FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Belgrade, Thursday, April 20, 1000gmt
LEGENDS RETURN TO BELGRADE
It's not very often that you see the likes of Bob Beamon, Mike Powell and
Javier Sotomajor headlining a marathon preview, but the boys in Belgrade
have, with some notable exceptions, had to make a virtue of their lack of
elite runner star appeal, due to the major problems they have had in
maintaining a presence on the streets of the Serbian capital.
That the Belgrade Marathon has survived to celebrate its 30th birthday this
coming Saturday (22nd) is something of a minor miracle in itself, as well
as being a tribute to the tenacity of Race Director Dejan Nikolic and his
team. During that time, they have also staged, albeit sporadically the
hugely popular Belgrade Race Through History, so called by dint of being
run around the ancient Kalemegdan Fortress which stands on the confluence
of the Danube and Sava Rivers, which marks the old borders between West and
East.
While the Race Through History has featured stars like Paul Tergat and
Stephen Cherono, aka Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the Belgrade Marathon itself has
endured the economic deprivation which accompanied the Balkan conflict and
its aftermath. Indeed, the 1999 event was run by a few dozen hardy souls
during the period of bombardment of Belgrade by NATO forces. There followed
another trauma when Nikolic and crew had to suffer the intense City of
Belgrade politicking which saw the race 'stolen' from them by political
rivals a decade ago. They finally managed to retrieve it; and duly
celebrate their 30th edition on Saturday.
Belgrade has had nothing like the budget enjoyed by events in similar sized
cities throughout Europe, but they have enthused their national media and
citizens with an unusual initiative, that of inviting stars of world
athletics - not necessarily marathoners - to be 'promoters' of the race.
This year's 30th omnibus edition thus sees a collective invitation,
accepted by Beamon, Powell, Sotomajor, Lasse Viren, Rosa Mota, Galina
Chistyakova, Kevin Young and Stefano Baldini. The current and former world
record holders and/or Olympic champions will be making personal appearances
and conducting seminars for senior and junior athletes.
As for the marathon itself, the tough course has been slightly modified
this year, to take in the spectacular new bridge over the Sava River, which
also flies over the eco-island of Ada Ciganlija. Local hero Olivera Jevtic
will make her 13th appearance in either the half or the marathon. Now in
her maturity, she is unlikely to challenge the women's record of 2.29.44 by
Romania's Cristina Pomacu, set in 2001. Likewise, Kenyan Japhet Kosgei's
2.10.54, from 2006 is set to last another year.
Having retrieved their asset, the organisers are making a big push to
popularise the event. Competitor numbers in the half-marathon and marathon
are already almost twice what they were two years ago, with over 7000
expected on the streets of the Serbian capital on Saturday.
Another initiative, long lauded by the European Athletics Association, has
been the Children's Marathon, all 230 metres of it, run around the Elephant
Enclosure at Belgrade Zoo, usually the weekend before the marathon. In the
23 years of its existence, close to 400,000 youngsters up to the age of ten
have been introduced to competitive running. This year, the Children's Race
is to be next Saturday, April 29. Target for this year's competitor in the
new course record of exactly 36sec, by last year's winner Andrej Nikolic,
who broke a 20 year old mark.
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