Sarajevo Half Marathon
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Fast and flat, the Sarajevo Half Marathonleads you through the most beautiful parts of the city. PLEASE NOTE: All participants run on their own responsibility! The refreshment stations will be placed at every 4 km. Medical service will be provided along the course.
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Winter Olympics
... in the 80ies (1984) and Balkan war in the 90ies were my two associations with Sarajevo. The city is a mix of modern architecture and shopping malls, ruins of … MORE
… in the 80ies (1984) and Balkan war in the 90ies were my two associations with Sarajevo.
The city is a mix of modern architecture and shopping malls, ruins of the war, bohemian buildings from before WW1 when it still “belonged” to Austria, but also hundreds of mosques, churches and a huge traditional market area.
I got to know the race director of NGO Sarajevo Marathon last year in Beirut and I knew that I would have to go and run that race.
The Sarajevo half commemorated the Olympic Games of 1984 in its 2019 edition with specially designed T-shirt’s and medals. The bib pick up was held in a cultural Center and a DJ entertained the athletes- even a small buffet was offered on Saturday afternoon. The race started on Sunday in the middle of the town in front of a complex called Sarajevo City Center.
The start was a but confusing for me since the shorter fun race started from a paralell corridor at the same time and the runners from the half marathon and that race (many children) mixed chaotically. The first stretch was along the river, out of town and with a uturn back into town, where a longer (bit uphill) section followed. After another uturn and a short track run through the Olympic stadium, we were brought back to the start area and ran another out and about along the river again- to the other direction (with two smaller added uturn section. Fall in Sarajevo is mild to warm, I loved the conditions that day. Plenty of water along the route. But the km markets were in parts completly off and confused many runners. The finish area had some companies like local gyms giving away stuff, photo booth for free photos and more.
All in all a very pleasant race experience and I enjoyed the trip to Bosnia but would have wished to have more time to spend there.
Sarajevo is situated between many hills; and the race is not flat (though the RD promised me to try to make it flatter next year) and the city is between post communism, destruction by war and new developments between traditional structures- to me, it has a lot to offer and is relatively inexpensive (went to the opera the night before the race, many cute coffees, … ) In some places you need to have the local money since credit cards are not excepted everywhere. The airport is small but functional, cab rides to the cities are about 10-25 KM (some cab drivers night try to ask for a different “fixed price”).
Nice Race in Bosnia
Sarajevo Half Marathon is a well organized race in the capital of Bosnia. The expo is small but nice with snacks and drinks for free. Runners are invited to stay … MORE
Sarajevo Half Marathon is a well organized race in the capital of Bosnia. The expo is small but nice with snacks and drinks for free. Runners are invited to stay a while and chat together in a runners lounge and get connected. Every runner gets a very beautiful backpack (the best one I have ever received so far) with some goodies and a very nice T-Shirt. This year´s color was orange, but other colors were available for 10 Euro (red, green, yellow, blue and black = colors of the olympic rings). The race started on Sunday at 9am in downtown in front of Swissotel. The course was described as flat and fast but has 2 quite tough uphill parts. Runners were given water very frequently and in the second part of the race even oranges and gels were offered. In the finish area different kinds of drinks (water, iso, alcfree beer) were offered as well as bananas! Best of all: the medal is really BEAUTIFUL!
What really has to be improved: the position of the km markers – the markers were totally confusing…