VIETNAM: UNITED STATES AND VIETNAMESE CYCLISTS BEGIN LONG DISTANCE RIDE TO HELP CEMENT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES.

Record ID: 337800

  • Title: VIETNAM: UNITED STATES AND VIETNAMESE CYCLISTS BEGIN LONG DISTANCE RIDE TO HELP CEMENT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES.
  • Date: 31st December 1997
  • Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (JANUARY 1, 1998) 1. EXTERIOR OF HANOI'S TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 2. VIETNAM CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS LIGHTING INCENSE AT THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 3. U.S. WOMEN WEEPING AT THE TOMB OF UNKNOWN SOLDIER 4. VIETNAM CHALLENGE OPENING CEREMONY 5. PRESENTATION OF FLOWERS TO PARTICIPANTS 6. TWO DISABLED PARTICIPANTS, ONE VIETNAMESE AND ONE AMERICAN, SHAKE HANDS BEFORE THE START 7. GREG LEMOND, TWO-TIME WORLD CYCLING CHAMPION, SAYING: "I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS OF MY LIFE. I THINK IT'S ALREADY BEEN A GREAT EXPERIENCE, A LOT OF GREAT PEOPLE HERE" (ENGLISH) 8. AMERICAN MAN TAKING PHOTOGRAPH 9. VIETNAM VETERAN TONG DUC NHUAN SAYING: "WE ARE VERY HAPPY BECAUSE IT'S THE FIRST TIME WE WILL TAKE A LONG TRIP OF 1,700 KM WITH AMERICANS BY BICYCLE" (VIETNAMESE) 10. VIETNAM CHALLENGE START 11. U.S. SPECTATORS AT THE START 12. RIDERS PASSING THE MAUSOLEUM CONTAINING THE EMBALMED BODY OF FORMER PRESIDENT HO CHI MINH 13. VARIOUS SHOTS OF RIDERS TRAVELLING SOUTH THROUGH HANOI'S SUBURBS ON HIGHWAY ONE, THE MAIN ROAD TO HO CHI MINH CITY. FATHER AND SON TEAM SEEN RIDING A TANDEM BICYCLE (THE SON WAS BORN BLIND BECAUSE OF HIS FATHER'S EXPOSURE TO AGENT ORANGE DURING THE VIETNAM WAR) (DECEMBER 31, 1997) 14. U.S. VIETNAM WAR VETERAN RIDER ARMIN MERKLE SAYING: I WAS VERY VERY EAGER TO JOIN THE TOUR. VIETNAM IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, VERY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WITH WONDERFUL COUNTRYSIDE AND FRIENDLY PEOPLE AND I WANTED TO SEE THEM AGAIN WHEN THE COUNTRY WAS AT PEACE, NOT AT WAR" (ENGLISH) 15. ANOTHER U.S.VETERAN JERRY STADTMILLER SAYING: "THE LAST TIME I GOT OFF A PLANE IN VIETNAM ALMOST 30 YEARS AGO I FORMED UP IN FOUR COLUMNS WITH SEVERAL HUNDRED OTHER MARINES AND WE MARCHED AROUND THAT JET AND WE GOT INTO TROOP CARRIERS AND WE FLEW OFF TO OUR VARIOUS PLACES WHERE WE WERE GOING TO BE STATIONED AND I WAS 21 THEN AND NOW I'M 50. WE'RE GOING TO BE GOING THROUGH THE VERY COUNTRY WHERE 30 YEARS AGO WE WERE WALKING AROUND CARRYING WEAPONS AND NOW WE'RE JUST WALKING AROUND IN THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY" (ENGLISH) Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 15th January 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HANOI, VIETNAM
  • City:
  • Country: Vietnam
  • Reuters ID: LVA37YD6IOVPVMRNTX5LKU1XQRBE
  • Story Text: INTRO: United States (U.S.) and Vietnamese cyclists, many of them disabled veterans of the Vietnam war, have begun a long distance ride through Vietnam to bring the two peoples together.

    Two times cycling world champion Greg Lemond was also taking part in the goodwill tour.

    Seventy-five U.S. and Vietnamese riders were flagged away on Thursday (January 1) at the start of the Vietnam Challenge, a gruelling 16-day, 1,200-mile (2,000 km) trek.

    The ride has been put together by U.S.-based World T.E.A.M.

    (The Exceptional Athlete Matters) Sports, an organisation that specialises in events for disabled people.

    It is not a race or a competition, but a chance for former battlefield adversaries to heal emotional wounds.

    The majority of the riders were Americans and for most it was the first time they returned to the country in which they fought over 25 years ago.

    Early on Thursday riders waited to place incense on Hanoi's tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Some U.S. participants were moved to tears as they paid their respects.

    The tomb is close to the mausoleum holding the embalmed remains of Vietnam's former president and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.

    The cyclists headed off into Hanoi's crowded streets amid bemused onlookers, and then turned down highway one, the main road to southern Ho Chi Minh City.

    Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France winner and two-time world champion, was among them. He said that already he was having the experience of his life.

    U.S. veteran Armin Merkle said Vietnam was a beautiful country that he wanted to explore at peace and not at war.

    Another rider Jerry Stadtmiller remembered arriving in Vietnam as a 21-year old Marine and walking around with a gun. Now 50 years old he relished being able simply to walk around seeing the sights of Hanoi.

    One pair of U.S. riders, a father-son team, pedalled a tandem because the son was born blind as a result of his father's exposure to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange during the war.

    The group will average about 80 miles (130 km) a day, and will be joined in the latter stages during the run in to Ho Chi Minh City by U.S. Ambassador to Hanoi Douglas 'Pete' Peterson and U.S.

    Senator John Kerry, both of whom were former prisoners of war in Hanoi.

    In an effort to improve relations between Hanoi and Washington, World T.E.A.M. Sports plans to work with the Vietnamese government and private organisations to develop interactive educational and medical outreach programmes.


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