Japan is the country with the largest number of athletes with nearly 100 people at the VPBank VnExpress Marathon HCM City Midnight.
Starting on March 3, VPBank VnExpress Marathon HCM City Midnight 2024 is the race with the largest number of international athletes registered in the VnExpress Marathon system to date.
The country with the most athletes after Vietnam is Japan with nearly 100 runners. Previously, VnExpress Marathon recorded a Japanese wave on the rankings. All foreign runners in the top 30 in 2022 are from the land of the rising sun.
Hiroki Nakajima - Japanese runner surprisingly won the VnExpress Marathon Nha Trang 2023. Photo: VM
Besides Kenya, Japan is also the only country with a foreign athlete winning the overall championship of the VnExpress Marathon system. The VM Nha Trang 2023 champion - Hiroki Nakajima at that time surpassed the Kenyan runner, finishing first with a time of 2 hours and 33 minutes.
| The race is still open for registration until February 26. Interested readers can register here. |
The UK is the country with the next largest number of athletes with nearly 50 runners. Next are athletes from the US, Germany, France, South Korea, South Africa and dozens of other countries.
In terms of age, there are nearly 30 international athletes in the over 60 age group. Among them, male athlete Kuo - Hua Lu (68 years old - Taiwan) is the one with the best registered record. He once completed the full marathon distance with a result of sub 3:30. Kuo - Hua Lu will be a formidable opponent of veteran Vietnamese runners such as Vo Kinh, Vo Van Xy...
Having participated in 8 races of the VnExpress Marathon system, the female runner from France - Katherine (37 years old) said that she loves the running routes on the S-shaped strip of land. After more than 5 years of living and working in the two cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Katherine has participated in 17 marathon races.
"The night atmosphere in Ho Chi Minh City is always different. I ran this race last year along with many other races of the VnExpress Marathon system and was impressed by the professional and safe route along with the support from the organizers, so I signed up for a combo of 4 races this year," said the female runner.
In 2023, the VnExpress Marathon system recorded an increase in the number and quality of foreign runners. Tournaments in Ho Chi Minh City, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, and Ha Long all witnessed foreign athletes winning the 21 and 42km distances. From only about 100 international athletes per tournament, this number has now increased to 500 athletes.
Josh Smith - a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, once formed a group of dozens of parents, teachers and students to participate in the 2023 night run. Photo: Quynh Tran
VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight starts on March 3, with an expected participation of 11,000 athletes. Like other tournaments in the system, runners will receive medical care, water and electrolyte support, and safety assurance.
All four distances are AIMS certified. Runners can use their results from this race to register for major events such as the Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, etc.
In addition, VnExpress Marathon will send the results of athletes participating in the 42km distance this year to Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda. The results will be compiled with athletes worldwide in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings. Qualified athletes in each age group will be invited to participate in the 2025 World Championship. The results are calculated based on the fastest time in a VnExpress Marathon tournament.
Thanh Lan
VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight marks two prestigious and experienced names in organizing and operating major running systems, VPBank and VnExpress Marathon, in a strategic partnership, creating high-end, large-scale running events for the Vietnamese and international sports-loving community. Previously, VPBank and VNExpress Marathon signed a strategic partnership to accompany the VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight for 5 years from 2024 to 2028. In the previous cooperation, VPBank and VnExpress successfully coordinated to organize the VPBank Hanoi International Marathon in Hanoi in October 2023.
After nearly a decade of being involved in the running movement, VPBank has organized and accompanied 11 major running events for the community, becoming one of the pioneering and experienced enterprises in the running movement in Vietnam. Tens of thousands of professional and amateur athletes have participated in the races organized by VPBank and this bank is also the enterprise with the largest running club in Vietnam - VPRun Club - with more than 2,000 members.
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