Hanoi will tighten the organization of marathons

With a stricter licensing process in place from 2024, organizers will have to meet many criteria and conditions before being able to open ticket sales, according to Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Pham Xuan Tai.

From 2024, Hanoi City will issue a new process for licensing marathons in the area. VnExpress interviewed Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports - Mr. Pham Xuan Tai about this new process.

- 2023 is a year of blooming marathons nationwide as well as in the capital, providing a playground for hundreds of thousands of athletes. What have the Organizing Committees brought to running lovers, in your opinion?

- Currently, Hanoi city has 7 large-scale marathon and half marathon competitions, attracting hundreds of thousands of athletes. These are healthy playgrounds that contribute to promoting the health training movement for Hanoi people in particular and the whole country in general.

In addition, the races are also events that attract not only domestic athletes but also foreign athletes and international friends to gather here. With the route passing through many historical sites and famous landscapes of the city, this is a great opportunity to promote the rich culture and modern beauty of Hanoi to the world.

Mr. Pham Xuan Tai - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports. Photo: Mai Hiep — Mr. Pham Xuan Tai - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports. Photo: *Mai Hiep*

Not only that, attracting runners from provinces and international countries to participate has brought economic value, promoted consumption, accommodation, cuisine, dining, gifts, contributing to the overall economic development of the capital.

- To improve the quality of tournaments as well as promote the marathon movement, what are the new and improved points in the process of organizing and licensing races in 2024, sir?

- Recently, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a Decision on promulgating internal administrative procedures in the field of culture and sports. Within the scope of this Decision, there are many new points on the appraisal and licensing of tournaments, which are carried out according to a unified and strict process.

Accordingly, the Department of Culture and Sports is the unit in charge of assessing the expertise, value, and effectiveness of the tournament, the criteria and standards of the sports tournament, and the content of advertising and communication.

The Department of Transport reviews the traffic diversion plan. The City Police reviews the security and safety plan. The Department of Health reviews the health plan. When the contents are satisfactory, the City People's Committee will make a decision.

Licensing is done at the beginning of the year, before the organizers publicize and open ticket sales.

It must be emphasized that this process is not more difficult, but more rigorous. Previously, the City controlled the final, after the Organizing Committee worked with relevant departments and agencies and prepared to operate the event. Now, the City requires control before opening ticket sales, to ensure that items that were not carefully prepared or previous shortcomings are corrected from the beginning, ensuring better quality of the tournament.

At that time, the professional requirements will be higher, the uniqueness of the tournament will be better. The tournament will not be purely a sports event, finished running and that's it. We have higher requirements, in addition to sports, what cultural elements are there, how to promote those values.

Each tournament will have its own unique features, no two tournaments are alike in terms of routes, communication messages, especially promotional images of the cultural and historical values of the Capital and the image of a modern Capital that is developing strongly.

The Department of Culture and Sports does not encourage the development of new tournaments that copy the routes of existing tournaments, do not bring great social values and do not have their own unique features.

- How do you think athletes will benefit from these new features?

- Tournaments in the capital will grow in scale. The number of athletes from the provinces and especially international athletes will increase. To attract athletes, the organizing units will have to invest more in professional quality, service quality, security and safety. These are the points that athletes will benefit from.

In addition, the rights of athletes will be guaranteed. There will be no situation where the race date is approaching but the management agency does not approve the license because of unresolved shortcomings of the organizing committee, leading to postponement or rescheduling.

- In your opinion, what improvements do the Organizing Committees need to make to meet the above requirements?

- Currently, the tournaments lack their own unique features. They have not highlighted the event's contribution to other areas such as culture, humanity, and economy. Some places simply run and then return, without conveying the message to the community and people. Not many tournaments have statistics on the economic efficiency of the tournament for the capital.

During the review process, the Department also found that some organizing committees did not meet the requirements and additional requirements, for example, they did not meet the requirement of having a water supply point every 1.5 to 2 km, or an average of one ambulance every 3 to 6 km.

With these new requirements, the Organizing Committees will certainly have to invest more in research and come up with the highest quality, safest and most unique routes possible.

- What goals does Hanoi set in reaching regional and world levels in the field of marathons, aiming to attract not only Vietnamese athletes and tourists but also from the region and the world?

- In the coming time, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports will choose the best quality race to build as a symbolic race for the capital Hanoi. When mentioning running in Vietnam, we must mention this race like many famous races of the capitals of other countries.

Surely this event will bring the image of our thousand-year-old capital Hanoi to more countries around the world.

Mr. Minh

Source link