Four athletes of the 21km men's and women's categories competed with each other from the start to the last meters, creating an exciting chase on the morning of November 26.
If in the full marathon distance, both Nguyen Van Lai and Pham Thi Hong Le ran alone from start to finish, the half marathon brought a lot of suspense to the audience. The male and female champions in this distance were only revealed in the last 100m. The gap between the first and second place was only a few seconds.
In the men's race, Nguyen Trung Cuong and Ha Van Nhat started the race quite comfortably. In the first half of the 21km, the two athletes ran and chatted a few jokes because they were close friends in the national athletics team.
At Vinh Tuy bridge, the race between the two became more intense. Trung Cuong started to speed up, the distance between the two male athletes grew wider and wider. Ha Van Nhat behind also exerted his strength, determined to keep Cuong in sight. After the bridge, Nhat shortened the distance, running right behind his opponent. The two athletes continued to run side by side on the next leg until the end of Long Bien bridge.
Nguyen Trung Cuong (blue shirt) and Ha Van Nhat (white shirt) walked together for 21km. Photo: VM
In the last 2km, when the athlete turned into O Quan Chuong, Nguyen Trung Cuong once again wanted to accelerate, leaving Ha Van Nhat behind. When he was about 800m from the finish line, Nhat came from behind and followed closely. The turning point came from the last corner, when the athlete turned left from Hai Ba Trung to Hang Bai, Trung Cuong had an impressive sprint, finishing first with a time of 1 hour 16 minutes 37 seconds, exactly 5 seconds faster than Ha Van Nhat.
"We have trained together on the national team so we understand each other's strength very well. Before entering the tournament, we decided that we would only 'eat' each other at the end. Whoever still has the strength will be crowned champion," Nguyen Trung Cuong said after the finish line.
Ha Van Nhat said he was not sure he would win the championship so he was satisfied with the result. The athlete from Thanh Hoa smiled brightly when receiving the medal. Nhat has been running with Cuong for a long time, and both of them have won many championships, so their achievements in amateur races are a reward for their hard training in the national team. The race day of Hanoi Midnight on November 26th is also his birthday. He plans to use the prize to treat his friends.
The moment Nguyen Trung Cuong reached the finish line. Photo: VM
The scenario of the women's event between Bui Thu Ha and Doan Thu Hang was similar. Thu Ha took the lead right from the start. Thu Hang behind did not show any inferiority, constantly following, only a few strides behind her opponent. The two girls from the national sports training center were superior to the remaining female athletes. Even on the track, they continuously surpassed their male colleagues. As a result, Thu Ha finished after 1 hour 18 minutes 57 seconds, 8 seconds faster than her sister Thu Hang.
Thu Ha said that her victory was partly due to her adherence to the strategy she had set out from the beginning. "Because it was my first time running at night, before the race, I outlined my strategy: I would run the first 10km at a pace of 3:50, and then if I was in good health, I would push my speed up for the next 11km," Ha said.
Thu Hang (Bib 80033) and Thu Ha (in black shirt running in front) chase each other on the road. Photo: VM
For Thu Hang, the goal was to experience Hanoi at night, so finishing after her younger sister Thu Ha did not make her sad. "Last year, I missed the night race, which made me quite regretful. So this year, I signed up for the race with the mindset of just having fun, so this result is still good," Thu Hang shared.
Another fierce race took place between 10km champion Nguyen Kim Bao Ngoc and runner-up Kenji Oyama. Although Bao Ngoc lost his advantage due to a wrong turn in the last 200m, with his youth and experience, he overtook his Japanese opponent right before the finish line. As a result, Ngoc finished after 35 minutes and 27 seconds, only 3 seconds faster than the runner-up.
In the women's category, Pham Thi Hue won the 10km race. SEA Games champion Luong Duc Phuoc and female athlete Nguyen Thi Chuyen were the best athletes in the 5km race.
Thanh Lan
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