The 29th Children’s Marathon Held

Vukan Stanković from the “Biser” preschool was the winner of the 29th MiniMini Plazma Children’s Marathon, traditionally held at the Belgrade Zoo. He completed the famous 230-meter track around the elephant enclosure in 38.03 seconds. Second place went to Veljko Popović from the “Petlić” preschool, while Magdalena Veljković from the “Lane” preschool finished third. The Super Snail award, given to the last-place finalist, was awarded to Andrej Janković from the “Gorica” preschool.

This year’s MiniMini Plazma Children’s Marathon brought together over 15,000 boys and girls from preschools across all 17 Belgrade municipalities. Of those, the 150 fastest earned a spot at the Children’s Marathon held at the Belgrade Zoo, where 12 qualifying races took place, with the winners advancing to the final. In addition to the previously mentioned award winners, the final—featuring the 12 fastest preschoolers—included: Aleksa Korać (Dečji raj), Matea Đurovski (Sveta Petka), Uroš Kutjevac (Biser), Matija Ilić (Cvrčak), Petra Verigić (Biser), Vidak Panović (Suncokreti), Vanja Jakovljev (Naša radost), and Leona Loncović (Biseri).

Trophies and prizes from numerous sponsors were awarded to the top competitors by Aleksandra Čamagić, City Secretary for Education and Child Welfare, Srboljub Aleksić, Director of the Belgrade Zoo, and Darko Habuš, Director of the Belgrade Marathon.

“This is without a doubt the most beautiful and most emotional race organized by the Belgrade Marathon. We’re used to the Children’s Marathon being the prelude to our major spring event, but this time, due to unfavorable weather conditions, it was the other way around. However, after record-breaking performances at the 38th Comtrade Belgrade Marathon, we were now able to fully enjoy the smiles of these wonderful little ones. That famous saying, ‘It’s not about winning, it’s about taking part,’ truly comes to life at this event year after year. And I hope that through these 12 qualifying races and the big final, we’ll discover some new athletic talents,” said Habuš.

The head of the Belgrade Marathon expressed deep gratitude to the city and state institutions that wholeheartedly support this event:

“Without that support, neither the Children’s Marathon nor the Belgrade Marathon could be organized at such a high level. First and foremost, I’m referring to the City Secretariat for Education and Child Welfare, which handles all registrations for the Children’s Marathon; then the City Secretariat for Sports, which has supported the Belgrade Marathon since its founding; of course, the City of Belgrade as the main patron; and the Ministry of Sports, which shares our core values. We also want to extend our thanks to all our sponsors and partners, as well as to the Belgrade Zoo, our host, which has once again shown itself to be a place of family gathering and togetherness,” Habuš concluded.

It’s interesting to note that since 1993, over the past 29 years, as many as 450,000 children have taken part in the qualifying competitions for the Children’s Marathon.