Compared to the previous two seasons, this year's season has two starting points to comply with regulations on managing the walking street space of Hoan Kiem Lake and the time for running races in Hanoi city.

The 10km and half marathon races start at 69 Dinh Tien Hoang, Hoan Kiem Lake. The 5km and the Family Sports Group races start at 57 Quang Trung, on the shore of Thien Quang Lake.

All distances finish at the gate in front of Thong Nhat Park and the race ends at 8 o'clock, according to new regulations.

And on the opening day of the new year 2025, the Vietnam International Half Marathon 2025 race continued to witness the shining performance of record holder Nguyen Thi Oanh, who won the women's professional half marathon in both past seasons.

Notably, when winning the Vietnam International Half Marathon in 2023 and 2024, Oanh "in" set a record for Vietnamese athletics. The best parameter of the runner born in 1995 is 1 hour 15 minutes 10 seconds, set on January 1, 2024.

The most interesting image on the 21km journey was when Oanh "in" entered the final kilometers and running next to her was her teacher Tran Van Sy, coach of the national athletics team.

As Oanh "in" glided to the finish line first, snatching the championship rope at the finish line, the watch announced that she had completed the professional women's half marathon distance with the parameter of 1 hour 13 minutes 22 seconds. Thus, the athlete born in 1995 set a new record, surpassing her old record by nearly 2 minutes, and also surpassing her junior Le Thi Tuyet by more than 2 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes 27 seconds).

In the 21km men's professional race, a surprise happened. Hoang Nguyen Thanh was the first to finish with a time of 1 hour 04 minutes 50 seconds. However, although Nguyen Trung Cuong finished in second place with a time of 1 hour 09 minutes 44 seconds, this athlete was the champion of the 21km race of the Vietnam International Half Marathon 2025 powered by Herbalife. The reason was that Nguyen Thanh was determined to "turn around at the wrong place, which meant he did not complete the full distance".

With this unfortunate incident, Nguyen Thanh had to accept the unconfirmed result. Meanwhile, behind Trung Cuong, runner Luong Xuan Son (1 hour 11 minutes 22 seconds) was promoted to the runner-up position.

The VIHM 2025 Herbalife race is not only attractive in terms of expertise in the professional level. On the first morning of the new year 2025, 5000 athletes created a festive atmosphere, enthusiastically participating in the 21km, 10km, 5km distances running through famous historical sites, the most beautiful streets of Hanoi associated with the heroic development history of the Capital.