Exciting and meaningful national marathon championship

Speaking at the press conference of the 66th Tien Phong Newspaper National Marathon and Long Distance Championship - 2025, taking place on March 12 in Hanoi , journalist Phung Cong Suong - Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper, co-Head of the Organizing Committee said that this tournament goes beyond the framework of a pure sports tournament and has grown steadily each year to become a series of particularly meaningful political - economic - social - cultural - sports - tourism events, contributing to promoting development in each locality where the tournament sets foot.

“The 66th Tien Phong Newspaper National Marathon and Long Distance Championship - 2025 started on March 28, with many humanitarian activities: offering incense to commemorate heroic martyrs at Truong Son Cemetery, Road 9 Cemetery, Quang Tri Citadel; releasing flower lanterns on the Thach Han River; presenting houses of gratitude in Quang Tri province. The highlight of the tournament is the national flag raising ceremony on both banks of Hien Luong - Ben Hai", said journalist Phung Cong Suong.

The 2025 Tien Phong Newspaper National Marathon and Long Distance Championship attracted 7,000 athletes. The athletes competed in four familiar distances including marathon - 42 km, half marathon - 21 km, 10 km, 5 km for men and women in professional and amateur competitions. At this tournament last year, the male champion in the marathon - 42 km professional category was runner Hoang Nguyen Thanh, and the female champion in the professional category was Hoang Thi Ngoc Hoa.

Deputy Head of the High Performance Sports Department I (Vietnam Sports Administration) and General Secretary of the Vietnam Athletics Federation - Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung said that this is a national tournament, so the professional results are of important value. In particular, the achievements of professional athletes at the tournament are one of the conditions for selecting faces to participate in the 33rd SEA Games in 2025 for the marathon event. "However, during the year, we still have a number of other tournaments and athletes still have to make every effort to have the opportunity to participate in the 33rd SEA Games," Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung shared.

This year’s tournament has a total prize fund of over 700 million VND. Athletes will officially compete from March 30 on the route in Dong Ha City (Quang Tri). At the same time, many sideline activities with social significance will be carried out by the tournament’s Organizing Committee. Athletes from the Vietnam athletics team in the long-distance and marathon groups will all participate in the tournament.