Booming year of Vietnamese marathon
"Never before have we been as busy running a tournament as this year, there are prizes almost every week. The members' schedule is even thicker than the training schedule" - said the owner of Phu My Hung Runners Club when he said. about the blooming of marathons in 2022. His group has about 2,000 members and almost every major tournament attends. The few people run 5 to 7 tournaments, the most people up to 14 to 15 prizes. The work of researching and selecting prestigious tournaments to call for registration and buying group tickets is also busier than every year.
In 2019, the marathon movement is said to enter a vogue phase, with an estimated 15 major tournaments. Some prizes have more than 10,000 registrants. The next two years were a golden time for the marathon to break through, becoming the spiritual food of hundreds of thousands of people, but Covid-19 stopped everything. Many tournaments have been postponed, and organizers are also hesitant to plan, keeping runners in a state of waiting.
When Covid-19 passed, activities loosened up again, marathon like a pent-up spring, now has the opportunity to unfold to its fullest extent. As a result, the runner had a year of "pain in the legs and in the wallet". Unofficial statistics in 2022, there are more than 40 major tournaments taking place across Vietnam. Thus, almost every weekend, runners put their shoes on the street.
The number of tournaments with more than 10,000 athletes skyrocketed, such as Techcombank Ho Chi Minh (12,000 people), MetaSports Marathon Amazing Halong (11,000 people), MetaSports Marathon Quy Nhon and Hanoi, Hanoi Heritage, Longbien Marathon (10,000 people).
Not only increasing in size and number, the running tournaments also spread all over the country. Sports lovers have many options. The most explosive is in the northern region with many quality tournaments in Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Ha Giang... This area has a variety of types of competitions, from long-distance running, trail running to two sports. combination.
The central region has Hue, Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Quang Nam... The advantage of the beautiful sea in the Central region attracts both domestic and foreign runners. The Central Highlands also has trail tournaments to both run and explore the wild and majestic mountains. Even the Southwest region - which is considered a latecomer in the movement, has also won prizes in Hau Giang, Can Tho, Long An, Dong Thap...
Countless small-scale running events or groups, internal businesses, departments with a scale of a few hundred to 1,000 to 5,000 athletes are also held regularly. Virtual running becomes a new trend with dozens of prizes a year, attracting thousands of attendees anytime, anywhere.
Mr. Nguyen Phuc Hau - president of Phu My Hung Runner Club - said that with the explosion of running tournaments, runners also have higher requirements. They will prioritize choosing tournaments with professional organization, beautiful running tracks, and many benefits to participate in. "We have too many choices in a year and the members have to make their own selection criteria based on their interests and needs. Most like to go to tourist cities to combine running and experience. But above all, the selected tournaments must more or less create prestige," Hau said.
The ascent of the movement also creates a boost for the training process, improving performance. Many runners start 2022 with only 5-10km but by the end of the year have been able to run 21 or even 42km. The reason is the "beyond yourself" mentality of the vast majority of runners. They see the next tournament as an opportunity to test their progress compared to the previous one, if they don't increase the distance, they must also set a new record.
The rewards of hard work are evident in the fact that more and more runners are able to complete a full marathon. According to statistics from SportStats, the tournament with the most runners completing a full marathon is VPB Hanoi Marathon with more than 2,000 people, MetaSports Marathon Ha Long and Nha Trang also close to this number. The Longbien Marathon Organizing Committee in 2022 also announced that 3,054 people completed the full marathon.
From where there are only three tournaments in 2020 (Hue, Quy Nhon, Hanoi), the MetaSports Marathon series has expanded significantly. Two tournaments in Nha Trang and Ha Long were included in the system, along with an Aquaman Vietnam biathlon in Tra Co, Quang Ninh.
In total, there are nearly 50,000 runners participating in the tournaments in the MetaSports Marathon 2022 system - making this system the largest running system in Vietnam. MetaSports' running series not only helps build a love of sports, but also creates a tourist attraction for host localities. In addition to runners, MetaSports Marathon has attracted about 200,000 visitors, boosting domestic tourism.
Each prize carries a particular color and leaves a lot of feelings for runner. The Sports Marathon's a game of anticipation as runner runs through the blue roads in the inner circle and ice out into the suburbs with the wheat fields that's swinging the gulls. Thank you for a different experience with a sunny run by the beach, dunes and a test bridge. Lower Long is an exciting race for the road across the bay of the world. The pages possess the longest sea supply in the system with the great Mountain pass of the great view of the Gulf of Vietnam. Hanoi's running a lot of emotions when he discovers the streets and shows up wins the capital in the middle of the night.
Tra Giang - a member of the management board of Ha Tinh Runner - thinks that MetaSports' running series has done a good job of spreading the love of sports to the community. Participating in most events of the year, Tra Giang assessed that MetaSports Marathon did well in organizing, especially always closing the best running routes in each locality. "I feel like every tournament is like a tour when I get to explore famous places through the track. Nha Trang is my most memorable tournament when I enjoy the track along the sea with great views. ", this runner shares.
One point the tournaments in 2022, including the MetaSports Marathon do well, is to contribute to bringing the love of running to more people. The most obvious is Nha Trang - the locality which is a famous tourist coordinate, but the movement of people's health is developing slowly. In 2019, the Nha Trang running group was just established, but the training was not organized, the number of members was small. Many people give up midway because of lack of motivation, lack of races to rub against.
MetaSports Marathon Marvelous Nha Trang in August left many imprints. For the first time, the Central "tourist paradise" has a large-scale event. 8,500 runners fill main streets such as Tran Phu, Pham Van Dong, turning this city into a vibrant festival. For the first time, people feel the "beauty" of running. Mr. Vuong Chi Cong - administrator of Nha Trang Runners called the event a "big bang", forming people's love of sports.
After the tournament, the number of runners in the club tripled, from 1,000 to more than 3,000 members. The training process is also more methodical and disciplined. "The growing local running movement is a great joy to me. A healthy sports community will create healthy citizens, thereby promoting other fields to develop together," said Mr. Cong. .
From the perspective of local managers, Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Culture and Sports, Mr. Nguyen Van Thien considers the award an important boost to the sport movement in this South Central province. "Exercise and sports are an indispensable part of a modern and civilized lifestyle. When I watch the tournament, I see many families with parents running together, then children running together. This is a very positive thing. Even the image of parents pushing a pram for their child to run is very beautiful, has passed on a love of sports to their children from a very early age," said Mr. Thien.
After the explosive growth of 2022, the Vietnamese marathon movement will continue to flourish when entering 2023. The goal of many running tournaments is to expand the scale and increase the quality towards attracting more foreign runners. As for MetaSports Marathon, the system will have up to 7 tournaments including MetaSports Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight (February), Hue (April), Quy Nhon (June), Nha Trang (August), Ha Long (September). , Hanoi (November), Hai Phong (December).
The spring has been released, runners can expect a golden age for the national marathon.
Hoai Phuong
