Chased by dogs, national athlete wins cross-country race

On February 26, the first Hai Duong Province Cultural Heritage Connection Cross-country Race took place at the Con Son Kiep Bac historical site. This year’s race, which was held for the first time, attracted more than 850 professional, semi-professional and amateur athletes to compete in 3 distances: 5 km, 10 km and 15 km.

In the 15km men's professional race, athlete Nguyen Trung Cuong of the national athletics team finished first after completing the race faster than usual for a surprising reason.

"The course today was quite beautiful. One special thing was that I was running when a dog chased me. From a pace of 3:20, I suddenly ran at a pace of under 3 when the dog chased me, and from there I finished with a good result of 47 minutes, 38 seconds" - Nguyen Trung Cuong shared.

On social media, fans also found a video recording this runner's funny situation. When he was running through a residential area, a rather large dog suddenly jumped out of a house, forcing Trung Cuong to speed up and run away. Luckily, the unusual acceleration did not affect the national athlete's physical strength and performance much.

Being chased by dogs at marathons is not uncommon. Last year, Kenyan Robert Kimutai Ngeno, the leader, dropped to third place in the Buenos Aires marathon for the same reason.

Robert Kimutai Ngeno led the race after half way. However, at the 38th kilometer, a dog came running out of nowhere, barking loudly and chasing the 29-year-old runner. Ngeno had to work hard to get away from the dog. After the incident, he could no longer maintain his concentration and finished in third place overall.