Thrilling boat race to celebrate National Day on the Huong River

The venue for this year's race was a beautiful space, decorated with many flowers

This year’s race attracted nearly 300 male and female rowers from 9 teams: Huong River Tourism Company, Huong So, An Dong (Hue City); Huong Can and Trieu Son Trung (Huong Tra Town); Phu Mau (Phu Vang); Thuy Van (Huong Thuy Town); Thanh Ha (Quang Dien District) and Phong Hoa (Phong Dien District). Each team participated in 10 rounds of racing, competing for cung, pha and tien prizes.

Right from the early morning, thousands of people were present on the banks of the Huong River to cheer on the traditional boat race to celebrate the National Day. Mr. Quoc Dung (Huong Thuy Town) shared: "Today is a national holiday, so our plan is to come here and cheer for Thuy Van team before visiting the Royal Citadel and other monuments.”

Despite having to struggle for a spot among thousands of people, Ms. Dieu Thuy – a visitor from Da Nang was still enthusiastically cheering for all racing teams. “I was on my way to the Royal Citadel this morning, but I found the Huong River so exciting, so I went to see the boat racing first. I also live near the water so I really love this type of race”.

Mr. Le Ngoc Tu, Head of Sports Management Department (Department of Culture & Sports) assessed that, like every year, the teams were aware that this race was to celebrate the National Day. So, prior to the race, the racing teams were very attentive in training to devote to the audience attractive racing rounds with high professional quality. "Don’t just look at male rowers. Look at the rowing rhythm of female rowers and you will see what I mean," Mr. Tu said.

Some photos of the 31st traditional boat racing to celebrate the National Day of September 2 on the Huong River:

Vice Chairman Nguyen Dung encouraging the boat owners before the competition