HANOI, March 6, 2022 - The VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021, Vietnam's leading professional race, has been held safely and successfully at the My Dinh National Sports Complex on the track slated for the marathon content at the 31st SEA Games.

Runners of the VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021 leave their Start gate on a track separated from traffic on March 6 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

 

Due to the pandemic, the marathon organizers had to postpone the race date to March 6, 2022 from the original schedule of October 24, 2021 and scaled down both the competition content and the size of the event. The marathon has only one Full Marathon (FM) category, with the participation of nearly 500 excellent runners selected from around 1,500 applications by candidates with high FM records in order to select members for the national team to compete in the marathon content, along with 200 non-professional runners in the running movement at SEA Games 31.

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FINAL RESULTS (Sportstats Asia)

https://www.sportstats.asia/display-results.xhtml?raceid=115277

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Successfully organizing the FM content (42.195 km) at SEA Games 31, which will take in May 2022, is an important task for Vietnam's athletics. The specificity of marathons is that the competition has a long distance, takes place on many routes for hours with a large number of runners, which requires careful preparation and professional management.

Runners stride in a VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021 lapse shortly after their 06:00 a.m. start on March 6 in Hanoi. (Vietnam time, GMT+7)

 

Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Athletics Federation said: “The VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021 is the very opportunity to test the race organization and administration in order to promptly detect and fix any arising problems. The VPBank Hanoi Marathon taking place on March 6 can be considered as the most suitable time for a rehearsal to comprehensively check the organization and operation of the running track at the 31st SEA Games.”

The VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021's track is also the route expected for the 31st SEA Games marathon. The route started from the My Dinh National Sports Complex gate on Le Duc Tho street with eight loops. After the eight lapses, runners turned right and run into the My Dinh National Stadium, made one lapse to reach the Finish line at the 100-meter line inside the stadium.

The Race Organizing Committee has deployed nearly 500 people to participate in the operation and support the organizational work, especially to assist referees to ensure accuracy when runners have to make many loops. The entire running route is "fenced" to ensure that runners would not clash with traffic.

In order to ensure safety amid the pandemic, the Race Organizing Committee of the VPBank Hanoi Marathon has set 10 doors at the Start line based on runners' registration records. The first door was reserved for runners competing in the professional league and non-professional runners with personal records of less than 3 hours. The start from each gate would not affect runners' competition results because individual achievements were calculated by the chip integrated in the Bib.

Although no new national records have been set at VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021, the participating runners highly appreciated the efforts of the Race Organizing Committee, which has encouraged runners' morale and raise their motivation to compete with all their power, surpassing their own limits to achieve the highest results.

This is the first time in Vietnam's running history that a marathon has announced a huge prize for breaking the national record (VND 50 million/national record).

The award ceremony took place solemnly with the participation of Mr. Truong Quang Hoai Nam, Deputy Head of the External Relations Department of the Vietnam Communist Party's Central Committee, Ms. Le Thi Hoang Yen, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sports Administration, Mr. Do Dinh Hong, Director of Hanoi's  Department of Culture and Sports, together with members of the Race Organizing Committee, representatives of the marathon's sponsors and runners.

Due to force majeure caused by the pandemic, the VPBank Hanoi Marathon 2021 had to scale down the size of the event. The Race Organizing Committee has however sent a notice to all the registered runners, who were not eligible to participate in the March 6 competition, advising that they will be fully entitled to join the 2022 race, scheduled to take place in October 2022. In addition, each runner who did not compete on March 6, 2022 will receive a discount voucher when registering for the 2023 Bib.

 

FINAL RESULTS (Sportstats Asia)

https://www.sportstats.asia/display-results.xhtml?raceid=115277

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Held annually since 2018, the VPBank Hanoi Marathon has become Hanoi’s official race and won recognition to be a member of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) since 2019, with a running track standardized by AIMS experts and the Vietnam Athletics Federation. Runners’ results, in addition to be qualified for competing in the 31st SEA Games, are still recognized to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon. The VPBank Hanoi Marathon has joined the Age Group Ranking System of Abbott World Marathon Majors, counting from 2022.

The Heritage Race system, owned and organized annually by DHA Vietnam, comprises of the VPBank Hanoi Marathon in October, the Halong Bay Heritage Marathon in November and the Can Tho Marathon - A Heritage Race in December.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

• Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, DHA Vietnam Executive Director, Tel: 090 343 2295
• Ms. Tran Dieu Hong, i/o Communications for the VPHM 2021, Tel: 091 367 0989