Konstantin Žujović from Breza kindergarten is the winner of the 28th Dexyco Children’s Marathon.

Today, the 28th Dexyco Children’s Marathon was held at the Belgrade Zoo. Konstantin Žujović from Breza kindergarten in Mladenovac ran faster than the others and triumphed with a time of 36.5 seconds, just half a second slower than the track record around the elephant enclosure. Right behind him was Veljko Mandić from 22nd October kindergarten in Surčin, and third place went to Ognjen Pešić from 11th April kindergarten in New Belgrade. The consolation prize, the Super Snail, intended for the last participant in the final, went to Mia Karavdić from Dunavska bajka kindergarten.

“It’s wonderful to see the competitiveness, sportsmanship, and good manners of all participants in the 28th Dexyco Children’s Marathon. We want to promote a healthy lifestyle, to influence parents through their children to make physical activity a daily routine because recreation is necessary for all of us to be healthy and to feel good,” said Darko Habuš, director of the Belgrade Marathon, and added:”

What was missing for us this year was the elephant Twiggie, who had been our judge for 28 years. However, as announced by the director of the Belgrade Zoo, Srboljub Aleksić, already next year, at the 29th Children’s Marathon, we can expect two new elephant judges, and we are very much looking forward to them,” concluded Habuš.

“I am happy to have the honour today to support the fastest 150 preschoolers in the city of Belgrade. In the pre-qualifications, 15,000 preschoolers from all 17 city municipalities participated, which speaks to the magnitude and significance of such an event, both for all children and for the city of Belgrade. The Children’s Marathon is a prelude to the most significant sports event in Belgrade, which is the Belgrade Marathon, which awaits us already next weekend,” said Nikola Penić, Secretary for Sports of the City of Belgrade.

The Friendship Promise was read by Miodrag Dragičević, the winner of the Children’s Marathon in 2001, who is now a well-known actor. He didn’t hide his emotions and shared the most beautiful memories that connect him to such an event.

The honour of being the first to circle the elephant enclosure was given to children with disabilities. After that, the 150 fastest preschoolers competed in 12 qualifying races, and the winners of the qualifying races competed in a very exciting final. The top three children as well as the Super Snail will once again be ambassadors for the 37th Comtrade Belgrade Marathon, which will take place on Sunday, April 28th.

The Garden of Good Hope was filled with setups from partners of the Children’s Marathon, so the kids left the race with their hands full. The responsible parties for this were: Dexyco, the Novak Djokovic Foundation, Medi Group Postanska Stedionica, Rosa, Nutrino, IDEA company, Sava Insurance, and NIKE. The Serbian Chamber of Commerce taught us how to recycle and protect the environment.