For their efforts they won US$30,000.

“I ran very well today and am very happy to have helped Vietnam into third place in The Greatest Race on Earth. I found the course really difficult though as the hills took all the energy out of my legs,” Hien said afterwards.

The Vietnamese men also performed well, giving their best to end up a regional fifth. Their runner on the day was Nguyen Dang Duc Bao with a time of 2:31:33 to give the team a cumulative time of 10:58:16 for the four marathons that comprise the event: Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

Kenya showed once again they are the quickest marathon runners on the planet when Cyprian Kiogara Mwobi and Winnie Nyansikera won the men’s race on Sunday.

Their wins secured victory for the Kenyan men’s and women’s teams in the African category of the race, as well as the first prize of $80,000 for each team.

Teams in the Greatest Race on Earth have four members, each of whom must compete in one of the four marathons. The winning team is the one with the quickest cumulative time.

Reflecting the race’s international appeal, the competing countries are split into three regional categories: Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and North East Asia & Rest of The World.

The prize pool of $1 million includes $80,000 for the first placed team in each category, $50,000 for second and $30,000 for third. There are also prizes of $10,000 for the Most Improved Team, the Series Record, and the Special Achievement Award.

Reported by Vinh Bao