Animated atmosphere around the aquatic race
Attending the festival was Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung, the Chairman of Hanoi City People’s Committee; Mr. Vuong Bich Thang – The Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training; Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong – Head of Commission for Mass Mobilization of Hanoi City People’s Committee; Mr. Pham Ngoc Minh – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines Corporation and the leaders of the departments, divisions, unions and the people of the Capital and visitors.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung – the Chairman of Hanoi City People’s Committee was beating drum for the festival opening
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. To Van Dong – Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Information said: “The expanded dragon boat racing festival in Hanoi has the participation of 27 teams from 7 districts of Hanoi City: Hoang Mai, Bac Tu Liem, Chuong My, My Duc, Thanh Oai, Ba Vi, Son Tay and dragon boat clubs of 4 provinces and cities including Ha Noi city, Hai Duong province, Hung Yen province and Thai Nguyen province with over 400 athletes competing in 2 categories: standard dragon boat race and traditional dragon boat race. Each category includes 3 items with the coordination of men and women, competing on the 600 meter water race.”
Mr. To Van Dong – Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Information delivered the opening speech
Following the drum beating of Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung – the Chairman of the Hanoi City People’s Committee was a traditional performance by the artists of Hanoi Cheo Theater in Ly Tu Trong flower garden and the parade by the athletes of the boat race on the West Lake, performance of water sports such as windsurfing, rowing … In addition, there was a parade around Thanh Nien Street of the 100 old bikes.
Traditional performance by the artists of Hanoi Cheo Theater at the stage of Ly Tu Trong statue
Correctly at 10:30, the teams officially started the race. The organization board said the total prize value of this festival is VND 100,000,000.
This is the first time that Hanoi City coordinated with Vietnam Airlines to co-organizes the Dragon Boat Rowing Festival on a large scale. Therefore, Hanoi City will receive comments from the people and wish to develop the dragon boat racing festival into activities throughout the year, becoming a special spiritual food for the people as well as contributing to promote the image of Hanoi with the rich history of thousands of years of civilization to friends, international visitors. At the same time, Hanoi also wants to build West Lake to become an attractive destination of the capital, in which dragon boat racing activity is one of the activities to increase the attractiveness of the West Lake.
Some images at the Hanoi expanded Dragon Boat Racing Festival in 2018:
Thousands of people of the Capital and visitors are excited to watch each race-track
HH