Two Weeks to Go / 100th Košice Peace Marathon on 1.10.2023 – UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PRESIDENT

By GRR 0

The jubilee 100th edition of the Košice Peace Marathon is held under the auspices of the President of the Slovak Republic, Zuzana Čaputová.

With this act, the head of state emphasizes the exceptional status of this iconic event, its societal importance and positive impacts. In her message to the runners and organizers of the marathon, President Čaputová said, among other things:

“The Košice Peace Marathon has become a celebration of friendship between people and between nations. It has proved that the noble marathon idea and the feeling of belonging can overcome adversity and negative emotions and influences. I wish the participants and organizers of the jubilee 100th edition much success and strength, but especially great joy from running. May your ability to make the world and yourself better last.”

Eleven Gold-Medals

The history of the Košice Peace Marathon is closely connected with the ideas of Olympism.

Photo: © M. Tóth, R. Korzeniowski, A. Kuzmina, G. Szabó, M. Koukal – archives.

As is well known, the first impulse leading to its creation was born at the Olympics in 1924 in Paris. Several marathon Olympic champions have visited Košice in the past. To this day, perhaps the start of the legendary Abebe Bikila in 1960 resonates the most. And the golden Olympians will not be missing in Košice even during the centenary celebrations. A unique relay consisting of the holders of a total of 10 Olympic gold medals will be presented on the track.

The eleventh is brought by Matej Tóth, Slovakian gold medalist from Rio 2016 , who decided to overcome the entire marathon distance for the first time. So let’s take a closer look at the line-up of these excellent athletes, who are also coming at the invitation and with the help of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee.

Polish Robert Korzeniowski is rightly considered the best walker in athletics history. This is especially evidenced by the winning of four Olympic gold medals. In Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, he won the 50 km race, and in Australia in 2000 was fastest also on the 20 km course.

Anastasia Kuzmina is one of the most successful female athletes in Slovak history. At the Winter Olympics, she successively won three gold medals in Vancouver, Sochi and Pyongyang, two in biathlon sprint races and one in mass start race.

Gabriella Szabó is a Hungarian speed canoeist, holder of three Olympic gold medals. She won her first in London in 2012 in the K4 discipline at 500 m. At the same distance, she won two gold medals at the Games in Rio, in the K2 and K4 disciplines.

The line-up is completed by Martin Koukal, an outstanding Czech athlete who won a gold medal in the 50 km cross-country skiing at the World Championships in 2003. And in 2010, he was a member of the relay team that won a bronze medal in the 4 x 10 km race at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

HOW ARE WE GOING TO RUN?

That’s a question many runners are interested in.

The answer wasn´t born easily. Even at the cost of several compromises, we finally enabled the largest possible number of people interested in this jubilee event to start. The Saturday sports program has been known for a long time. At exactly 4:00 p.m., all participants in the U.S. Steel Family Run will hit the course. As for Sunday, October 1, the sequence of starts and the course itself is as follows.

8.45 Start of the Handbike and Inline disciplines
9.00 Start of the Marathon and Magna Marathon 4 x ¼ Relay
10.30 Start of the first wave of the Half Marathon, another waves every 5 minutes until 10.50

All runners will receive detailed information via e-mail on Friday, September 22. At this moment, let’s wish them an undisturbed last days of preparations for the 100th Košice Peace Marathon.

THE REWARD FOR FINISHERS

We gradually get from the course to the destination where, in addition to well-deserved rest and relaxation, a reward awaits everyone.

The one in the form of a finisher medal. A piece of metal, an artifact adorning the neck of every runner a few meters past the finish line. What to say about this year’s one? The author of the design is again František Záborský, who artfully placed several inseparable landmarks of the city and the iconic number 100 on a few tens of square centimeters.

And there are also few important meanings in the medal shape itself. One of the most important is guiding us all to continue, not to stop, not to give up and always look for new challenges.

We often forget and lose many things in life.

Of the things within our daily reach, we probably pay the most attention to the mobile phone. Its ever-growing functionality opens up almost endless new possibilities. Mobile applications might be the most popular of them. And mobile app called Kosice Peace Marathon has been here with us for several years. It is also being developed and improved, and its use for the peak of the 2023 season is fully prepared. If you don’t have it installed from years past, you can download it soon for free via Google Play or the App Store and thus have the marathon action within your reach at any time, whether you have an Android or iOS operating system on your phone.

The application comes from the world leader in the field of chip timing and sharing of sports results, the Dutch company MYLAPS, and offers, in addition to a lot of basic and important information, so-called „live tracking“ which stands for online tracking of any competitors on the course and their actual ranking. If the app is used by the runners themselves, not only their fans, they can look forward to a detailed analysis of their performance after the race.

GET A RARE LIMITED EDITION FOR YOUR COLLECTION

On the occasion of the 100th year of the Košice Peace Marathon, a 0€ banknote with a unique visual was issued thanks to the tourism organization Košice Region.

The banknote features a traditional dove, which represents peace, a marathon runner as a symbol of man’s victory over himself, and the biggest landmark of Košice – the Gothic Cathedral of St. Elizabeth.

The sale of banknotes will start on September 29 from 9:00 a.m. at Hlavná street 48 in Košice at the Regional information point.

RICH PROGRAM

When planning your trip to Košice, don’t forget to reserve time for a rich accompanying program, the detailed form of which can be found here:

PROGRAM OF 100th KOŠICE PEACE MARATHON

Branislav Koniar – Race director – Košice Marathon Club.

First start in Kosice 1924 – Photo: Kosice Peace Marathon