The 100km male battle saw an extremely competitive race between Vietnamese and French runners going head to head in Vietnam’s most challenging race.

The winner was Quang who broke the new 100km course record with a time of 13:01.11.

Nguyen Thi Duong celebrates winning the women's 100km in the Vietnam Mountain Marathon concluded in Sa Pa yesterday.

Quang beat two strong competitors from France including Romain Berion and Gaetan Morizur who crossed the finish line second together in a total time of 13:04.54, just three minutes behind Quang.

At the finish line, Morizur said: “It was an amazing day with good race conditions. I am very happy to be here. Thank you the organisers and all the crews along the course for supporting us a lot.”

Standing beside Morizur at the finish line, Berion added: “I hope everybody enjoyed because I enjoyed it a lot. It was an amazing race, amazing day. I don’t know what to say other than thank you to the organiser. Vietnam Trail Series organizer is really great from Vietnam Jungle Marathon I joined in October to the VMM this weekend.”

The female 100km saw Duong from Vietnam take first place in a time of 17:20.35. She beat Nathalie Cochet of France who was VMM 100km champion in 2016. Cochet was ahead of Duong until checkpoint four but then Duong powered ahead to finish 16 minutes before Cochet. Duong also set a personal record on the VMM 100km course in 2020 with three hours faster than in 2017.

Tran Duy Quang celebrates winning the men's 100km in the Vietnam Mountain Marathon concluded in Sa Pa yesterday.

Also in the women’s ultra field, Nguyen Thuy Dung of Vietnam came the first in the 70km with a time of 11:03.28. She beat Constance Louasse of France in second place and Vu Lan Huong of Vietnam in third place.

In the men’s 70km, Singapore-based Vietnamese runner Trung Nguyen took first place while his running friend Vu Tien Viet Dung and Lorenzo Revelant from Italy came second and third.

The race, organised by Topas Travel and supported by Topas Ecolodge, attracted more than 2,200 runners competing from 10km to 100km.

Usually held in September, the race was held for the first time in autumn following a postponement due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Source: VNS