Can Tho Marathon Heritage Race 2026

Gạo trắng nước trong : white rice and clear water, this is how a popular saying has captured Cần Thơ for generations 🍚. The largest city in the Mekong Delta, nicknamed Tây Đô, “the metropolis of the West,” it stretches along the banks of the Bassac, the river branch Vietnamese call Hậu Giang, about 170 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. Every December, the Can Tho Marathon Heritage Race unleashes thousands of runners along the waterfront of southern Vietnam 🏃. Up in the sky, the dry season starts to make itself known: showers become rarer, the thermometer often sits around 23°C at dawn before eyeing 30°C in the afternoon, with humidity that readily clings to your calves 💦. The only flake you’re likely to come across? Shredded coconut on a bánh tét… 🥥

Here, no passes and no climbs: this road race plays out between river, arroyos and broad avenues, at an altitude that ranges between 1 and 6 m 🌴. Flat as a rice paddy, the course accumulates only a maximum of about 20 m of elevation gain on the half, with the few bumps coming from the bridges spanning the canals 🌉. The start and finish are set in Sông Hậu Park, in the Cái Khế ward, on the banks of the Bassac 🚤. Depending on your distance, you’ll follow the Ninh Kiều waterfront, the beating heart of the city with its pedestrian footbridge lit up at night, and you’ll pass the old market or the cathedral ⛪. Half-marathoners in past editions headed all the way to the Cái Răng floating market area and Lộ Vòng Cung, a riverside road nicknamed the “ring of fire” since the 1968 Tet Offensive, now listed as a national historic site 🔥.

Born in 2019, the event was the first in Cần Thơ to have its courses certified by AIMS, a guarantee of distances measured to the nearest meter 📏. It belongs to organizer DHA Vietnam’s Heritage family, alongside the Hanoi Marathon Heritage Race and the Halong Bay Heritage Marathon, and is listed among the World Marathon Majors Qualifiers, a nod to those setting their sights on the Six Majors 🌍. The Can Tho Marathon Heritage Race, which locals call Giải Marathon Quốc tế Di sản Cần Thơ, also runs for a cause: with the Run for Wildlife initiative, the organization partners with the Conservation Vietnam foundation to raise runners’ awareness of the country’s wildlife—going so far as to rename the 5 km “5 km Conservation Vietnam” 🐒. Its ambassador? Delacour’s langur, a critically endangered primate, endemic to the limestone reliefs of the country’s north, recognizable by the white fur that covers its thighs like running shorts 🩳. A French touch: it owes its name to Jean Delacour, an ornithologist born in Paris who traveled through Indochina in the interwar period 🇫🇷.

On the organization side, pacers can be spotted from afar thanks to their clusters of balloons 🎈. Aid stations line up bananas and watermelon, official photographers provide their shots for free, and on the day before the start, Sông Hậu Park comes alive with exhibitions and shows dedicated to delta culture 🎭. Beginners, time chasers and families each find their own starting line: the 5 km even welcomes young runners, with a ranking reserved for under-12s 🧒. Along the avenues, locals, renowned for their hospitality, don’t hesitate to shout cố lên ! (“go on!”) as runners pass by 📣.

The day after the effort, set your alarm before dawn, since you’re already in the groove, to head to the Cái Răng floating market, listed as national intangible cultural heritage, where the bustle peaks between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. 🍍. No signs on the water: each boat hoists, at the end of a bamboo pole, the bẹo, a sample of its goods, a bit like your bib displays your distance 🎋. Then order a bowl of hủ tiếu, these rice noodles served directly from the boats, before visiting one of the traditional workshops where they are still made 🍜. For a carbohydrate reload, bánh tét lá cẩm, a sticky rice cake dyed purple by a local leaf and filled with mung beans, makes for a very honorable finisher 💜, as do the nem nướng of Cái Răng, grilled pork skewers 🍢. The most daring will try lẩu mắm, a fermented fish hotpot that wakes you up more surely than a caffeinated gel 🍲. On the culture side, head to the Bình Thủy ancient house, an 1870 residence blending French and Vietnamese influences, where Jean-Jacques Annaud filmed The Lover 🎬. When evening comes, stroll through the Ninh Kiều night market, medal around your neck, before going to admire the Cần Thơ Bridge, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in Southeast Asia 🌙.

The saying itself doesn’t stop at white rice: ai đi đến đó lòng không muốn về, “whoever sets foot there no longer wants to leave.” Luckily, the finish line doesn’t move 🏁.