The Kosice Marathon is an annual event and is the oldest modern marathon in Europe! People from many countries come to run in this marathon. They also have a half-marathon, which is 21km or 13 miles. Four of our teammates, Mikey, Aaron, Dara, and Amber ran in the half-marathon. The rest of us: Cindy, Stephanie, Lindsey, Biba, Mirka, and myself all formed a cheering committee with our friend Pet’o. We traced the runners’ route and met them at different spots to cheer them on at different legs of the race. Because this event is such a unique thing (and I had lots of pictures) I’m devoting a page to it.
The runners prep for their race at Mikey and Cindy’s flat. This includes inserting their “racing chip” into their shoes which clocks their racing time.
The team and friends running the marathon.
The runners and cheer-ers head toward the start of the race on Hlavna, the main street.
The flags of the nations running in the marathon
Standing in the center of the Hlavna boulevard facing the start of the race. The marathon, half-marathon, mini-marathon, and roller marathon all started at the same spot.
We cheer Aaron on about midway through the half-marathon.
Dara runs by. The first person you see is some random man, I was cheering Dara on and not really paying attention to wherer she was on camera. But you can see her go by.
Amber runs by as we cheer her on! Halfway there!
Mikey finishes the half-marathon. Of the 600-plus runners of the race, Mikey was in the top fifty percent, coming in at 1 hour 48 minutes.
Mikey joins us to cheer teammates at the finish line after finishing his race.
Aaron finishes the race at just over 2 hours. (2 hours, 48 seconds to be exact). Great job Aaron!
Dara finished also at just over 2 hours. She was also in the top 50 percent of female runners.
Shortly after Dara finished the half-marathon, the African runners were coming in to finish the 26 mile (42 Km) marathon! Here is the first place finisher, coming in at 2 hours and 10 minutes. They ran an average of a little over 5 minute miles for 26 miles!
The first-place woman finisher of the marathon. Also from Africa.
The center-pit area next to the finish line where all the racers get their medals, drinks, and goodies for running in the races.
Amber recovers after finishing the half-marathon, holding up the sign we made for her. This race was almost twice as far as Amber had run at one time. Great job Amber!
The American STINT runners; Amber, Aaron, and Mikey
Jeremy and Dara Adams after the race.
Amber shows us how to finish a race.
