Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts

Monday, February 21, 2011

HCM City bicycle race gets facelift

HCM CITY — Ten years after it was first held, the Sai Gon Cyclo Challenge has been rejigged and will be organised in its new format at the Phu My Hung Urban Area in HCM City on March 12.

Cycle Challenge Version 2.0 aims to raise US$30,000 to help provide education to poor children.

The race at the Crescent will be open only to platinum and gold sponsors under the new format.

There will be eight of them – VinaCapital Group's VinaLiving, Adidas, HSBC, Hoang Long Hoan Vu, Jardines, Megastar, Halliburton, and VNG, the sole platinum sponsor.

It will be a relay race featuring four riders in each team, with the top three teams qualifying for the finals.

"It is like Formula 1 for cyclos," director of Sai Gon Children Charity (SCC), Paul Finnis, told a press conference on Thursday.

"We hope the HCM City community will join us for an exciting morning of racing and, in the process, help provide education for children," Finnis added.

An online campaign was launched on Thursday, with SCC partnering Zing Me, Viet Nam's largest social network, to launch a new version of Parking Challenge, one of the most popular games on Zing Me.

SCC will use the money raised through the race to support disadvantaged children in HCM City and the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, and Binh Phuoc.

Since 2001 it has raised $500,000 for building schools and providing scholarships and vocational training, enabling more than 3,500 children to equip themselves with the skills necessary to work their way out of poverty. — VNS

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Farmers turn jockeys as festive mood lingers

It was early morning Friday. On the most level stretch in a hilly area in An Xuan in the central Phu Yen Province, the eagerly awaited horserace began. All the animals were farming and draft horses, and were ridden by farmers.

When the staring siren went off, 32 horses set off amid the clamor of excited crowds.

Some galloped towards the finish line, others decided to turn back despite their riders’ best efforts to cajole them to run in the right direction.

Some others slowed down to a trot after an impressive gallop. One even headed out of the racecourse and towards the crowds.

The animals, small horses that are native to the area, have just reins since a full set of harness would be too big for them, a spectator explains to us.

The riders, dressed in their daily clothes and without any footwear, apparently wore any helmet they could lay their hands on.

Origin not known

The annual race has been held for very long though locals do not know when it started.

In 2006 it was acknowledged as an official cultural event of the province. Held on the ninth of the first lunar month, it draws thousands of locals and people from nearby provinces.

In this mountainous agricultural area where crops are cultivated on remote hillsides, the only means of transport are these hard-working animals.

Before the race, they have a week off during Tet and are fed a special diet to prepare for the race.

Interestingly, a farmer and one of the jockeys said mares were easier to raise and work harder than stallions, adding that out of the 32 racers, 28 were females.
All four of the animals that made it to finals were mares.

“I woke up early in the morning and rode 30 kilometers here,” 65-year-old Tran Van My from the nearby An Hoa commune said with a satisfied smile.
“What a payoff, this interesting race.”

An American freelance photographer introducing himself Jaques who seemed to be enchanted with the race, said: “I have never seen such a strange, wild, fascinating race like this. My friends in Binh Dinh Province told me about this.”

dua ngua 800

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Windsurfing race in Mui Ne on Friday

A windsurfer comes into the beach where the Surf4you Open Cup will be held on Friday - Photo: Michael Smith
A Russian windsurfing school in Mui Ne will hold a downwind slalom racing competition this Friday Dec. 7 with 30 international competitors.

Races for the second annual Surf4you Open Cup at Surf4you International Windsurfing School will start at 12 midday with registrations opening at 9 am. If the conditions aren’t suitable for racing the event may be changed to the day after.

“I want to invite spectators and competitors. Everyone is welcome to register no matter what the level,” the race organizer and kitesurfing school owner, Andrey Zabolotnyy, said.

Competitors will each race seven downwind slalom events over a four kilometer course.

The first prize is a Neil Pryde sail.

Zabolotnyy, 24, who first started windsurfing in Vladivostok when he was nine, said the event would test competitors’ fitness.

