SPORT / SPORTS
and if you don’t run, come along and cheer like all Bel- graders. That’s simply part of the tradition. It is standard practise for the residents of the host city to make sure that you can feel the rhythm of the city at several spots along the route of the race – through various music stations. From the rhythm of drums to DJs and the performances of bands, a new genre awaits you every few kilometres. However, apart from these exciting points that give you a boost as you conquer the asphalt of Belgrade, there are also unavoidable fan sta- tions that are most commonly arranged by local run- ning clubs. The biggest and most famous “energy station” marks the last kilometre before the finish line, where you are awaited by an ascent just as you expend the last of your energy for the finish. There the Belgrade Run- ning Club will organise the best party in Kneza Miloša Street. Mass running events can never rival team sports as spectacles to watch, but they are much more inter- esting when it comes to interacting with participants. The origins of the marathon, as an athletic race cov- ering a distance of 42,195 metres, date back to the leg- end of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier who ran from Mar- athon to Athens to announce that the Athenians had defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Today’s athletics discipline is run in memory of that event, and the Belgrade Marathon is the largest mass sporting event in Serbia. The first official Belgrade Mara- thon was held on 8 th May 1988, at the initiative of Đoko Vještica, a journalist of radio station Studio B, and ath- letics trainer Brana Radović, brother of the legendary Duško Radović, and organised by the City of Belgrade. Their idea was to reintroduce the race from Obrenovac to Belgrade that was first organised back in 1910 by the Serbian Olympic Club (now the Olympic Committee of Serbia), which was founded that same year. The Belgrade Marathon has gone through various phases – the course for the first one, in 1988, was just 23 kilometres long and the race included only local com- petitors. However, by 1990 the course had been extend- ed to the full marathon distance (42 kilometres and 195 metres) and local participants were joined by for- eign competitors. It was also that year that the Belgrade Marathon became a member of the Association of Inter- national Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), and in September 2003 the Belgrade City Assembly took the decision to declare the Belgrade Marathon an event of special importance to Belgrade. Many world cities organise annual marathons: New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin, Cologne, Stockholm, Bos- ton, Chicago, San Francisco etc. That select company al- so includes the Serbian capital, which in terms of organ- isation doesn’t lag behind the aforementioned “greats” at all. Testifying to this claim is the fact that many leg- ends of world athletics have served as promoters of the Belgrade Marathon and thus contributed significant- ly to growing its reputation around the world, which every year has the opportunity to enjoy beautiful pic- tures from the streets of Belgrade.
Počeo je kao ideja da se obnovi trka koja se još davne 1910. trčala od Obrenovca do Beograda It started as an idea to renew the race that ran from Obrenovac to Belgrade as long ago as 1910
MARATHON RUNNERS, READY, STEADY...
Belgrade calls on us to run together This year’s marathon is scheduled for 28 th April, when the 42,195-metre route through the streets of the capital will be run for the 37 th time T he mostly flat and long banks of the Sa- va and Danube are ideal running tracks. Belgraders are increasingly taking advan- tage of this benefit and proudly putting their form to the test in the traditional Belgrade Marathon that marks the last week of April. Records are being broken year after year, which is why we are this year expecting approximately 10,000 participants in three races: 10 km, 21 km and 42 km. Alongside these three challenges, the annual 5 km Fun Run sees the streets of Belgrade freed from traffic for all those wanting to walk or run the unofficial and shortest route of the event, together with their families. The start is traditionally located on Kralja Aleksan- dra Boulevard, in front of St. Mark’s Church, with all dis- tances run from there. From the Old Town to the blocks of New Belgrade, via the popular Slavija Square and two bridges over the Sava, the route leads you through the city’s most important arteries. You can be part of the Belgrade Marathon regardless of your level of training,
108 | Maraton » Marathon
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