'VnExpress Marathon promotes Hai Phong running movement'

According to the Hai Phong Runners Club, the movement has grown strongly and running events have flourished throughout the city since VnExpress Marathon was announced to come to the port city a year ago.

In mid-October, the Hai Phong Open Half Marathon Thuy Nguyen Cup was held, attracting more than 2,000 athletes from Hai Phong and some neighboring provinces. A week later, the Cat Hai District Open Cross Country Race was held, with the participation of many professional athletes. This tournament provided free hotel accommodation for all runners, combined with a series of running events in Do Son, Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, Nam Cau Kien...

Runner Bui Quoc Dat - admin of Hai Phong Runners (HPR) group, who started and followed the running movement in Hai Phong for the past 6 years, said that running has never developed as quickly and strongly as it does now. All districts, counties, and residential areas have clubs. All of this effect is thanks to the way VnExpress Marathon announced that it would organize a large-scale race exactly one year ago. "The appearance of VnExpress Marathon has created a big push for Hai Phong running," said Mr. Dat.

Runner Hai Phong in traditional colors. Photo: NVCC — Runner Hai Phong in traditional colors. Photo: *NVCC*

In addition to promoting local culture, people and tourism, VnExpress Marathon Hai Phong 2023 is a city runner tournament that focuses on expertise. Since the beginning of the year, HPR has gathered a group of key runners, supporting each other in training, aiming to stand on the podium at home.

He cited that when HPR was founded in 2017, it had only 3 members. Earlier this year, the online group Love Running in Hai Phong had 3,000 members and now, ahead of the first VnExpress Marathon in the port city, the group has surpassed 6,000 participants.

Not only runners from the city of royal poinciana flowers, the online group attracts many runners from other localities to participate. In recent days, the group's atmosphere has been more exciting than usual. Posts about places to eat, stay, and have fun in Hai Phong and around the competition area are constantly updated by runners from the port city. "Not only coming to compete, we want all runners when coming to Hai Phong to have beautiful experiences and memories about our people and homeland," said Mr. Dat.

According to him, Hai Phong people are passionate about sports and have great pride in their hometown. Besides football, running is a sport that many people follow. Therefore, runners always want to spread the image of their hometown through the colors of the flag at sports tournaments, especially on the race course with many participants. In the near future, at VnExpress Marathon, HPR's goal is to dye the red and white - the club's traditional shirt color - along the running route.

Runners compete in the 4AM race. Photo: 4AM — Runners compete in the 4AM race. Photo: *4AM*

Not only districts, some clubs in Hai Phong city also organized many running activities. In particular, the 4 AM running group race attracted more than 200 runners to register. Prominent names in the amateur running community such as Dao Ba Thanh (Hanoi) also participated in the competition.

Besides HPR, 4AM is also a large community in Hai Phong. The group organizes training activities, long runs, and guides runners in the city as well as across the country to become marathon runners. Since the beginning of the year, 4AM has had a professional plan for tournaments during the year, especially the most important and targeted tournament at home - VnExpress Marathon.

About 280 members of 4AM have also gone through the sprint training phase with intense training plans, entering the taper period before the race. "We still maintain long runs of 16 to 18km for athletes competing in 21 and 42km. Runners running 5 and 10km are still working hard with the distances according to the training plan. Everything is ready for an explosive race at home," runner Nguyen Duy Kien - 4AM group said.

VnExpress Marathon Hai Phong takes place on December 17, expected to attract 9,000 participants. This is the final tournament of 2023 of the VnExpress Marathon system.

Thanh Lan

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