Hello Mountain Runners,

Thank you again for choosing to join Vietnam Mountain Marathon presented by Kailas FUGA.  

After 4 days of non-stop rain from Monday to Thursday, the 100 miles kicked off under light rain early Friday morning. There was a palpable feeling of us all being in it together. You, our runners, who stood on the start line with positivity and the resourcefulness to roll with the changes and get the job done. The trail crew, who had worked so hard for weeks to get the course ready. The checkpoint teams and the entire crew, all working to get you to the finish. And many of you did, with a very high miler finish rate, especially given the hard conditions you faced.  

Then, in the middle of the night, we looked up to the sky and the stars had come out. We were to be blessed with another beautiful Saturday in the Sapa mountains for the 100km to 10km races.  

The trails, of course, would not dry out. While the sky was blue, the trails were super demanding. VMM is always tough, but 2026 became a real battle for those chasing cut off times. Many of you battled through and got to your finish line. Some did not, and that is the way of ultra running – there will be another day and another race and one day, your VMM DNF will be just one paragraph (or maybe chapter?) in your ultra story.  

At the elite end, we had incredible racing. World Trail Majors champions from Vietnam, Nepal and China. A 100 miles women’s top 2 separated by less than 2 minutes – incredible! A 70km separated by 6 seconds! Rapid 21km racing and lots of new runners getting a taste of the mountains with a 10km.

In closing, I send thanks to the many government departments, army, police, medical teams and partners that work with us to create your race.  

Together with our presenting partner, Kailas FUGA, I wish you all a great recovery week and hope to see you soon in Pu Luong or Moc Chau at our next races.

David Lloyd

Race Director