Twenty-one of the world's best athletes will be among a total of 5,000 runners at the Wizz Air Sofia Marathon this Sunday. The 40th edition of what is arguably the largest and most popular sport event in the Bulgarian capital will bring together people of various age groups from a record 57 countries, who will compete at four running distances.
Ten men and four women of the world's long-distance running elite from Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia and Rwanda have confirmed their participation at the standard marathon distance of 42.195 km. One of the most notable male entrants is Duncan Koech of Kenya, who won the Sofia Marathon in 2021 and a running race in the Bulgarian seaside city of Varna in 2020. His personal best result is an impressive 2:07:53 hours, clocked in Cologne, Germany in 2012. This spring, he finished a marathon in Thailand in about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The Moroccan school of long-distance runners will be represented by Chakib Lachgar Latrache and Alaa Hrioud, the latter of whom holds a French passport and clocked 2:15:45 hours in Rennes in 2021. Other top-class entrants are Jean Baptiste Simukeka of Rwanda, who won the Stara Zagora race in Bulgaria in 2021 and boasts a personal best of 2:17:14 hours, achieved in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and Mulu Jima of Ethiopia, who ran the Debno, Poland marathon in 2:18:27 hours.
The records on the new route of the Sofia Marathon date back to 2020, when Morocco's Redouan Nouini set the men's record at 2:13:02 hours and Kenya's Naom Jebet put the women's top achievement at 2:28:38 hours.
Over 4,000 people will run either 42.195 km, 21 km or 10 km on Sunday, and more than 1,000 are expected to take the shortest distance of 5 km. Last-minute applications can be submitted between Thursday and Saturday at the race office at Marathon Expo 2023 in the start/finish area in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, said Wizz Air Sofia Marathon Director Daniel Dukov.
Foreign entrants number 900, most of them signed up for the 21 km or 10 km distance. There are 36 corporate teams totalling 1,200 people. Corporate participation is becoming increasingly popular as a teambuilding activity.
This year, again, the marathon will be held under the initiative, Sofia: European Capital of Sport.
/RY/
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