Marathon Rubric heading movers Longest Second serving linerace thereof directors
Persevering through adversity Dejan Nikolic, Belgrade Marathon, est. 1988 Belgrade is an ancient city located at the intersection of the Danube and Sava rivers which divide it into Old Belgrade (most hilly) and New Belgrade (completely flat).
Belgrade has survived more crises than most marathons. Troubled times generated troubled relationships and the Marathon had to deal with 16 Mayors of Belgrade and many other politicians, facing disputes with some of them.
The Belgrade marathon course was designed by Fred Lebow in 1989. and slightly modified in 2017. It starts and finishes in the centre of Old Belgrade but most of the race is run on the flat in New Belgrade.
In March 1999, after the start of NATO bombing operations against Serbia, a message was sent to NATO Headquarters in Brussels saying that the Belgrade Marathon was going ahead the next day on the streets of Belgrade with 15.000 people, including children, taking part. The Marathon stood up against war: that Sunday Belgrade was not bombed and more than 20.000 runners, facing a hard rain, completed the race under the banner “Stop the War, Run the World”. Thirteen Russian cities – from Murmansk to Vladivostok – organised Belgrade Marathons of their own in support
Throughout the 1990s just about the only good news to come out of war-torn Yugoslavia was the Belgrade Marathon. Against all the odds – UN sanctions, war in the region, closure of the airport, strict visa controls, raging inflation and general mayhem – the organisers kept the Belgrade Marathon on the road For 30 years the Belgrade Marathon has been one of Serbia’s largest sporting, social and humanitarian assets and officially became the event of special importance to the City of Belgrade and the biggest and most important sporting event in Serbia. An AIMS member from 1990 it was a pioneering event in the region, working closely with the city’s authorities.
The Marathon gave birth to other races in Belgrade from elite to popular mixed competition – fusing sport, history and culture. These included the hugely popular Belgrade Race Through History, the Belgrade Zoo Children’s Marathon and a dedicated Women’s race. There have been 1.2 million people who have finished
in all of the Belgrade Marathon races over the last 32 years. Since 1995 the Fred Lebow Trophy has been presented to the winners as a token of the friendship that Belgrade Marathon developed with the New York race founder and of thanks for his assistance. Fred helped to establish the Belgrade Marathon and send a message to the World that the marathon has no borders. In those turbulent times the Belgrade Marathon was the only international event of any kind to happen in Belgrade. Just as the Marathon has come through adversity it aims to support individuals who face problems. In 2018 the Belgrade Marathon received the AIMS Social Award in recognition of the “Heroes of the Belgrade Marathon” programme helping runners living with disabilities to finish the Belgrade Marathon. In a similar way the “Mama Fit” campaign promotes education for women about safe physical activity during and after pregnancy. n www.bgdmarathon.org/home.aspx Next event: tbc
26= 25 Nils Heatta
Midnight Sun Marathon
NOR
1996–2020
41= 20 Thom Gilligan
Antarctica Marathon
* ACA
1995–2020
26= 25 Arpad Kocsis
Budapest Marathon
HUN
1996–2020
41= 20 Dave McGillivray
Boston Marathon
USA
2001–2020
26= 25 Gojko Zalokar
Ljubljana Marathon
SLO
1996–2020
41= 20 Diego Maruri
Guayaquil Half Marathon
ECU
2001–2020
30= 24 Jim Aughney
Dublin Marathon
IRL
1997–2020
41= 20 Anders Olsson
Stockholm Marathon
SWE
1979–1998
30= 24 Al Boka
Las Vegas Marathon
USA
1981–2004
41= 20 Ulf Saletti
Stockholm Marathon
SWE
1999–2018
30= 24 William Ko
Hong Kong Marathon
HKG
1997–2020
41= 20 Wallace Williams
St Croix Int’l Marathon
VIR
2001–2020
33= 23 Fred Lebow
New York City Marathon
USA
1970–1992
47= 19 Michael Brinkmann
Muenster Marathon
GER
2002–2020
33= 23 Ev. Papapostolou
Athens Marathon
GRE
1998–2020
47= 19 Cees Pronk
TCS Amsterdam Marathon
NED
2000–2018
33= 23 Shui Tao
Beijing Marathon
` CHN
1998–2020
49= 19 Stefanie Eichel
Hannover Marathon
GER
2002–2020
33= 23 Joao Traven
Corrida Sao Sebastiao
BRA
1998–2020
49= 19 Jo Schindler
Frankfurt Marathon
GER
2002–2020
37= 22 Stavros Kakourides
Cyprus Marathon
CYP
1999–2020
49= 19 Malcolm Sutherland Baxters Loch Ness Mthn
GBR
2002–2020
37= 22 Konstnt Podbelskiy
Siberian Marathon
RUS
1998–2020*
52= 18 Thilak Weerasinghe
SRL
1998–2020
Colombo Marathon*
39= 21 Mati Lilliallik
Tallinn Marathon
EST
2000–2020
52= 18 John Addison
Kilimanjaro Marathon
TAN
2003–2020
39= 21 Gernot Weigl
Munich Marathon
GER
2000–2020
52= 18 Andrea Maggini
PisaMarathon
ITA
2003–2020
42
Distance Running | 2021 Edition 1
