2,000 runners to join Son Tra Run Challenge 2023

Some 2,000 runners will participate in Son Tra Run Challenge 2023 which will take place on Son Tra peninsula, Da Nang city on December 23-24.

The event, organised by the Vietnam Television Centre in the Central Region – Central Highlands (VTV8) in collaboration with the Son Tra district People’s Committee, aims to raise public awareness on sea and island environmental protection.

Truong Duy Hoa, Deputy Director of VTV8, said that the tournament, the first of its kind held in Son Tra peninusla, is expected to promote physical training movement while calling on the locals, tourists to join hands to protect the country’s sea and island environment and promoting the beauty of Vietnam’s tourism.

The tournament consists the 6km, 16km and 26km runs, providing the runners with an opportunity to race through the most beautiful roads with extraordinary natural landscapes of Son Tra peninsula, the precious jewel of the central beach city and home to many rare animals and plants such as red shanked douc langurs, a rare species deemed the "Queen of Primates".

The event will be boastcast live on the VTV8 channel.

Located just 10km from the centre of Da Nang, Son Tra is the only peninsula in Vietnam that boasts a natural forest ecosystem linked with the sea, and it has become an ideal destination for holidaymakers.

Surrounded by the sea on three sides and bordering a dense urban area on the other side, Son Tra has formed and developed a perfect wild environment. The peninsula has stunned domestic and foreign scientists with a treasure of flora and fauna.

Son Tra occupies just 0.014% of the country’s area, but is home to 37.8% of the total flora species, and nearly 9.4% of the fauna species in Vietnam.

Its diversity of flora and fauna is no less than that of other world nature preserves such as El Impenetrable and Iguazú (Argentina), Patagonia (Chile), Sable (Canada) and Kimberley (Australia) even though the areas of these preserves are hundreds, or even thousands, of times larger than Son Tra.

Scientists see Son Tra as a miniature world of the wild life on earth with 287 species, 29 of which are rare. It is also considered the kingdom of the red-shanked douc – Indochina’s endemic primate which is almost extinct. Son Tra is now home to the world’s largest population of red-shanked douc, estimated at 400 by the Douc Langur Foundation of the US. This number is estimated much higher, at 1,300, by GreenViet, a Vietnamese biodiversity conservation organisation. Son Tra is also the best and easiest place in the world to observe this animal in its natural habitat.

Son Tra forest also boasts nearly 1,000 species of flora, of which 22 are precious and rare, 143 are valuable for medical purposes, and 140 are for decoration.

Given its unique natural and geographical features, abundant flora and fauna and long-standing cultural values, the peninsula is truly a gift generously granted by nature to Da Nang in particular and Vietnam in general.

Son Tra now has its name on most world tourist maps thanks to its beautiful forests and red-shanked douc, wild clear beaches, ancient architectural structures and luxury resorts. Its legendary areas such as Ban Co (Chessboard) Peak, Nghe Cape, and Nam, Bac, But, Rang and Nom beaches, are major attractions for visitors to Da Nang./