Almaty Charity Marathon gathers 19 thousand enthusiasts

The past Sunday turned out to be rich for events. Over 95% of Kazakhstanis hit their local election wards to partake in the early presidential elections. Meanwhile, in Almaty, 15 thousand officially registered professionals and amateurs run the 4th Almaty Marathon. Apparently, most of Almaty folks managed to do both - run and vote.

Olympic medalists Olga Shyshygina, Yelena Khrustaleva, Yermakhan Ibraimov and a Kazakhstani showman Murat Muturganov joined the runners on the sunny Sunday morning for the Charity Marathon. The event attracted a good number of unregistered participants who decided to join last minute. Tengrinews.kz and Vesti.kz teams, too, could not sit idly and joined the biggest central Asian marathon.

One of the participants Assiya was surprised when she reached the finish line. Her boyfriend got on one knee and proposed on the finish line.

The Almaty Marathon is surely gaining popularity among locals and foreigners. This year, the Marathon gathered running enthusiasts from 40 countries. for comparison, 3 thousand participants run the first Almaty Marathon. Last Sunday, around 19 thousand took part in the event. Offically, 15 300 people registered to run the marathon, but over 3 thousand more joined the runners.

The organizers of the marathon had 30 thousand liters of water and 3 tons of bananas in store for the runners. “Our marathon is growing and it is great. It is nice to see more young people running and older generations keeping up with the youth. (…) We continue working on the improvements of the marathon. This year we installed lockers. We will study all mistakes and issues that occurred this year to prevent them from happening next year,” PR-manager of the event Alina Pirogova said.

Photo © Nikolay Kolessnikov.

Runners could choose between 3 km, 10 km, 21 km and 42 km 195 meter distances in 9 age categories.

Andrey Leimenov won the 42 km 195-meter distance in 02:35:51 among men. The 28 y.o. run 16.17 km per hour in average. Leimenov was followed by Georgiy Sheiko (02:37:50) and Almat Imashev (02:54:20) respectively. Among women, Gulzhanat Yerzhanova, 23, proved to be the fastest and completed the longest distance of the marathon in 02:52:18. Yerzhanova showed the average speed of 14.63 km per hour. Polina Repina (03:29:43) and Yekaterina Shatnaya (03:35:45) took the second and third places respectively.

Mikhail Krasilov was the first among men to complete the 21 km distance. The 25 y.o. Kazakhstani arrived to the finish line in 01:15:07. Alexander Syssoev and Pavel Artyushenko reached the finish line in 01:21:44 and 01:23:48 respectively. Kazakhstani Alexandra Komleva won the 21 km distance among women in 01:26:00. The 25 y.o. runner was followed by Tatyana Neroznak (01:32:39) and Merdzhen Ishangulyeva (01:33:02).

The 10 km distance was the most popular among runners of the marathon. The winner among men Aibyn Bakytbenk covered the 10 km distance in 00:27:53. Olzhas Azhikey crossed the finish line in 00:34:23. 18 seconds later, Akzhol Shaizada completed his marathon. Ainur Moldakhynova was the fastest among women. She coverd the 10 km distance in 00:39:51. Maral Rakhimzhanov (00:44:31) and Nadezhda Melkova (00:45:39) crossed the finish line second and third.

Tengrinews team. Photo © Nikolay Kolessnikov.

The results of the 4th Almaty Marathon are available on the official website.

The 4th Almaty Marathon raised money to help an orphanage build a recreation ground for children with speech disorders. Last year, the Almaty Marathon raised money to help equip the Children’s Oncological Department of the Pediatrics and Children Surgery Research Center. This year, educational orphanage #9 for children with speech disorders will be getting a new recreational ground thanks to the marathon participants.

By Gyuzel Kamalova