Mighty nightly! – said Galla Uroić 🙂

On Saturday, 29.09.2013. as part of the celebration of the Danube Day, we had the Fourth night marathon in Novi Sad organised by Recreational Athletic Club “Fruška gora”. This year it was, third time in a row, about 50% more runners than organised last year. Such constant and significant increase confirmed enormous potential and popularity with both runners and audience.

4th Night marathon had participant registered from 3 continents, 13 countries, 119 cities and 125 running clubs. Runners had three options for racing: mini-marathon (i.e. 4km), half-marathon (21km) and marathon (42km). All three races had 772 competitors altogether, while 686 runners have successfully completed their races.

772 runners from three continents have participated

Following the official opening of the manifestation, crowd was entertained by Aikido Ikeda Dojo presentation and Zumba dancing, while just before the start of the race atmosphere was heated by belly dancers from Studio Orijental.

Mini-marathon (4km) and marathon (42km) started at 9pm as first races that night, and at that moment track was stormed by 200 runners. First finishers were announced by winner in male category Nebojša Milenković, who ran like wind through the finish line quickly followed by other runners completing their 4 kilometers. At that time, marathoners have only began their long journey towards the finish line.

Start of half-marathon (21km) race was scheduled at 10pm. During that time both, the runners and our team could feel the electricity in the air while the beat of the Zumba dance music rose our adrenalin levels high! After a countdown in a 600 people chorus, all the runners flown like a river into the course.

River or people ran through the start gate for a whole minute, and Sunny Quay in Novi Sad got a whole new look with hundreds of runners storming tracks built for sport and recreation.

Many runners wore masks just for fun, but some of them were fighting for various causes related to their cities or even on a global level. One of them, Ninoslav Rašković has been running as Balloon-man, and promoting a healthy and active style of life despite diabetis.

As soon as half-marathon race has started, audience had a pleasure of enjoying in flaming stunts performed by crew with pois, batons and objects blazing through the night.
Chaos animators from Free team were behind this flaming act, leaving everyone speachless in the audience.

Jolly crew from Zagreb AK Sljeme has arrived with t-shirts specially designed for 4th Night marathon, featuring title “Who survives will pass on, while fantastic runners from Belgrade ran like gentlemen whole half-marathon with shirts and ties.

All participants of 4th Night marathon spent fantastic evening together in cheerful mood

4th Night marathon was all about recreation and having good time. Motivation of runners was boosted in so many ways, including music from speakers all over the track and flaming dance of Chaos animators.

Majority of runners came from Belgrade and Novi Sad, but other cities from Serbia had their representatives as well. Furthermore, some of the runners came from other continents, so we had competitors from South and North America and Australia. In summary, at 4th Night marathon we had participants from: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYOM, Slovenia, Hungary, Monte Negro, Canada, Austria, Australia, Italy and Bolivia.

After finishing their races, winners were awarded with valuable gift packages from our sponsors (i.e. companies Pansport, Enter.rs).

Information systems were provided by Enter.rs company, while companies Bioland, Repro Trade d.o.o and Pansport took care about start packages and refreshment stations. After finished race, all runners had opportunity to enjoy healthy vegan pasta from restaurant Ananda in Novi Sad.

4th Night marathon was supported by the following institutions and organisations:

• Republic of Srbija, Ministry of Youth and Sport
• City of Novi Sad
• Regional secretariat for Sport and Youth
• Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water management, Coca Cola, Helenica, ICPDR
• JKP Parking service, Novi Sad
• National tourism organisation of Serbia

Marathon (42km) winners in male category:

1. Nenad Živković, AK Kruševac, Kruševac, Serbia 03:01:45
2. Paolo Venturini, Polzia di stato, Rovolon, Italy 03:05:22
3. Aleksandar Marinkov, AK Dinamo, Pančevo, Serbia 03:08:01

Marathon (42km) winners in female category:

1. Ingrid Nikolešić, AK Sljeme, Rijeka, Croatia, 03:16:54
2. Veronika Jurišić, AK Sljeme, Zagreb, Croatia, 03:24:52
3. Bojana Bjeljac, AKSloboda, Novi Grad, Republic of Srpska – BiH, 03:29:44

Half-marathon (21km) winners in male category:

1. Miloš Milovanović, AK Dinamo, Pančevo, Serbia, 1:14:20
2. Marko Milovanović, AK Dinamo, Pančevo, Serbia, 1:14:21
3. Josip Major, ARK Somaraton, Sombor, Serbia, 1:16:46

Half-marathon (21km) winners in female category:

1. Aleksandra Marinkov, AK Dinamo, Pančevo, Serbia, 1:30:47
2. Dragana Dokmanović, Serbia, 1:33:28
3. Nina Radić, Novi Sad, Serbia, 1:37:42

Mini-marathon (4km) winners in male category:

1. Nebojša Milenković, AK Sajan, Sajan, Serbia, 0:13:17
2. Ivan Dlačić, AK Čak, Serbia, 0:14:23
3. Miloš Segedi, Inđija, Serbia, 0:14:31

Mini-marathon (4km) winners in female category:

1. Sunčica Milutinović, Subotica, Serbia, 0:19:01
2. Sonja Vlaški, AK Hajduk Maraton Tim, Sivac, Serbia, 0:19:04
3. Nada Milenković, Subotica, Serbia, 0:19:38

As promised by organisers of 4th Night marathon, Recreational Athletic Club Fruška gora, it was a wonderful manifestation that will not easily fade from our memories.

Results of all races are also available on the organisers website www.arkfruskagora.org.rs.

Preliminary results are available here.

In case of any issues or irregularities, please contact us at maraton@arkfruskagora.org.rs.