Nha Trang is hosting its biggest race ever with VnExpress Marathon: official

Nguyen Tuan Thanh, Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Province's Department of Culture and Sports. Photo by Thanh Tung

Attending a press conference on Thursday, Thanh said that the second season of VnExpress Marathon Marvelous Nha Trang is seeing a 1.5 times increase in the number of runners to 11,000, compared for the first season last year.

Along with that is the number of tourists and runners' relatives coming to Nha Trang during the three days of the event (Aug. 11–13), which is expected to reach hundreds of thousands.

"These are desirable numbers for any province when organizing sports events," Thanh said, adding that it puts a lot of pressure regarding ensuring the safety of runners.

Khanh Hoa, home to Nha Trang, used to be a place where the jogging movement grew rapidly in the early 2000s but it subsequently slowed for a long time. The arrival of the VnExpress Marathon, according to leaders of the sports industry, has warmed the hearts of not only regular runners but also inspired more people to join the sport.

"Tran Phu Road and Luong Son Pass have become a daily practice venues for thousands of people. Everyone, from businessmen to doctors to students can participate," Thanh said.

He also said that the VnExpress Marathon Marvelous Nha Trang contributes positively to the city's tourism.

Runners at the VM Nha Trang 2022. Photo by VM

Nha Trang has become more vibrant during the days of the tournament. With 11,000 runners and tens of thousands of relatives and friends, including foreigners, coming to the coastal city, Nha Trang's image has been widely promoted, contributing tens of billions of dong to tourism revenues.

Sports products combined with tourism make an important contribution to Khanh Hoa's socio-economic development and is an important part of the province's development plan.

"The province's point of view is to transform the way the tourism industry is managed. We encourage businesses and units such as VnExpress Marathon to organize large-scale, international sporting events, contributing to the promotion of culture, tourism, cuisine, and local life," Thanh said.

Nha Trang welcomed nearly three million tourists in the first half of the year.

The city's hotel system has 60,000 rooms, enough to meet the needs of a large number of runners. With the tourism industry's potential, the province and the VM organizers expect that in the coming years, VM Nha Trang can expand its scale.

Sabeco, through the Bia Saigon brand, is a companian of several sports events in Vietnam, including VM Nha Trang. Photo courtesy of Sabeco

Pham Trong Nghiep, head of the VnExpress Marathon's organizing committee, said that this year's VM Nha Trang has made many changes to improve the experience and increase convenience for runners.

The tournament also attracts runners with good records from Africa.

In the future, the organizers will work closely with the province to turn the tournament into an international event, with runners' safety still a top priority.

Nghiep said that the tournament has the potential to become a festival for not only professional runners but also local people, bringing many health and economic benefits.

The VnExpress Marathon Marvelous Nha Trang 2023 will be held on Sunday. Starting from 2/4 Square, runners of all 4 distances will run from the inner city to the suburbs, conquering Luong Son Pass.