Running race «HCMC Marathon 2027»

   The one marathon that starts and finishes in the very heart of Saigon, right in front of the Independence Palace. The route passes the landmarks that define the city, the Notre-Dame Cathedral among them, and the moment runners come down the closing straight toward the Palace is still the image the race is known by.

   Three distances, each with its own start and cut-off:

• — 42 km starts at 3:00 am, cut-off 6 hours 30 minutes, from 18 years old
• — 21 km starts at 3:30 am, cut-off 4 hours, from 16 years old
• — 10 km starts at 5:00 am, cut-off 2 hours, from 12 years old

   Those start times exist to ease traffic pressure in the centre, and they hand runners something of their own: covering the city while it is still quiet, then watching Saigon wake up around them on the way in. January is one of the best months of the year here, with average temperatures of 21 to 31 degrees and humidity around 72 percent.

   The depth of the race counts for something. Its predecessor was first held in 1992, when most of the field were American and Vietnamese war veterans. Across 13 editions HCMC Marathon has brought in more than 150,000 runners from 75 countries. It is organised by Pulse Active with the support of the Ho Chi Minh City Athletics Federation and under the guidance of the city Department of Culture and Sports.

   Race packs are collected at the Hoa Lư Sports Centre, 2 Đinh Tiên Hoàng. Because the course runs through the middle of a working city, you may meet traffic lights along the way and must follow the marshals' instructions. Once the cut-off passes at each checkpoint the roads reopen to residents and the water and medical stations close. Entry fees for the distances have not yet been published on the official site.

   For anyone living in this city this is the home race, and the 2027 edition opens a new decade for it.