Six years agou a group of enthusiasts came to an idea to organize the first night marathon. At the time people gave us funny looks and nobody really knew if the idea was going to take off. Six years later we are happy he had the priviledge to withness the incredible growth, as a result of many unpayed working hours, many challenges, nice and hard times. Night marathon became an event, that is not defined by winners, PBs, runners count, but the runners themselves; slow or fast – it doesn’t matter. Young and old ones create that wibe that can be felt only with the Night marathon in Novi Sad.

From our angle is hard to write a report and stay objective. For us, the event is a tip of an ice berg and an award for everything we did in a year. That is why we beleive that Night marathon has a soul and that is why we give so much into it.

Sometimes it is an unfair fight, sometimes it gets too personal, but all that hard work leads to one weekend, when the Night marathon is held. Than you can see it was worth of the effort. You realize that by seeing all that smiling faces running around.

I have to admit, that the hardest time is the race center opening, and as I see people forming a line to register. “Are we going to fullfill the expectations?” – always comes to mind. As I watch those people I can tell they ask themselves the same. That is when I realize that we – the organizers and the runners are both registering to enter the unknown.

As the start approaches the expectations are growing. It is enough to see the crowd and feel that huge amount of positive energy that kills the unknown. Yes, the race started. Fear vanishes – the Night marathon is actually happening!

This year I had the opportunity to walk around the course a bit and I saw people running, high-fiving eachother, singing, yelling, taking photos – basically partying on the track and out of it. That is when I realized how come the Night marathon is so special among runners. Runners are the ones that create that crazy positive energy that makes the Night marathon what it is.

While the midnight is slipping away, and runners cross the finish line, I know that the event fullfilled the expectations. As an evidence we have all those smiles on many photos, regardless of the fatigue or exhaustion. While watching the audience, friends and family I could see that runners are one strong community. When I saw how Night marathon contributes to that community, that filled my heart with pride.

It takes time to rest, sum up the impressions and start with the Seventh. This event as much energy consumes, returns even more to give us strength to push forward. There is no end in sight – Powerfull Night marathon represents each and every one of us – runners and organizers. As it grows we are growing too! 7. Night marathon – we are coming!

Stats

6. Night marathon had 1350 starters. That means the 40% growth against the last year. There were 1229 finishers.

Ther were 859 men and 491 women, which is 36% of the gentler gender! We are happy there are more ladies each year on the Night marathon 🙂

We had runners from 24 countries!

Serbia 1069
Bosnia and Herzegovina 114
Croatia 97
Macedonia 24
Italy 7
Hungary 7
USA 5
Montenegro 3
Romania 3
Greece 3
Sweeden 2
Austria 2
Germany 2
Slovenia 2
UK 1
Poland 1
Nepal 1
Spain 1
Ireland 1
Iran 1
Bulgaria 1
Canada 1
Ukrain 1
South African Republic 1

Results: Takmičarski centar.

Winners of the 6. Night marathon

Minimarathon 7km

Muškarci
1	2218	Miloš	Segedi	AK Inđija	SRB	0:24:20
2	2225	Daniel	Bečkei		SRB	0:26:04
3	2087	Goran	Vendlener	AK Apatin	SRB	0:26:20
Žene
1	2074	Katarina	Pohlod	ARK Fruška gora	SRB	0:30:54
2	2192	Vesna	Vicko Bogišić	ARK Somaraton	SRB	0:33:01
3	2005	Marija	Panić	RViPVO	SRB	0:33:50

Halfmarathon 21km

Muškarci
1	704	Žan	Tosev	AK Rabotnički	MAK	1:14:26
2	801	Igor	Mitrović	TRK Banja Luka	BIH	1:18:19
3	571	Mladen	Minić		SRB	1:19:03
Žene
1	961	Jelena	Kosić	AK Banja Luka	BIH	1:33:04
2	784	Silvia	Šimunović	Atlantic running team	CRO	1:34:31
3	1314	Katarina	Kokan	MK Marjan	CRO	1:35:21

Marathon 42km

Muškarci
1	118	Mirko	Erdelji	ARK Somaraton	SRB	2:57:19
2	101	Igor	Stanojevic		SRB	3:00:44
3	25	Mladen	Stevanović		BIH	3:02:20
Žene
1	79	Nora	Trklja		SRB	3:26:44
2	51	Samanta	Gilice	ARK Fruška gora	SRB	4:00:03
3	36	Tijana	Odobašić	ARK Somaraton	SRB	4:18:56