The largest amateur sport festival in Central Asia - International Seventh Almaty Marathon took place.
“This year our Almaty Marathon gathered more than 14 thousand racing fans from 38 countries. Today we will test new tracks together”, - Galymzhan Yesenov, founder of Almaty Marathon, chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Courage to be the First foundation, said in his speech to thousands of runners and fans.
The mayor of Almaty, Bauyrzhan Baibek made the opening speech.
Traditionally the track was divided into such racing distances: 3 km (children 10-14 years old), 10 km, 21.1 km (semi-marathon) and 42.2 (marathon) and 10 km Nordic walk.
“The interest in the sporting events of the city is constantly growing and this year the number of registered participants was one and a half thousand more than in the past. We had to close the registration earlier because the limit of participants was reached one and a half days before the official closing date of registration. We will be happy to see everyone in our seasonal starts and call athletes not to postpone registration for the last days,” commented Saltanat Kazybayeva, director of the Almaty Marathon.
This year, the funds from the starting fees will go to the children’s cancer hospice and two specialized schools for children with special needs. Sport grounds and equipment will be purchased on the money collected from starting fees. In addition, contributions from partners will be added to charitable donations. So, the official water of Almaty Marathon - brand AS’U has prepared for the participants of the largest running event special urns for plastic containers, then all plastic will be transferred for processing. This year 1 tenge from each bottle is also directed to current charitable purposes!
Everybody is at the start: athletes, housewives, office employees, students, businessmen, show business stars, top managers, whole families and corporations. Almaty Marathon has become a long-awaited event not only for sports fans, but for whole organizations. This year record number of teams took part in the Ekiden team relay. So, the Sulpak Company sends its 6 teams. Also the leaders of the companies don’t stand by and run along with their colleagues.
Commenting on the start of the marathon, the Chairman of the Board of Sanofi Kazakhstan Ranga Welaratne noted: “It has become a tradition for Sanofi to support Almaty Marathon annually. For us, this is not only an important social project, but also an opportunity to contribute to the charity mission of the initiative itself for three consecutive years. This year Sanofi running team consists of 80 people and participates in the race under the motto - Empowering Life. This slogan unites the mission and philosophy of the company - to inspire life, to give strength to life, and, of course, intersects with the main idea of Almaty Marathon – to inspire victory and a healthy lifestyle.”
Finish and the awarding ceremony took place in the start-finish town on the Republic Square. Absolute winners of the marathon were Mikhail Krasilov and Dana Aidosova, who received a cash prize of 400 000 KZT. All the participants were awarded memorable medals, and the winners were given medals, certificates and gifts from partners, among them one of the oldest partners supporting not only Almaty Marathon, but all seasonal races - the Oriflame company, as well as the Under Armor sportswear brand and others.
