TIRANA, Oct. 7- The city of Tirana saw Sunday, Oct. 7, 3500 people running in the streets of the Albania’s capital on the third edition of Tirana Marathon, organized by Tirana’s Municipality and the Athletic Federation.
About 350 of the participants were foreigners joining the marathon from over 40 countries. The participating runners were either professionals or sports’ lovers. The number of the participants has significantly increased over the years, and on 2018 it exceeded expectations, producing an overall desirable outcome and heartwarming event.
There were three categories in the marathon, and various causes were celebrated. Oct. 6 saw ‘Fun Run’, a category for high school students, whereas the bigger event started 9 a.m., Sunday Oct. 7. The three main categories were Half Marathon, Tirana 10k, and ‘We Too’ an encouraging and motivating campaign for people with special abilities.
The Marathon is an event to educate youth and citizens in a healthy life through sport, built confidence which will help in achieving goals, motivating and encouraging people to challenge themselves in a fun competition in which winning doesn’t matter, but rather participation. It seeks to educate citizens to use less cars as well by closing most of roads for the running, as Tirana is becoming one of the most polluted capitals in Europe.
The event won’t only celebrate sports and Tirana’s scenery through running, but also generates money in various businesses from the foreign participants.
The winners for this edition were: Luiza Gega for Tirana 10k Women, Abel Kibet Rop for Tirana 10k Men, Ruth Nundu Mbatha for Half Marathon Women, Nelson Kipkogei Cherutich for Half Marathon Men, and last but not least, Bledar Suxha for ‘We Too’.
The winners were given olive crowns which came from the Athens Marathon, where the competition was born when an Athenian soldier run for 42 kilometer around the city to announce the winning of battle against Persians.
‘’I know there will be a lot of competitiveness, as there are some professional athletes here. But in the end, we all know, the spirit of the marathon, like the last good Athenian soldier is to arrive at the destination and to tell that we won the battle. I wish success to you all, we are all winners in a city where we fall and rise together, and i am convinced that in the end we will all embrace as winners,’’ said Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj.
