Ha Thi Hau - "monument" of Vietnam's running village

Now the name Ha Thi Hau - a young woman from Lao Cai - is no longer strange to sports fans, especially jogging. From a tour guide, in just a few years, she has become a famous runner on the most dangerous and difficult trails (terrain) with distances ranging from 60 to 160 km.

Unrivaled at Tsaigu Trail 2025

Ha Thi Hau is absorbed in conquering every tournament. It is correct to say that she "runs for passion" but it is also not wrong to say that she "runs just to run".

Two weeks ago, Ha Thi Hau finished second in the women's 60km Ultra Trail race in Zhejiang, China. This news alone has already made the domestic running community amazed, yet she has decided to stay in China to train, waiting to conquer the Tsaigu Trail race, at the most difficult distance - 105km.

Tsaigu Trail 2025 is held in Linhai City, located in the easternmost part of Zhejiang Province. This trail race has received the attention of many runners around the world . Because the running route is full of challenges, in addition to the harsh and rapidly changing weather, and this year's prize is unexpectedly doubled thanks to many philanthropists participating suddenly.

Hà Thị Hậu - — Ha Thi Hau and the conical hat dance at the finish line of the Tsaigu Trail race in China. Photo: FBNV

At the age of 10, Tsaigu Trail 2025 reflects the very high level of prestige of one of the oldest and most prestigious trail running races in China. What makes Tsaigu Trail famous comes from the rare harshness of the rugged terrain with rocky trails; erratic climate with hot, cold, rainy, windy weather changing in just one day... Participating in Tsaigu Trail, runners not only need to have endurance but also must possess an iron will to be able to reach the finish line safely with a victorious smile on their lips.

Being specifically invited to participate and start among the star runners, Ha Thi Hau was not dazzled by the false reputation but focused all her strength right from the first steps. The days of hard training on the winding mountain roads in Lam Hai helped her a lot, at least because the landscape and terrain here are not much different from the mountainous town of Lao Cai in her hometown.

Journey to victory

Starting at 5:30 am (Vietnam time), Ha Thi Hau had to compete fiercely with two strongest opponents, including famous French runner Aurore Dacier. She started quite well and was always in the lead, but after only 48 km, she was overtaken by Aurore Dacier.

With great effort in every step and thanks to reasonable tactics, Ha Thi Hau "reclaimed" the leading position at km 60. Just like that, sometimes being pressed, sometimes in danger of being overtaken by her opponents, she finally rushed alone to the finish line with a result of 13 hours 27 minutes 41 seconds.

The audience admired and her colleagues respected the petite Vietnamese girl. Ha Thi Hau left a deep impression with her confident running steps and her gentle, graceful conical hat dance at the finish line - which has become her "representative image" at international competitions.

This achievement of Ha Thi Hau has exploded running forums, continuing to stir up public opinion among fans as she has done for nearly 5 years. Not only affirming the title of "Queen of Trail Running" of Vietnam and the top female trail runner of Asia, Ha Thi Hau also received a "huge" reward of up to 13,000 euros (about 390 million VND).

Whether she started running as a child by accident, or as an adult to lose weight or out of passion, over the past 5 years, Ha Thi Hau has become a "monument" of the Vietnamese running community. Many people even wonder which male athlete could beat her if they competed in trail running races in Vietnam?

Achieved numerous achievements

Even Ha Thi Hau would probably find it difficult to remember the countless achievements that have made her name a "vedette" in the Vietnamese running community, especially in trail running.

Many times, Ha Thi Hau finished in the top group of "huge" distance trail races in 2025. She won the 75 km distance at Vietnam Mountain Marathon; won the 105 km distance at Tsaigu Trail; 2nd place in the 60 km distance at UTMB Ninghai; 3rd place in the 100 km distance at World Trail Majors Hong Kong; 6th place in the 160 km distance at Western States Endurance Run - considered the most difficult trail race in the world...