The 22^nd Smoki Smokić Children's Marathon took place on Saturday, April 11th, drawing a line under 350,000 participants who took part in it over the previous 22 years. It is not a phrase to say that all those who participated are the winners, as from the very start in their lives they took a route of heath.

Those who are more successful than their pre-school peers, earn a place in the finals at the "Garden of Good Hope" in Belgrade, Serbia. That was the case this year as well. A total of 150 competitors selected from 15,000 pre-schoolers from all Belgrade's kindergartens who took part in this year's qualifications and divided into 12 groups found themselves at the start today. The winner of each group went on to the Super final of this year's 22^nd Smoki Smokić Children's marathon.

The first amongst the equals was Filip Rajičević. The boy from the kindergarten "Istok" clocked 37 seconds for a convincing triumph at the course 230 m long which goes around elephants, camels, kangaroos, ostriches habitats… He was followed by Andrija Burmazović ("Kralj Petar") and Stefan Karapandžić ("Slavuj").

The traditional title of the Super-snail awarded to the last-ranked finalist went to Nikola Dosković ("Biser ").

Snežana Đurić, the Secretary for Education and Children's Welfare Department, said that the Belgrade City Assembly supported all activities that positively influence the spirit and health of the children such as the 22^nd Smoki Smokić Children's Marathon.

– These activities are taking place the year round and that is one of the reasons why children are prepared for the competition today. This is how we will contribute to our youngest citizens growing up in healthy individuals. Pre-schools pay much attention to sports activities. The Department of Education and Children's Welfare have always helped and supported this event and will continue to do so in the future – said Snežana Đurić.

The awards for those who have been a little more successful than others were presented by: Andreja Mladenovic, deputy mayor of Belgrade, Aleksa Tamindžić the winner of the last year's Smoki Smokić Children's Marathon, the representative of the title sponsor Company Soko Štark – the Smoki Smokić mascot, the representative of UNICEF ​​- Vesna Savić Đukić and representative of UNIQA Insurance – Sonja Marić

On the occasion of the 22^nd Smoki Smokić Children's marathon the Belgrade marathon director, the organizer of this Event, Dejan Nikolić said: Athletics, as a sport, should be proud to have such a good opportunity to so closely cooperate with Belgrade's Department of Education and Children's Welfare and be able to animate kids aged 5-6 years and present them and theirs parents the value of athletics.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund – long term partner, Ministry of youth and sport of Republic of Serbia and Athletics federation of Serbia are supporting the Event as well – said Nikolić.

The new partner of Childrens marathon from this year is Novak Djokovic Foundation, the organization that is formed by the famous tennis player Novak Djokovic. Following today's event Novak Djokovic sent the message to all participants: "I am very happy that young Belgraders will enjoy today in Belgrade Zoo in fair competition. As a boy I enjoyed playing and doing different sports activities and right now I know how important that was for my development." – said Novak Djokovic.

At the conclusion Dejan Nikolić mentioned that European athletics, in 2006, through "European Athletics Support Programme" supported a programme "Lets start with sports" as a sports school for children seven to nine years-old that grew out of the Belgrade Children's marathon as a way of giving youngsters a chance to be involved in athletics and develop their skills from an early age.

Dejan Nikolić
Race Director

22. Smoki Smokić Dečiji maraton 11.04.2015 on youtube: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVD83e5loAU&feature=youtu.be