Participants from 22 Countries Open the Running Season in Almaty

On 15 February, the Winter Run, the first race of the Running Season organised by “Courage to Be the First” Corporate Fund, took place in Almaty. A total of 2,500 runners from 22 countries crossed the starting line. 

The Winter Run traditionally unites both amateur and experienced runners and becomes a symbolic starting point of the running season. This year the race welcomed 2,500 people from 22 countries, including the record-breaking number of foreign participants – 116 athletes.

The geography of participants covered Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan; Europe – Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine, and Belarus; Russia; North America – the United States and Canada; as well as Asia and the Asia-Pacific region – China, Mongolia, the Philippines, and New Zealand.

The participants’ age was in the range of 10 to 75. The youngest participant celebrated her first anniversary right on the course, and the oldest runner has once again proved that running has no age limits.

Galimzhan Yessenov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at “Courage to be the First” Corporate Fund, notes that the winter race sets pace to the entire running year,

“This year is special to us – the Almaty Marathon celebrates its 15^th anniversary since the first run. All our races are arranged so that their participants could be trained and prepared for the ultimate season event. We can see that the runs organised by the Fund have already had a strong international status – we are visited by runners from various countries, which in its turn contributes to the development of the city economy and small business.”

It should be noted that the next major race of the season will be the Almaty Half Marathon, which will take place on 19 April and is expected to attract 10,000 participants.

Furthermore, the Almaty Marathon will be held on 27 September – an anniversary race celebrating 15 years since its first start. The competition program offers the following distances: 10 km, 10 km (Nordic Walking), 21.1 km, 42.2 km, and Ekiden Team Relay.

As tradition demands, the marathon organiser, “Courage to be the First” Corporate Fund, will donate to charity a portion of funds raised thanks to the runners’ entry fees. One can also make an optional charitable donation of any amount, as every contribution counts.

Registration for the Almaty Marathon and Almaty Half Marathon is already open. Full Run Calendar is available on almaty-marathon.kz website.