VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight

The night of the race was fun - the atmosphere at the start was lively- brightly lit, good music and a fun warm up. Two shirts were provided and are great quality and design, and the medal is great too. The aid station facilities were very good - plenty of them with water, sports drinks and fruit and sponges provided. The staff I met at the expo and the race night were friendly, helpful and really enthusiastic. On the negative side, the route was not published until less than a week before the event. The expo was very small. The app was only in Vietnamese. The route did not pass many landmarks and was quite poorly lit in places. The traffic fumes and smell of a medical spray used at some aid stations was quite overpowering at times. The race is advertised as a midnight race, but only the 10k started then. I found out less than a week before the event that my half marathon race did not start until 02.30, which would have stopped me from entering if I knew in advance. Overall it was an unusual race with a mix of good and not so good experiences.