Pham Tien San won MetaSports Marathon Ha Long 2023
The heavy rain at the beginning of the day did not dampen the enthusiasm of 11,000 athletes participating in the MetaSports Marathon Amazing Ha Long race, taking place on the morning of September 10 in Ha Long city.
On the contrary, the unprecedented bustling atmosphere at the largest marathon event ever in Ha Long made the athletes feel even more excited. Like Pham Tien San, a race champion with an average pace of 3 minutes and 45 seconds per minute still needs two bottles of water at each water station to cool himself even when running in the rain. In the opposite group, many people run with the goal of "fun run", starting with a raincoat at a distance of 5 or 10km and quickly taking it off when warmed up after a few kilometers.
Similar to many recent MetaSports Marathon races, the race in Ha Long also attracted the participation of international runners. At a distance of 42km, the African runner led throughout the first 15km, but fell behind after losing too much energy climbing Bai Chay bridge, losing the championship position to Pham Tien San. At the 21km distance, the 23-year-old Kenyan runner - David Kipkoech Birir has no opponent. He was 8 minutes ahead of runner-up Ly Nhan Tin the first time he came to Vietnam to participate in a marathon.
As of 7:00 a.m., most athletes of all distances had reached the finish line with distances of 42km, 21km, 10 and 5km starting at 3:00, 4:15, 5:00 and 5:15 respectively.
With the two longest distances, many athletes said they had difficulty conquering the challenge of Bai Chay Bridge with an altitude of more than 50 meters and a winding road. However, this is also an attractive factor that makes them fully experience the most beautiful and attractive running routes such as Tran Quoc Nghien coastal road, Bai Tho bridge, Ky Quan sea reclamation road, and with full Marathon athletes. You can also see the full beauty of Tuan Chau Island.
As for the two distances of 5 and 10km, conquering the track is more convenient because the track is located entirely in the Bai Chay area.
In the men's full marathon distance, the first 5 runners were Pham Tien San, Charles Kipkorir Kipsang, Dan Quyet, Trinh Dinh An, and Nguyen Dang Khoa.
In the men's half marathon distance, runner David Kipkoech Birir finished first. Followed by Ly Nhan Tin, Ha Van Duoc from Bac Giang Runners, Nguyen Hoang Hung from Binh Duong Runners, Hoang Huu Hanh (Dong An).
