With the aim to promote sport movement, introduce Nha Trang image abroad and tie the friendship among countries, Khanh Hoa Province has just hosted 2010 International Marathon Race successfully...
With the aim to promote sport movement, introduce Nha Trang image abroad and tie the friendship among countries, Khanh Hoa Province has just hosted 2010 International Marathon Race successfully.
The International Half- Marathon Race this year was competed by 236 athletes, including 100 Vietnamese athletes from 12 teams of provinces and cities in the country and 136 foreigners from Japan, England, America and France. Being a movement event connected sports and tourism, the race attracted participants at all classes and ages. According to Vice President of Japanese Marathon Hiroshi Matsunaga, most athletes from Japan were sports and tourism lover. They joined the race with a sport spirit and wanted to discovered Vietnamese country and culture. Therefore, most of the Japanese athletes were in the age of 30 – 50. Especially, there was a seven-year-old child participating in 5km race. Additionally, the event had a team of 1000 volunteers as supporters, who partly showed hospitality and friendliness of Nha Trang city.
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| The international marathon race takes place along Nha Trang beach. |
The weather was very nice on October 24, which made the athletes more eager to join the marathon race. The race was more colorful with different costumes of the foreign athletes.
To make the event more attractive, Khanh Hoa Province sent it some professional athletes, namely Nguyen Dang Duc Bao, Pham Ngoc Hoang, Nguyen Thi Bich Tram and Tran Thi Thu Cuc. The event also saw the participation of Chiba Masako, a top racer of Japan. Chiba Masako said, “I’m very happy to come Nha Trang to join the sport event and spend a holiday. Nha Trang beach is so beautiful and cool. The people here are very friendly. They gave us a warm welcome.”
This is the second time Nha Trang has hosted the International Marathon Race. The tournament mainly aims to promote sport movement and advertise for Nha Trang tourism. Therefore, the awards for winners were rather small, only from VND500,000 to VND2 million. Each foreign racer paid USD300 for expenses of travel, competition and tourism in Nha Trang.
“The 2010 International Marathon Race in Nha Trang not only is a meaningful cultural and sport event to Khanh Hoa Province but it also has a regional and international stature. Through the tournament, athletes among countries have a chance to exchange culture as well as sports and the solidarity and friendship among countries will be tied more”, Director of Khanh Hoa Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated.
T.T
