Charity run «Road To Give Nha Trang 2026»

   The seafront is still empty, the sun is only just clearing the water, and your first strides go straight into the sunrise over Nha Trang bay. The distances are short — 2 km or 6 km, walkable if running is not your thing — and everything collected at the start line goes to surgery for children.

   The official course map gives the two starts separately: 6 km sets off at 05:00 and 2 km at 05:20, both from Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa and both running north along Trần Phú — the shorter loop turns at the Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai roundabout, the longer one at Hoàng Diệu. Each roundabout doubles as a water point.

   Marriott International's Road To Give programme is in its 12th season, and this edition is run jointly by five of the group's properties in Nha Trang and Cam Ranh: Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa, Four Points by Sheraton Nha Trang, Nha Trang Marriott Resort & Spa, Hon Tre Island, The Westin Resort & Spa Cam Ranh and JW Marriott Cam Ranh Bay Resort & Spa. Running is only one option: the organisers count walking, cycling and action for the community as equal ways to take part.

   The essentials:

• — two distances — 2 km and 6 km;
• — formats: running, walking, cycling and community action;
• — the race kit includes a T-shirt, a hat, a tote bag, a BIB and a commemorative medal;
• — all contributions and funds raised go directly to Operation Smile Vietnam;
• — the event is open to everyone, not only to hotel guests.

   Operation Smile Vietnam is the Vietnamese arm of the international medical charity that operates on children with cleft lip and cleft palate; by its own account it has worked in Vietnam for 35 years. The organisers speak of thousands of free surgeries performed for Vietnamese children.

   Last year's Nha Trang edition gives you the scale: on 21 September 2024 nearly 800 participants set off from the same Sheraton, the course ran along Trần Phú and Phạm Văn Đồng over 3, 5 and 10 km, and donations passed 100 million VND, according to the newspaper Báo Khánh Hòa.

   The organisers have announced a single entry fee — 350,000 VND — with the full race kit included. Registration goes through the organisers' form.

   The start is settled: Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa on Trần Phú, the beachfront avenue. This year's route, however, has not been published yet.

   It suits families with children, since 2 km is an easy walk; residents who have been meaning to get back to morning runs; and visitors who want a reason to see the coast before the heat sets in.

   A morning by the sea, a distance anyone can finish and money that ends up in an operating theatre — that is worth an early alarm.