeks before coming to Vietnam.

In the 42-kmclass, Briton David Lloyd came in first with a time of five hours and47.50 minutes, followed by American Samantha Young, with a time of sixhours and 27.20 minutes.

Other winners are Florian Deichmann inthe 21-km event and Vietnamese male Sung A Toa, 16, in the 10-km event.Toa is from the H'Mong ethnic group and lives in Y Linh Ho.

Nearly500 runners from 40 countries and hundreds of Vietnamese joined theevent, making it the country's biggest international mountain marathon.It took place on the weekend in the beautiful mountain town of smalltwisting, buffalo-beaten trails that cut across bamboo bridges and runthrough small mountain villages.

John Nielsen, Ambassador ofDenmark to Vietnam, also took part in this and the previous year's 21-kmrun. "It was tough and the last mountain was horrible to climb, but Ilike the race," said Nielsen.

The Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam has joined forces with Topas Ecolodge Resort to organise the marathon.

NovoNordisk, a pharmaceutical company, is sponsoring and supporting theevent together with the Vietnamese Association of Diabetes andEndocrinology under the theme "Changing Diabetes", to raise awareness onthe rise of diabetes in Vietnam.

All fees collected from themarathon will be donated to Sapa O'Chau, a local charity organisationwhich offers educational opportunities for children of ethnic minoritygroups.-VNA

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