At noon on November 4, the City Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Can Tho City organized the opening ceremony of the Can Tho City Ngo Boat Race in 2025. This is one of the most anticipated highlights of the Ooc Om Boc - Ngo Boat Race Festival in Can Tho City in 2025.
The ceremony was attended by Mr. Lam Van Man, member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council; leaders and former leaders of Can Tho City, Soc Trang Province, Hau Giang Province through the ages; representatives of leaders of localities in the Mekong Delta region; representatives of the Patriotic Monkey Union of Can Tho City and a large number of Khmer people, people and tourists.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi - Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee said that July 2025 marked an important turning point when the city was merged from Can Tho, Soc Trang and Hau Giang, opening up a wider development space, aiming to build an ecological, civilized, modern urban area, imbued with river identity and playing a central role in the Mekong Delta. The city currently has more than 6,300 km2, a population of over 3.22 million people, including 27 ethnic minorities with more than 494 thousand people, and more than 411 thousand people for the Khmer people alone, accounting for a significant proportion in the ethnic minority community.
In recent times, the city has mobilized many resources to care for the lives and support production for ethnic minorities; effectively implemented the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas, creating positive changes in life, culture and society. The city also focuses on preserving and promoting Khmer culture, maintaining Khmer language and writing classes at Nam Tong pagodas; restoring, preserving and putting into performance traditional art forms such as Du Ke, Ro Bam, Ngu Am music, Rom Vong dance...
In particular, the Ooc Om Boc - Ngo Boat Race Festival is a unique cultural feature, demonstrating the spirit of solidarity and cohesion between ethnic groups in the region. The festival has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. In 2022, the Vietnam Record Organization set a record for the Ooc Om Boc Festival - Ngo Boat Race with the largest number of boats and athletes in Vietnam.
This year, the Ngo Boat Race took place on November 4 - 5 at the Maspero canal racetrack with the participation of 61 Ngo boat teams for men and women inside and outside the city (including 13 teams from Ca Mau province), competing in 2 distances of 1,200 meters for men and 1,000 meters for women.
Regarding the prize structure this year, in the men's competition, the first prize is 200 million VND; the second prize is 150 million VND; the third prize is 100 million VND and the fourth prize is 80 million VND.
In the women's race, the distance will be 1,000 meters, the first prize will be 200 million VND; the second prize will be 150 million VND; the third prize will be 100 million VND and the fourth prize will be 80 million VND.
In addition, the Organizing Committee also awarded prizes to the winning teams in the qualifying rounds, contributing to creating a vibrant atmosphere and encouraging the athletes' spirit.