Jubilee 30th Children’s Marathon at the Belgrade Zoo

The Mini Mini Plazma Children’s Marathon is celebrating a major milestone this year—30 years of existence. This traditional event, organized by the Belgrade Marathon, brings together the fastest preschool children from all 17 municipalities of Belgrade and will take place on Saturday, April 25, starting at 11 a.m. at the Belgrade Zoo, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

On the now well-known 230-meter course around the elephant enclosure, 150 children will compete in 12 qualifying races and one final race, with a race for children with disabilities serving as the prelude to the event.

It is worth noting that this year 15,000 preschool children took part in the selection races in their kindergartens. So far, around 480,000 children have participated in the Children’s Marathon. One of the most notable winners of this event was Nikola Jović, now an NBA player for the Miami Heat and a member of the Serbian national team.

Last year’s champion was Vukan Stanković from the “Breza” kindergarten in Mladenovac, who completed the course in 38.03 seconds.

Darko Habuš, Director of the Belgrade Marathon, highlighted two important anniversaries.

“We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Children’s Marathon and 90 years of the Zoo. These are round and beautiful milestones. This is the most heartwarming event organized by the Belgrade Marathon, as it is dedicated to the youngest participants. We support all preschoolers as they take their first steps into a healthy lifestyle. They gather at an iconic location—the Zoo—which is a place of togetherness, love, family, and where the most beautiful memories are created. Our ultimate goal is for these children to grow into good and responsible people, and that is something we should all support together,” said Habuš.

The Director of the Belgrade Marathon also thanked everyone who contributed to the organization of the Children’s Marathon.

“We are one big team. We nurture the right values and stand behind them, and we will continue to do so as long as we can. After the success of the 39th Belgrade Marathon, we are all more relaxed and can now fully enjoy this event at the Zoo. We invite parents and children to spend a wonderful afternoon at the most beautiful place in our city,” Habuš added.

The host of the young runners will once again be the Zoo, headed by Srboljub Aleksić.

“We organize the Children’s Marathon with ease in a friendly atmosphere together with Darko and his team. This is certainly one of the most interesting events for us at the Zoo. We expect good weather and a large number of visitors, and we wish all participants the best of luck. We will provide annual Zoo passes for the three fastest competitors and the ‘super snail’ award winner,” said Aleksić.

Aleksandra Čamagić, City Secretary for Education and Child Protection, emphasized the importance of the Children’s Marathon.

“This is one of the most beautiful children’s events in the capital. More than 15,000 preschoolers from all 17 municipalities took part in the qualifications. This event is important because it promotes healthy values—children learn to love sports and competition,” she said.

Support was also expressed by Nikola Penić, City Secretary for Sports and Youth.

“We will enjoy watching the youngest competitors. The Secretariat for Sports and Youth continuously supports both the main marathon and this wonderful children’s race, and we are happy that this year it celebrates its 30th jubilee edition,” Penić concluded.