Ha Giang International Marathon Race unreels in April.
|
The event is expected to draw more than 500 foreign and domestic competing in the 10km, 21km and 42km categories. Runners will start from Dong Van town, home of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, through Ma Pi Leng Pass and Meo Vac town and finish in Dong Van district.
The event is organised by the Ha Giang Department of Culture, Sports, Tourism and Vietnam Athletics Federation. The Ma Pi Leng pass is known as the king of all mountain passes in Vietnam.
Ha Giang is a province in the northeast region of Vietnam. It is located in the far north of the country, and contains Vietnam's northernmost point. It shares a 270-km long border with Yunnan province of southern China, and thus is known as Vietnam's final frontier. The province covers an area of 7,945.8 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 705,100 people.
The provincial capital, also called Ha Giang, is connected by Highway 2 and is 320 km away from Hanoi. The border crossing is at Thanh Thuy, 25 km from the capital, Ha Giang city. It is one of the poorest provinces of Vietnam as it has mountainous topography with the least potential for agricultural development.
In 2017, Ha Giang attracted over 1 million tourists, 169,689 of whom were foreigners—an increase of 20% compared to 2016. The province’s total revenue from tourism reached VND913.6 billion (US$40 million), up 14.9% over the same period last year, according to statistics published by the Ha Giang Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism report.
