In 4 years of its existence, Sporter has held 28 events. And there are 6 to go till the end of the year. But if you think and analyze, all of them are geographically linked to Chisinau. So the time has come to expand the boundaries of amateur sports in the country and to hold contests not only in the capital city.
Going to the regions
Well, we decided that in 2017 we must have one of the competitions outside Chisinau. And the lucky host was the city of Balti in the north of the country. Of course, we thought of holding a cycling race there, but there is the Criterium coming in a month in Chisinau. So we decided on a running contest. The first official half marathon is to be held in Balti on April 30, 2017.
We knew it would not be easy. First of all, the team had to practically live on the road — driving to deal with issues (watching, counting, meeting, making arrangements, bringing in, taking away, etc.). We drove almost every day, and we spent about 400 liters of fuel in a few weeks, covering more than 3,500 km. Of course, we had dealt with events outside the city (SeaMile, Cricova, FOSFOR at Ghidighici, FOSFOR in Tiraspol, Purcari test run, Rubicon), so we understood that the preparation would be more difficult and slower than usual.
About what was not easy
As it was with the first Chisinau Marathon, we were suggested several times to change the route. Initially, the route of the half marathon lay through the main street, but the city administration insisted on moving to adjacent streets. The very same problem we had faced in Chisinau.
Despite all the factors which slowed down the preparations (and there were quite many of them), we still held a sports weekend in the “northern capital” of Moldova: on Saturday, on the central square named after Vasile Alecsandri, a kids race was held, and on Sunday — a race for adults.
Participants had several distances to choose from: 21 km, 10.5 km, 2 km (fun).
What was cool
Everything went great! On Saturday, the kids had a real holiday — it’s amazing that a lot of kids are so happy to participate. The family holiday was a real success!
Video:
On Sunday we had a completely different weather — hardcore rainy weather. But despite this, none of the athletes refused to participate.
We planned to bring together 4,000 runners (amateurs, professionals, fan runners), and so we did. Everyone who had entered the contest has come, and even more — the rain couldn’t stop the fans either.
At the finish line, the host asked the athletes about the race, and there was a girl who said something memorable. She was happy to take part in the first competition of the kind in her home city, and she had dreamt about it since the first Chisinau Marathon a few years ago, where she participated. There you go:)
Balti Half Marathon is not yet listed on the 2018 event calendar. But who knows? The year has just begun 🙂
