Van Trang wins the 42km at Y Ty Mua Vang 2026: 4 hours 26 minutes on the summit of Lao Than

On the 2,860-metre summit of Lao Than above sea level, the clock stopped at 4 hours 26 minutes. Van Trang, nicknamed Jang Doll, crossed the line as the top female finisher in the 42km at the Y Ty Mua Vang 2026 race held on September 6, and placed second overall in the entire event, behind exactly one male runner. A woman born in 2026 and a mother of four finished ahead of almost the whole men's field on a mountain course with more than 1,300m of cumulative elevation gain.

At highland trail races, the first thing I record is always the silence. Spectators can only stand at a handful of aid stations, and between two of those stations lie hours in which nobody sees anything. Reading the scoreboard taught me to read what is never written down.

A course that does not reward luck

The 42km distance in Y Ty, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province, is not a road marathon with a few hills bolted on. It carries more than 1,300m of cumulative elevation gain, steep terrain, ground mixed with stone, plus thin air at altitude. For runners who have raced the northern hills, this is the kind of course nobody can force from start to finish. Force it and you break at kilometre 25.

Based on my years of watching domestic trail races, I have found a fairly stable rule: in ultra distances, the winner is usually the person who went slowest over the first 10km. Endurance is not something you can summon with willpower at minute 200. It has to be banked long before.

Where the 4:26 came from

A time of 4 hours 26 minutes for 42km works out to an average pace of roughly 6 minutes 20 seconds per kilometre. On flat ground, that is the pace of a decent amateur runner. On a course with more than 1,300m of climbing, the story is entirely different: real pace on the ascents can drop to 9-10 minutes per kilometre, offset by the descents and the flat sections.

Van Trang recalled: "The 42km had stretches of climb that drained my body almost completely. In those moments I just focused on the stretch right in front of me, controlled my breathing, distributed my effort and refuelled at the right time. I kept telling myself: 'Stay calm, as long as you have energy you still have a chance'. This endurance comes from consistency and discipline. Besides running, I combine gym work, swimming and supplementary exercises to build fitness day by day."

Three elements in that account match what the experts still say about long trail racing: breaking the goal into pieces, controlling breathing, and refuelling by the clock rather than by the feeling of hunger.

The point I want to stress lies in the structure of the training. Running alone only builds part of the foundation. Adding gym work, swimming and supplementary exercises produces two things ultra runners badly need: hamstring strength for the climbs, and hip and knee control on the descents. The descent is the most brutal part of trail running. Many runners lose a race not on the way up but on the way down.

Physiologically, women hold a relative advantage over very long distances: a higher body-fat ratio helps store energy, and fat metabolism is more stable across many hours. In exchange, explosive strength on climbs tends to be lower than that of men of the same standard. The only way to offset it is distribution, precisely what Van Trang says she did.

When the audience reads the wrong brief

Right after Van Trang stepped down from the podium, her images were carried into several running groups. The crowd did not discuss 4 hours 26 minutes, did not discuss the 1,300m of climbing. They discussed her bust under tight sportswear, even using the phrase "carrying two grapefruits while running" to mock her.

She pushed back directly: "I'm serious, I dare anyone to carry two grapefruits for 42km or 55km of mountain trail! I run with my legs, I don't run on my looks, so why put me in a group to talk about this and that?"

When the stadium stands are empty, ordinary voices suddenly become leaders. Van Trang chose to speak rather than let it pass in silence.

The counter-intuitive point I want to make does not lie in her daring to speak. It lies in this: scrutiny of a woman's body is the most subtle form of ignoring achievement, because it wears the clothing of concern and humour and is therefore very hard to confront. A male runner who finishes second overall gets asked about tactics. A female runner with the same result gets asked about her outfit. That asymmetry comes from a habit of reading women's sport with the eyes before reading it with the results sheet.

Asked whether she might dress more modestly, she was firm: "Sportswear first of all has to be comfortable and safe. If I changed myself only because I feared gossip, I would probably always have to live according to other people's gaze."

After every finish line, I ask: which woman lost sleep over that? In this case, the one who lost sleep is a mother of four, fitting gym sessions and swims between runs, on a journey nobody pays her for.

A contract has an expiry date, but a human story does not.

Ahead lie 70km and 100km

The glow at Lao Than has faded. Van Trang's next targets are the VMM 70km distance, then 100km at the end of the year. That is no small leap. A 70km trail with heavy elevation gain demands a far higher weekly training volume, plus a strict nutrition strategy and the puzzle of managing sleep for a mother.

"Just let the results speak. I don't need to become the version other people want to see. Becoming a better version of myself every day is enough," she said.

What I am waiting for at VMM 70km is not a place on the podium. It is the answer to a bigger question: when a Vietnamese woman runs mountain trails for many hours and finishes in silence, how many people will look at the clock before looking at her body? Women's sport is changing, and the speed of that change depends on which part the audience chooses to read first.