HANOI, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Over 7,000 runners from 52 countries and regions have registered to attend the 2018 Manulife Da Nang International Marathon slated for Aug. 12 in Vietnam's central city of Danang.

Some 900 athletes will compete at the annual event's 42km race, 1,700 in the 21km, over 1,000 at the 10km, and 3,400 at the 5km, the organizers said on Wednesday.

The two best Vietnamese marathoners, a man and a woman, will be awarded free entries for the Shonan International Marathon in December in Japan.

The Danang International Marathon, with cash prizes totaling 300 million Vietnamese dong (13,000 U.S. dollars), first held in 2013, is considered one of the top three marathons in Southeast Asia.