The story of two Vietnamese "superwomen"

Just a few months apart, Nguyen Tieu Phuong and Chi Nguyen followed each other to complete their 6th ultra marathon and both received the snowflake-shaped medal that every runner desires.

The World Marathon Majors is a series of six 42,195 km races, the most prestigious and prestigious in the world, including: New York City Marathon, Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon (USA), London Marathon (UK), Berlin Marathon (Germany) and Tokyo Marathon (Japan). Those who participate and complete all six races will have their achievements recognized and will be awarded a six-petal snowflake medal - symbolizing the six races - called Six Star Finishers.

The first snowflake for Vietnamese runner

The running community always believes that Nguyen Tieu Phuong and Chi Nguyen are the first Vietnamese to be honored by World Marathon Majors, although before these two brave women, several other Vietnamese also received Six Star Finishers, but all of them lived abroad with adequate training conditions. This is the biggest difference that creates amateur runners with boundless passion for the running track and always aspire to overcome the milestones they set for themselves in life.

Tieu Phuong (right) and Chi Nguyen. (Photo provided by the character)

Receiving the snowflake medal in March 2023 after completing the 42.195 km run in Tokyo, Nguyen Tieu Phuong was extremely excited about her "self-given mission", which is also the name of the small meeting with the running community that she organized to share experiences and at the same time announce a project. According to her, this project can help many Vietnamese women practice running, improve their health to build happy families and a civilized society.

Nguyen Tieu Phuong decided to start running early in the morning on the streets around her house in 2013, after witnessing the resilience and perseverance of the athletes participating in the New York City Marathon. After two or three years of running alone and then training with groups of friends, she became a real runner without realizing it.

Nguyen Tieu Phuong

Maintaining a strict lifestyle, she went to bed early and put on her running shoes at 3am following a scientifically designed training program and nutrition regimen. Running and participating in amateur races was still very new at that time, Tieu Phuong conquered dozens of competitions with many resounding achievements - from 5km, 10km to Ironman, 21km and even marathon and had "no rival" in the 40-49 age group of amateurs.

Having heard countless stories about the snowflake medal, Tieu Phuong planned to conquer the 6 biggest ultra marathons on the planet, knowing full well that she would have to train hard to meet the competition standards, not to mention having to have a large budget for travel, accommodation and registration.

Nguyen Tieu Phuong's journey began with 3 years of competing around the world, accumulating enough qualifications to participate in 6 super tournaments. Within just 3 months of 2019, she completed 3 tournaments in Berlin, Chicago and New York.

When the situation stabilized in 2022 after a series of sporting events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tieu Phuong participated in the Boston Marathon and London Marathon and completed her "life goal" at the Tokyo Marathon in March 2023. She, along with 3,000 athletes worldwide, received the prestigious Six Star Finishers snowflake medal, but she was the first Vietnamese to achieve this achievement.

Quietly Chi "Kenya"

Considered a "noisy person" because she often takes on the role of MC at most major running races in the country, Nguyen Linh Chi - or Chi Nguyen, Chi Kenya as the running community affectionately calls her - is quite secretive about herself, especially about the fact that she ran and conquered 6 super marathons.

For more than 10 years of "putting on shoes and running", Chi Nguyen considers running as a way to help her balance her life. Considered an amateur runner with achievements approaching those of professional runners in Vietnam, Chi Nguyen's first achievement was very impressive because she only "ran for fun" while traveling to Cambodia but still completed the 21km distance of the Angkor Wat International Race in under 2 hours.

Chi Nguyen

Chi Nguyen tested and adapted quickly to trail races such as the 100km Vietnam Mountain Marathon (runner-up), the 128km Angkor Ultra Trail in Cambodia (5th place) or completed the 100km Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc in Switzerland, one of the most prestigious trail races in the world in Europe.

Gradually moving to road races, Chi Nguyen finished 3rd in the Techcombank Marathon 2017, and was the female champion in the Long Bien Marathon 2018 and 2020. She became the first Vietnamese person to qualify for the Boston Marathon 2019 but needed another 5 years to complete the final stage of the 6 super marathons.

Having received her bib (race number) since 2019, the London Marathon made Chi Nguyen wait the longest, with the race being postponed and canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, followed by a diplomatic incident in 2022 and then an unexpected accident just 1 month before leaving for England in April 2023.

Overcoming all obstacles, Chi Nguyen reached the destination that every runner dreams of, received the Six Star Finishers snowflake-shaped medal and was filled with gratitude for the entire journey.

Looking forward to the Berlin Marathon

While Nguyen Tieu Phuong devotes herself every day to the community project "Vietnam Female Running" with the goal that within 3 years, at least 100,000 Vietnamese women will "put on their shoes" to conquer the first 5 km in their lives, Chi Nguyen and her friends opened a swimming - cycling - running training class for children (Iron Kids) in addition to working with Newborns - a British non-governmental organization with the goal of reducing the rate of premature babies in Vietnam, along with VietSeeds - a non-profit organization committed to providing opportunities for equal access to higher education for Vietnamese students.

As two close friends and sisters both in real life and on the track, and sharing the same passion of "always doing something for the community", both Nguyen Tieu Phuong and Chi Nguyen give the highest priority to running - where their names are known to everyone and use that influence to contribute to society. Both are waiting for another "Vietnamese superhero" to reach the snowflake medal next September, at the Berlin Marathon 2023.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/the-thao/cau-chuyen-cua-2-nu-sieu-nhan-viet-20230708211836972.htm