Organizing committee responds to the night running race in Ho Chi Minh City causing controversy online

The Ho Chi Minh City Night Run Eximbank 2026 night race took place on the night of May 16 to the morning of May 17, attracting 6,000 domestic and international runners. Athletes competed in the 5km, 10km and 21km distances.

The tournament is organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Athletics Federation and other units. However, after the event, on social networks, many runners reflected poor organization from using non-genuine BIBs being revoked BIBs right at the finish line, result cancellation, not receiving medals and finisher shirts, lack of thoughtful care for athletes, jostling at the finisher shirt and food receiving area...

Before this information, Mr. Khoa Vinh, a member of the organizing committee, gave feedback. Regarding the use of non-genuine BIB shirts that were revoked at the finish line, Mr. Vinh emphasized that the tournament has regulations on the athlete's owner, from a legal perspective, this person is not an athlete of the tournament, bought from another person, so the competition information of this person is not on the tournament data. Therefore, the organizing committee will find it very difficult to track the journey and medical incidents.

This person is male but wears a female BIB, when reaching the finish line, he was discovered by the referee. According to regulations, this person is not an athlete of the tournament, so the BIB is revoked to ensure fairness for the tournament. This is a tournament with age group content, so the verification of results depends very much on this.

But the most important thing is that this person is not an athlete of the tournament, if there is a medical problem, the organizers will not be able to contact the family. The tournament has insurance for athletes, so many consequences occur if there is a problem with a competitor who is not in the correct BIB," Mr. Vinh said.

According to Mr. Vinh, the organizing committee tightens the management of official BIB to ensure fair professionalism for the tournament, avoiding men running BIB instead of women, brothers running for sisters or running at the wrong age. This may make some runners dissatisfied, but this is the city's official tournament, so they need to make standards to ensure professionalism for the tournament and safety for athletes.

Mr. Khoa Vinh also admitted that finisher shirts were missing for athletes. "We admit this is true and have apologized to the community with a post on Facebook. We have also sent links so that whoever is missing, we will send them directly to the athlete's home.

The reason for this, according to Mr. Vinh, is the fault of the supplier. This unit only delivered 50% of the product quantity on the night before the event took place, the remaining quantity will be delivered during the competition night. But in reality, they did not do as committed, leading to a shortage of size.

Regarding eating and drinking, according to Mr. Vinh, the organizers arranged drinking tables, electrolytes, and fruits right after the finish line, not to mention a recovery area. In addition, the organizers also arranged more food for athletes to have space to sit together with many "street food" dishes, besides drinks and beer.

I stand and observe in this area, so there are some problems. For example, this area only serves water, there is no electrical discharge, but some athletes request electrical discharge. Secondly, because there are too many people, they have to queue, have to wait, leading to reactions," Mr. Vinh said.