Vietnam’s male competitor, Nguyen Van Long, came 14th out of a field of 23 with a time of 2:46:59. In the women’s event, Nguyen Thi My Lien came 10th out of 12 competitors with a time of 3:28:52.

Long was the highest ranked Southeast Asian competitor in the Greatest Race of Earth last year and Lien was Vietnam’s national sports champion in 2006 and national marathon champion in 2007.

The Greatest Race on Earth is an annual international marathon relay open to teams of four runners.

Each person runs one of the four marathons in Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

The team with the fastest aggregate time gets a chance to share a prize poolof US$1 million, Standard Chartered said.

Vietnam’s two teams will compete again in Singapore on December 7 before heading to Mumbai on January 18 next year and finishing the final leg of the race in Hong Kong on February 8.

Standard Chartered Indochina Chief Executive Ashok Sud said the bank was delighted to help develop athletics and promote the image of Vietnam in the international sports arena with its sponsorship of the Vietnamese team.

Reported by Vinh Bao