More than 3,000 runners to run trails of Moc Chau

Almost 3,100 runners from 42 nations will compete at the Vietnam Trail Marathon in Moc Chau district, Sơn La province on January 11 (Photo courtesy of the organising board)

 
 Almost 3,100 runners from 42 nations and territories will race up to 70km on trails through orchards and tea fields in the Vietnam Trail Marathon (VTM) in Moc Chau district, northern mountain province of Son La, on January 11.

The number of runners at the second edition of VTM is up by 65 percent compared to year one, making this the biggest one day event by Topas.

In the men’s 70km race, last year’s VTM 70km champion, Tran Duy Quang, will return. He will compete with a new star from Vietnam's running community, Do Trong Nhon who took second place at his early trail races including Vietnam Jungle Marathon 55km and Vietnam Mountain Marathon (VMM) 70km in 2019.

They will also be competing with strong runner from Hong Kong Ka Hei Lam, who won the Raleigh Challenge Wilson Trail in 2018.

In the 70km female battle, VMM 2018's 100km champion Evelyn Lek of Singapore will be competing with Nguyen Thi Duong, who has been on many ultra run podiums.

In the 42km, the overall Vietnam Trail Series champion Trinh Nam Hai will be back and so will his female counterpart, Belgium’s Vanja Cnops, who also won VTM in 2019.

This year she will be competing with Joane Etiene, a strong runner from Switzerland.

Lining up with more than 1,000 10km runners at this year’s event is British Ambassador Gareth Ward, who will be running on trails for the first time.

Like other races by Topas, 20 USD from every long distance (21km-70km) registration goes direct to charity.

More than 920 million VND (almost 40,000 USD) will be divided between local projects around Moc Chau, Newborns Vietnam, which works to increase life chances for newborn babies, and Topas’s new charity partner Blue Dragon, which helps end human trafficking and to provide care to Vietnamese children and families in crisis./.

VNA