10,000 runners to hit the road in VnExpress Marathon Sparkling Quy Nhon

Held for the third time in coastal city Quy Nhon of Binh Dinh Province, VnExpress Marathon has drawn great attention from Vietnam's running community. Among the participants, 1,400 will compete in the 42 km distance, 3,500 in the 21km, and 5,100 in the 10km and 5km races.

Many running clubs and groups from across the country, each with a few dozen to hundreds of members, will join the race, which is coming back on Sunday after being postponed for two years due to the Covid pandemic.

Many sport enthusiasts have set target of achieveing high results at the tournament.

Runners can use their record in VnExpress Marathon to sign up for bigger events like Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon or New York City Marathon.

Thousands of athletes at the starting line at VM Quy Nhon 2020. Photo by VM Quy Nhon

To support athletes, the organizers have worked with Binh Dinh People's Committee to close road sections and regulate traffic. Several roads will ban large trucks in order to keep the running space wide and clear. Some major roads also reserve up to two-thirds of the lanes for the race.

Taking place during the travel season, the race is also an opportunity for family trip. The coastal city is expected to welcome 40,000 visitors during the June 10-12 weekend.

Accommodation facilities and restaurants in Binh Dinh will operate at full capacity, offering price incentives to runners.

VnExpress Marathon Sparkling Quy Nhon this year has adopted changes to offfer the best running experience. The starting time of all four distances will be earlier than the previous races. For the first time, sub 3 hour full marathon pacers will attend the race to support runners who register to finish the 42-km race in less then three hours.

Many award categories for different age groups have been expanded to include the top 10, instead of just the top 5.