Yesterday, the 5^th Da Nang International Marathon (DNIM 2017) took place at the East Sea Park in Son Tra District.

Participating runners

This year’s event attracted around 4,000 professional and amateur runners from over 30 countries worldwide.  Of these, 570 runners competed in the 42.195 km full marathon, over 1,000 in the 21 km half-marathon, 666 in the 10 km race, and the remainder in the Food5km run.

Most notably, amongst the runners were 72-year-old Noriko Sakota, and the 2016 Shonan International Marathon champion, Mr Izawa Satoshi, both from Japan.

Izawa Satoshi clocked 2 hours and 40 mins to win the men’s full marathon, whilst Rafael Pescos from the Philippines came second in a time of 2 hours 40 mins and 6 secs.  Tran Van Tuan from Viet Nam finished third in 2 hours, 48 mins and 27 secs.

Local volunteers providing free water bottles to runners

In the women’s full marathon, Lany Cardona from the Philippines completed the race in a time of 3 hours, 27 mins and 26 secs and took the first prize.  Noriko Sakota from Japan finished second with a time of 3 hours, 36 mins and 39 secs, whilst Kazumi Kinoshita also from Japan was in third place with 3 hours, 40 mins and 35 secs.

Runners crossing the Thuan Phuoc Bridge

In the men’s half-marathon, first prize went to Julien Davenne from France who finished the race in a time of 1 hour, 14 mins and 13 secs.  Hieu Nguyen from Viet Nam was in second place after finishing in 1 hour, 20 mins and 3 secs, and Richard Salano from the Philippines finished third in 1 hour, 20 mins and 36 secs.

The top 3 finishers in the women’s half-marathon were Jho An Villarma, Nhea Ann Barcena, and Ruffa Sorongon, all from the Philippines.

A domestic runner facing physical health problem

In the men’s 10 km race, Le Tuan from Viet Nam came first, whilst Chau Giang and Dinh Tien, both also from Viet Nam, finished in second and third places respectively.

In the women’s 10 km race, the top 3 finishers were Nguyen Huong from Viet Nam, Phi Luong from the USA and Linda Miettinen from Finland.

This year’s race raised a total of 21,700 USD from generous domestic and foreign donors.  The donated money will go to help the Support Association for the Disabled and Orphans, the Association of Agent Orange Victims, the Association of Disabled People, and some poor local families in the city.