Everything is ready for the 37th Comtrade Belgrade Marathon!

All city services are fully prepared for the upcoming 37th Comtrade Belgrade Marathon. This was unequivocally confirmed at the technical conference held today in the Old Palace building. The largest international sports event on the streets of our capital will take place on Sunday, April 28th, with the traditional start near the Church of Saint Mark and the finish line on Terazije Square. This year’s Belgrade Marathon will gather a record-breaking over 13,000 participants on distances of 10, 21, and 42 kilometres, with 2,500 foreigners from 72 countries around the world coming to Belgrade.

Darko Glavaš, the Secretary of the Secretariat for Defense, Emergency Situations, and Coordination, emphasized that preparatory activities have been ongoing for months and that city services are constantly in the field.

“This is an event of exceptional importance for the city of Belgrade, and changes in public transportation routes will begin as early as April 27th in the evening, in the area of Terazije and King Alexander Boulevard. Successively, streets will be closed from early morning hours, and all of this has been designed slightly differently this year,” said Glavaš.

Unlike previous years, due to a significant increase in the number of participants and the efficiency of the organization itself, the starts of the marathon, half marathon, as well as 10-kilometre race and the fun run will be separated.

“This year, the marathon race will start at 08:00h in the morning, the half marathon and relay half marathon will begin at 09:30h, the start of the 10-kilometer race is scheduled for 11:00h, and the fun run will start at 13:00h,” said Glavaš, and then added:

“Because of all this, city services as well as the organizers can expect a lot more work, which will require much greater coordination of all activities on our streets.” “We will have changes on 73 daily bus lines, as well as on five night lines, and there will also be changes to five minibus lines.”Additionally, nine tram and six trolleybus lines will be changed.” This means that more than 10,000 departures on Saturday and Sunday will be arranged differently, and all information about public transportation lines will be available on the City Assembly’s website. This year, we will conduct selective vehicle removal along the route, so I kindly request and appeal to our fellow citizens to understand and remove their vehicles from areas marked for the necessary safety of all participants.

Glavaš emphasized that passages for emergency vehicles have been secured to ensure the normal functioning of the city, and all sports activities should be completed by around 17:00h.

“Considering that this is the largest sports event in our country, accordingly, the Belgrade City Police, based on security assessments, will take measures for traffic, physical, and operational security.” A large number of streets will be closed on Sunday, April 28th, but the traffic police department is ready and will take all measures to ensure the normal functioning of the city, prevent traffic congestion, and ensure that citizens who are not participating in this event can operate normally,” said Deputy Chief of the Traffic Police Department, Police Colonel Goran Radenković.

Due to the significantly increased number of participants, this has inevitably led to changes in the organization of medical services:

“Emergency medical teams will be increased compared to previous years, and they will strictly attend to participants at predetermined points. For all others who may require assistance, teams on regular duty that day will intervene, and we will once again have cooperation with the Red Cross,” emphasized Zoran Pavlović from the Emergency Medicine Institute of the City of Belgrade.

Like last year, volunteers from the Red Cross will conduct initial triage for those in need of assistance, thus relieving emergency centres and ambulance services.” “Additionally, three field hospitals will be set up along the course, following the example of major international marathons.

“We are honoured to participate in this event and contribute to its organization. We will have around 110 volunteers on electric scooters along the course, deployed at 27 points to quickly reach those needing assistance, with a response time of less than one minute. Unlike last year when we had two, this time we’ll have three field hospitals and three triage points, all equipped with automatic defibrillators,” said Nikola Prica from the Red Cross.

All participants of the Belgrade Marathon might be delighted by the announcement of very favourable weather conditions predicted for the day of the event.

“It will be mostly sunny, with temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius at 8 a.m. and reaching 23 degrees Celsius around 2 p.m. The wind will be moderate, perhaps slightly stronger on bridges, but overall, we can expect relatively low humidity. Taking all these factors into account, favorable conditions are expected,” stated Nedeljko Todorović, prominent meteorologist and marathon runner.

Like in previous years, all runners will be insured by Sava Insurance.

We all know that the marathon, as an extremely demanding racing discipline, carries certain risks. Sometimes there are difficult moments for marathon runners, and in all those situations when all these services do everything within their power, then the insurance segment comes into play, which financially secures the person in need, and these are indeed important details,” stated Dragan Ocokoljić, Marketing Director of Sava Insurance.

Director of the Belgrade Marathon, Darko Habuš, mentioned that in line with the slogan of this event, “Always more,” high goals have been set and achieved, primarily in terms of filling race capacities.

“I am thrilled that Belgrade will once again host such a sports spectacle, which the Belgrade Marathon undoubtedly is, and I am delighted that nearly three thousand foreigners have participated in the races in all three disciplines.” With them come their families and friends, and this constitutes a large number of international guests who have chosen to spend that weekend in Belgrade. This means that we are a true sports-tourism destination that is highly desirable, and runners keep coming back to us.

He emphasized that taking care of the runners is paramount, and therefore, the improvement of the Belgrade Marathon’s organizational quality is something that particularly delights him. Around 2,500 people will be involved in the organization itself.

“This year, we will have software support that we tested in November, and at any moment, we will know the density of runners on the course, as well as the location of all our vehicles on the course via GPS control devices. This will enable us to know exactly where each runner is, allowing us to progressively open streets. This is a significant organizational improvement for the Belgrade Marathon, all aimed at enabling the best possible movement for our fellow citizens.”

Habuš also extended an invitation to everyone who is not running to be part of the Belgrade Marathon in some other way:

“With the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, we have launched an interesting initiative due to the fact that the Belgrade Marathon generates large amounts of packaging waste. Those who wish to can collect this waste; there will be two so-called eco teams in New Belgrade and downtown where the waste will be measured, and in the end, the most successful ones will be rewarded. This way, we are contributing to environmental protection.”

“The humanitarian aspect is not neglected either:”

“The Heroji Beogradskog maratona Foundation has activated a special humanitarian number, so by sending an SMS with the content ‘heroji’ to 3023, you can support people with disabilities who are fully equal participants in all our races. Therefore, I invite everyone who wishes to support them in this way.”

Habuš expressed great gratitude to all the people involved in the organization of the Belgrade Marathon for their exceptionally good cooperation in previous years, which has been raised to an even higher level year after year.

Big thanks to the city of Belgrade, which has been the main sponsor of this event since 1988. “Year after year, they have provided significant support, allowing the Belgrade Marathon to look exactly as it does,” concluded Habuš.