“Many people from Vladivostok are already training for the event and they will stay in Mui Ne until the Vietnam PWA Grand Slam that starts February 25,” said the Russian, who has been coaching windsurfing in the resort town for five years.

Dozens of competitors were making use of strong wind conditions on Sunday to train for the race. Many of the windsurfers from Vladivostok in Mui Ne windsurf all year round by coming to Vietnam during their hometown’s offseason.

The windy season in Mui Ne is a few months late this year.

A local freestyle windsurfer who will be racing, Chiga Somogyvari, from Hungary said he likes to race in downwind slalom events the best because they are so fast.

Surf4you is at 90 Huynh Thuc Khang St. in Mui Ne, tel:  1233397716, Website: www.surf4you.ru.

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Windsurfing race in Mui Ne on Friday

A windsurfer comes into the beach where the Surf4you Open Cup will be held on Friday - Photo: Michael Smith
A Russian windsurfing school in Mui Ne will hold a downwind slalom racing competition this Friday Dec. 7 with 30 international competitors.

Races for the second annual Surf4you Open Cup at Surf4you International Windsurfing School will start at 12 midday with registrations opening at 9 am. If the conditions aren’t suitable for racing the event may be changed to the day after.

“I want to invite spectators and competitors. Everyone is welcome to register no matter what the level,” the race organizer and kitesurfing school owner, Andrey Zabolotnyy, said.

Competitors will each race seven downwind slalom events over a four kilometer course.

The first prize is a Neil Pryde sail.

Zabolotnyy, 24, who first started windsurfing in Vladivostok when he was nine, said the event would test competitors’ fitness.

“Many people from Vladivostok are already training for the event and they will stay in Mui Ne until the Vietnam PWA Grand Slam that starts February 25,” said the Russian, who has been coaching windsurfing in the resort town for five years.

Dozens of competitors were making use of strong wind conditions on Sunday to train for the race. Many of the windsurfers from Vladivostok in Mui Ne windsurf all year round by coming to Vietnam during their hometown’s offseason.

The windy season in Mui Ne is a few months late this year.

A local freestyle windsurfer who will be racing, Chiga Somogyvari, from Hungary said he likes to race in downwind slalom events the best because they are so fast.

Surf4you is at 90 Huynh Thuc Khang St. in Mui Ne, tel:  1233397716, Website: www.surf4you.ru.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Windsurfing race in Mui Ne on Friday

A windsurfer comes into the beach where the Surf4you Open Cup will be held on Friday - Photo: Michael Smith
A Russian windsurfing school in Mui Ne will hold a downwind slalom racing competition this Friday Dec. 7 with 30 international competitors.

Races for the second annual Surf4you Open Cup at Surf4you International Windsurfing School will start at 12 midday with registrations opening at 9 am. If the conditions aren’t suitable for racing the event may be changed to the day after.

“I want to invite spectators and competitors. Everyone is welcome to register no matter what the level,” the race organizer and kitesurfing school owner, Andrey Zabolotnyy, said.

Competitors will each race seven downwind slalom events over a four kilometer course.

The first prize is a Neil Pryde sail.

Zabolotnyy, 24, who first started windsurfing in Vladivostok when he was nine, said the event would test competitors’ fitness.

“Many people from Vladivostok are already training for the event and they will stay in Mui Ne until the Vietnam PWA Grand Slam that starts February 25,” said the Russian, who has been coaching windsurfing in the resort town for five years.

Dozens of competitors were making use of strong wind conditions on Sunday to train for the race. Many of the windsurfers from Vladivostok in Mui Ne windsurf all year round by coming to Vietnam during their hometown’s offseason.

The windy season in Mui Ne is a few months late this year.

A local freestyle windsurfer who will be racing, Chiga Somogyvari, from Hungary said he likes to race in downwind slalom events the best because they are so fast.

Surf4you is at 90 Huynh Thuc Khang St. in Mui Ne, tel:  1233397716, Website: www.surf4you.ru.

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