Marathon runner Le Van Tuan wins place at SEA Games 31

Le Van Tuan (right) at the VPBank Hanoi Marathon on Sunday. (Photo: thethao.vn)

In the pro men’s 42km category, Tuan completed the race with a time of 2:27.41 to finish first, leaving behind the runners-up of Trinh Quoc Luong (2:36.45) and Dao Minh Chi (2:39.34).

Nguyen Manh Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Athletics Federation, said this win will guarantee Tuan, who finished second at the Tien Phong Marathon 2020, a place at the SEA Games.

At the age of 38, Tuan will be one of the oldest athletes in Vietnam’s athletics to attend the 31st Games.

Although he came to marathon running late and mainly trains alone, in the past few years he has made remarkable progress. After being the runner-up in the Tien Phong Marathon 2020, he was called up to the national team and trained in Ho Chi Minh City.

On the women’s side, Pham Thi Hong Le finished first with a time of 2:55.28, followed by Pham Thi Hue (2:55.52) và Lo Thi Thanh (3:00.50).

But Le is unlikely to compete in the marathon event at the SEA Games.

She said: “At the SEA Games 31, my main category is 10,000m, so I will focus on this event as much as possible.”

The event attracted 600 runners which took them through the National Sports Complex in My Dinh, the F1 Racing Road and routes including Do Xuan Hop road, Tan My road, Le Duc Tho road and Le Quang Dao road./.

VNA