Over a decade accompanying marathons
In 2010, when repositioning the brand and changing its name from the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Private Enterprises to VPBank, the bank instilled its aspiration of “For a prosperous Vietnam” right in its name. Later, this aspiration became a mission, bringing prosperity to customers and thereby creating overall national abundance.
For VPBank, prosperity here is not just about economic prosperity, but also about spiritual and physical prosperity, love, and sharing. Over the years, the bank has made efforts to fulfill this mission through specific strategies and actions, in which organizing large-scale running events is the clearest evidence.
Since 2018, VPBank has been the main sponsor and co-organizer of one of the largest marathons in Hanoi – VPBank Hanoi Marathon. Prior to that, running had become a distinctive corporate culture of the bank with VPIron Running Club, one of the largest and strongest corporate running clubs today, with over 2,000 members. To date, after nearly a decade, VPBank has participated in organizing 11 major running events with tens of thousands of participants in many locations throughout the country.
“It can be said that we have found strong inspiration, perseverance, and continuous effort to overcome challenges in this sport,” – VPBank representative shared. According to this representative, running brings beautiful moments of the sports spirit, representing connection, humanity, and positive lifestyle. Therefore, running will always be a distinctive cultural feature, closely associated with the bank’s development strategy and sustainable future.
The VPIM Running Event organized by VPBank in October 2023 attracted nearly 11,000 participants.
In addition, running is also an easy and accessible sport, suitable for most people. Therefore, it has been attracting more and more people to participate in physical training. The positive synergy of thousands, even tens of thousands of participants at each race is what accompanying businesses like VPBank aim for. “At each race, VPBank and the participants always meet at a point, which is to accompany each other in spreading positive and good values to the community. This is how we nurture prosperity values and fulfill the social responsibility of the corporation,” the VPBank representative commented.
Continuously expanding and building the prosperous running community
On March 3rd, VPBank and VnExpress Marathon will jointly organize the VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City. This will be the 12th race organized by VPBank and also the first season implemented after the strategic cooperation agreement signing between VPBank and VnExpress Marathon in the role of co-organizer of VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight for 5 years, from 2024-2028. Previously, VnExpress also operated the VPIM 2023 race of VPBank.
“VnExpress Marathon is the organizing unit and owner of the largest-scale race system in Vietnam today, with the number of participants reaching over 70,000 people, together with extended locations across the country, in tourist cities with unique imprints such as Quy Nhon, Hanoi, Hue, Ha Long, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang. With the professionalism and experience in race organization of VnExpress Marathon, we believe that accompanying this unit will create new heights for the running movement in Vietnam,” said the VPBank representative.
A colorful running path in a nocturnal race in Ho Chi Minh City
Prior to this, VPBank successfully organized the Just Run races in 2018, 2019, and 2021 in Ho Chi Minh City. With a dynamic and modern lifestyle, Ho Chi Minh City is the largest financial and economic center in the country and also one of the places with the most developed running movements in Vietnam. “The love for running of the city’s residents resonates with the running culture and development strategy, spreading the running movement that the bank has pursued for many years. We hope that VPBank’s return to Ho Chi Minh City with a larger and more unique race will bring to the running community a worthy sports experience, spreading the values of physical and spiritual prosperity to everyone, every home, every region,” the bank’s representative said.
The VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight race will kick off early on March 3rd, 2024, with the starting line for all 4 distances set on Truong Dinh Street, passing through Tao Dan Park – one of the landmarks of the city. It is expected that more than 11,000 participants will compete on a route through famous landmarks of Sai Thanhsuch as Independence Palace, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Bach Dang Wharf…, exploring the youthful and dynamic features of District 1 or the new urban area of Thu Thiem, and then finish at Le Duan Street, in front of the Botanical Garden. This colorful route will be an opportunity for runners to admire the “sleepless city” with bustling life at all times through different perspectives. This is also a great opportunity for the BTC and runners to contribute to promoting the image of Ho Chi Minh City’s vibrant and lively night to the domestic and international running community.
