On October 13, 150 athletes participating in the tournament experienced an extremely dangerous 15 km race course typical of the Northwest mountains and forests, interspersed with beautiful scenery with floating white clouds, dreamy lakes, blooming wild flowers and the simple life of ethnic people in Seo My Ty village, Ta Van commune, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province.
Athlete Tran Van Dat, Binh Phuoc Cycling Club - First place in the Young Men's category shared: "The Sa Pa race today was very harsh, more difficult than the track I practiced on in the South, but it brought me a lot of experience."
Athlete Do Trong Hung, Pho Yen Cycling Club, Thai Nguyen Province - First place in the South-Central category also expressed: "Today I am very happy to be first, the first time I have been first. The route is very beautiful between the clouds and mountains, creating a wonderful feeling."
The special thing about this race is that athletes not only conquer difficult terrain but also experience beautiful nature, such as terraced fields, sea of clouds, Seo My Ty lake - the highest artificial lake in Southeast Asia at 1,772 m above sea level...
The cycling race to conquer the highest artificial lake in Southeast Asia is an activity marking the return of special events at Sa Pa National Tourist Area after the severe impacts of storm No. 3 Yagi.
Mr. Cao Ba Quy, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Sa Pa town, Lao Cai province, said: "This is an activity to stimulate tourism, contributing to promoting to friends, domestic and international tourists that Sa Pa has returned to a completely normal tourism state. This activity also has another very important meaning, which is to support and help people recover from the damage caused by storm No. 3.
On the opening night, the Organizing Committee received support from benefactors and sponsors through cycling teams with an amount of about 1.5 billion VND. Thereby, it greatly contributed to the people of Sa Pa in restoring the damage caused by storm No. 3.
