Mai Trung and Dan Quyet Battle Meter by Meter, My Hien Surprises to Lead at VM Nghe An 2026

At Ho Chi Minh Square, exactly at 3 a.m., hundreds of pairs of shoes left the start line together. Under the dim yellow streetlights of Vinh City, three names broke away within the first meters: Dan Quyet, Dao Ba Thanh, and Nguyen Mai Trung. Ten minutes later, on the Le Nin Avenue route, only two men remained side by side. Mai Trung and Dan Quyet took turns leading, separated by roughly ten meters - a gap tight enough that neither dared relax their breathing. In the women's race, the surprise came earlier than expected. My Hien, a host runner from Nghe An Runners, surged into the lead. She owns a personal record of 3 hours 7 minutes 39 seconds - no small number on a sun-drenched coastal route. A local runner leading from the earliest kilometers made spectators lining Truong Thi Street stop and follow every stride. This is the first time VnExpress Marathon Grand Tour has come to the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, featuring four distances of 5km, 10km, 21km, and 42km. The longest full marathon route started at 3 a.m., passing Ho Tung Mau, Truong Thi, Le Nin Avenue, then connecting straight to Vinh - Cua Lo Avenue. After about 16 km, runners turned onto Binh Minh route, ran along the Cua Lo coastline, and turned around at Cua Xa before returning to the finish line on Truong Thi Street. Before the start, the atmosphere at the bib pickup area had been buzzing since the evening of September 25. Nghe An Labor Culture House was packed with runners collecting their numbers, reuniting familiar faces from the northern and central amateur running scene. Dan Quyet, Dao Ba Thanh, Le Van Huong - the familiar elite names - joined hundreds of volunteers mobilized from the evening of September 26, coordinating with police, traffic police, and local medical staff to operate the race. Notable numbers appeared right from the warm-up. According to veteran runners such as Thanh Meo and Vinh Runner, this year's event had fewer runners registered for the 42km distance than usual - an advantage for those targeting personal records. The Nghe An route, with wide roads, little traffic, and low gradient, was rated as favorable and beautiful, a rarity among full marathon events in Vietnam. Nguyen Mai Trung, 35, from Hanoi, works in e-commerce and is a member of Thanh Cong Runners Club. The number that made the capital's running community take notice is 2 hours 41 minutes 55 seconds at VnExpress Marathon Hai Phong 2026 - a result that placed him 69th among the fastest full marathon runners in Vietnamese history. That ranking was built over thousands of accumulated kilometers, not a single inspired morning. The duel between Mai Trung and Dan Quyet from the first meters is not just a story of speed. Over 42km, pacing strategy is decisive. A runner faster at km 10 may not hold the advantage to km 35. Coastal routes like Vinh - Cua Lo often pose questions of wind and temperature: cool at the start, then the road begins to store heat toward late morning. Whoever saves energy wins. Based on my experience covering many amateur marathon events in Vietnam, I have noticed a pattern: races with fewer elite runners are often more intense than crowded ones. There is no crowd blocking the view, no unexpected rival breaking the pack, two runners face each other directly for dozens of kilometers. Every pace change, every narrowing of the gap becomes a signal the opponent can read. That is a kind of chess match inside the legs, something the final results table can never capture. Dan Quyet showed a relaxed spirit, waving to cameras, while Mai Trung maintained intense focus. Two contrasting attitudes on the same course. In endurance sport, ease can signal someone controlling their heart rate well, or it can be someone hiding fatigue. Only the final kilometers, when both enter the painful zone of the marathon wall, will reveal who prepared better. The 21km event started at 4 a.m. with two cutoff points at km 10 (5:40) and km 16.9 (6:50), with the course closing at 7:30. The 10km distance started at 5 a.m., with one cutoff at km 6 (6:15), closing at 7 a.m. The 5km distance took place entirely in the city center, starting at 6 a.m., with no cutoff and the course closing at 7:15. The organizers setting clear cutoff points shows professionalism in operation - a factor many amateur events in Vietnam still overlook. It is worth noting that Nghe An's full marathon route is not easy. The Cua Lo coastal stretch is beautiful but high in early-morning humidity, combined with glare bouncing off the asphalt, creating no small physical pressure. Runners finishing around the 3-hour mark will face rising temperatures. This is why organizers chose a 3 a.m. start - earlier than many other events - to take maximum advantage of the low-temperature window. Before the race, the most-asked question was: who will be the one to set a personal record on the new route? For Mai Trung and Dan Quyet, it is not only a race for the lead. It is a chance for both to touch the limit they have chased for months. And for My Hien, leading the women's field from the start is a signal that host runners are no longer playing spectators on their own homeland. A star is not born in the final, but in races nobody watches. At VM Nghe An, where the number of 42km runners is lower than usual, those who remain on the course are truly running for themselves. In places nobody notices, I find what the whole world will talk about. The duel between Mai Trung and Dan Quyet had no international television, no giant billboards. Just two men, one coastal route, and about ten meters. With no cheering, I hear my own applause more clearly. This morning in Vinh, two stories were written side by side. One is the race of numbers - personal records, rankings, cutoff points. The other is the race of people - the man who dared leave the line at 3 a.m., the one who quietly prepared for months to be at km 16. Both deserve to be told, and I personally believe the second story will outlive any results table.