A runner competes at the Vietnam Jungle Marathon over the weekend. (Photo courtesy of organising board) Hanoi (VNA) - Records tumbled at the Vietnam Jungle Marathon (VJM) overthe weekend as all distances from 10km to 70km saw new course recordsbroken by Vietnam-based runners thanks to the event being heldduring cooler weather in October.
Thewinner of the men’s 70km event was Romain Berion of France who finished in atotal time of 7:34.32, seeing a new VJM 70km record.
“Theweather was cooler and the landscape was amazing. Thank you the organiser forthis amazing race. I will be back for Vietnam Mountain Marathon in November,”said Berion, who is a new face in the local trail running community.
Thefemale ultra-marathon also saw a new face as Nguyen Thuy Dung of Vietnam wonwith a time of 9:36.41.
“Iam very happy to win for the first time in a trail race. We were all very luckytoday because the weather was so beautiful,” said Dung.
NguyenThi Duong and Hien Tran of the Czech Republic were the runners-upwith times of 10:16.24 and 10:44.29, respectively.
Alsoin women’s ultra field, Nathalie Cochet of France came first in 55km with atime of 8:12.48. Cochet’s compatriot Constance Louasse and Le Tham Thuy Hangfinished second and third.
Inthe men’s 55km, Singapore-based Vietnamese runner Trung Nguyen took firstplace. His time was 6:43.56, breaking the course record.
“Therace is always very special to me. The VJM was my very first trail race whichhas built my love for trail running. I am very happy that I did break therecord this year. It is thanks to the second place Paul Rioux who ran togetherand pushed me to the finish line,” Trung said.
Thesecond and third places of this category belonged to Paul Rioux from France andVu Tien Viet Dung of Vietnam.
Inthe men’s 42km, Quang Tran beat elite runner Pham Tien San to be the winnerafter clocking a time of 3:37:56. Quang also broke the course record of VJM.
“Inthe first 25km, I had to try all my best to chase Sản. He ran uphill very fast,leaving me behind. After that, I got the advantages at some very technicaltrails to overcome San. He just ran trails but will definitely be the one towatch," said Quang.
“Therace has provided a welcome tourism boost to an area that has seen tourismnumbers fall dramatically this year. Some of the homestay owners we have spokento have had almost no guests for months, so bringing people back to PuLuong Nature Reserve in the central province of Thanh Hoa and helping tore-invigorate the tourism economy was an important aspect of the event,” saidDavid Lloyd, founder of VJM and director of sport at Topas Travel.
“Furthermore,we added 13,815 USD to the total we have raised for charity which now stands atclose to 300,000 USD. In the past three years, the race has fundedlife-changing surgery for children through Operation Smile and drowningprevention programmes through Hue Help. This year the funds will be focused oneducation projects in the local area,” Lloyd added.
Therace is organised by Topas Travel, part of the Topas Explorer Group, owner ofthe Vietnam Trail Series which also includes Vietnam Mountain Marathon and VietnamTrail Marathon.
Thenext race, Vietnam Mountain Marathon, will take place on the November 20.Registration for the event is still open and runners can choose distances from10km up to 100km./.
VNA
