10,000 athletes participated
VnExpress Marathon Hanoi Midnight 2024 - Hyundai Thanh Cong Cup will be held from the night of November 23 to the morning of November 24. This is the 4th year this race has taken place in the capital city of Hanoi (the first time was in June 2019).
In this return, VnExpress Marathon attracted 10,000 registered athletes, including professional and semi-professional athletes from the country and abroad. Of these, 7,000 athletes came from provinces and cities, 300 foreign athletes from leading marathon countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan, etc.
In addition, on the morning of November 23, 2,000 children between the ages of 6 and 10 will participate in a 700m run around Tran Nhan Tong walking street.
November 24 is the official race day with the starting time for the distances starting at 00:05 for the 10km runners, 00:30 for the 5km runners, the 42km runners will start at 1:00, and for the 21km runners will start at 2:30.
This year's race has changed its starting and finishing points to Tran Nhan Tong walking street. Accordingly, all athletes will start and go through Quang Trung street, heading towards Nha Chung, Nha Tho, Hang Trong, Bao Khanh, the roads along West Lake, Hoan Kiem Lake...
With the 42km and 21km routes, athletes will cross Vinh Tuy Bridge and Long Bien Bridge respectively. From km 6 to km 10, athletes will conquer Vinh Tuy Bridge, then from km 16 to km 18 is the challenge at Long Bien Bridge (both 21 and 42km).
With distances of 5km and 10km, athletes mainly run through central streets such as Quang Trung, Trang Thi, Tho Nhuom, Hang Bong, Dinh Tien Hoang, Quan Su... All running routes of VnExpress Marathon Hanoi Midnight 2024 - Hyundai Thanh Cong Cup are measured and certified to meet standards by the Vietnam Athletics Federation.
According to the Organizing Committee (OC), 10,000 athletes of VnExpress Marathon Midnight 2024 - Hyundai Thanh Cong Cup have the opportunity to win prizes, according to distance and age group, with a total value of nearly 1 billion VND.
Efforts to limit traffic conflicts
Recently, many races have taken place in Hanoi in the inner city. After each race, there were many posts on social networking forums expressing frustration about the way the races were organized because they had a significant impact on people's daily life and travel.
Taking note of the comments, the Organizing Committee of VnExpress Marathon Midnight 2024 - Hyundai Thanh Cong Cup has come up with solutions to minimize the impact of the event's activities on traffic and people's lives.
According to Mr. Pham Trong Nghiep - Head of the tournament organizing committee, in the past few days, the organizers have placed signs announcing the time when the athletes will run through the routes so that traffic participants know and fans can cheer for the athletes. At the same time, according to calculations, at around 7:30 am on November 24, the entire running route was almost closed for people to circulate normally.
"We have solved the problems that the previous tournaments encountered. This time in particular, we have given specific road closure times for each location, which helps functional units such as the police, militia, etc. to coordinate proactively in closing/opening roads for people to travel," Mr. Pham Trong Nghiep shared.
However, Mr. Nghiep also said that events with many participants held in public places will inevitably have shortcomings, and the unit will seriously consider them for improvement.
At the same time, the Head of the Organizing Committee of the VnExpress Marathon Midnight 2024 - Hyundai Thanh Cong Cup also hopes that all athletes participating in the tournament will work together to build a civilized running community so that "when people see it, they will cheer and encourage us, instead of saying bad words".
It is expected that during the 3-day tournament, from November 22-24, the tournament will contribute to attracting more than 50,000 visitors, including athletes and their relatives, to Hanoi, thereby promoting the image of the people and the country, promoting tourism and economic development in the locality, especially the night-time economy in the capital.
